BIRDS IN THE CALENDAR 



horned owl, which reaches our shores a little 

 in advance of the latter, is popularly known as 

 the " woodcock owl," so also the wryneck, 

 which comes to us about the same time as 

 the first of the cuckoos, goes by the name of 

 " cuckoo-leader." It is never a very con- 

 spicuous bird, and appears to be rarer now- 

 adays than formerly. Schoolboys know it 

 best from its habit of hissing like a snake 

 and giving them a rare fright when they 

 cautiously insert a predatory hand hi some 

 hollow tree in search of a possible nest. It is 

 in such situations that, along with titmice 

 and some other birds, the wryneck rears its 

 young ; and it doubtless owes many an escape 

 to this habit of hissing, accompanied by a 

 vigorous twisting of its neck and the infliction 

 of a sufficient peck, easily mistaken in a mo- 

 ment of panic for the bite of an angry adder. 

 Thus does Nature protect her weaklings. 



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