1Z73 



ZAMIA. 



ZAPORNIA. 



1274 



Tongue long, vermiform, with a horny point. Wings moderate, 

 second quill longest. Tail-feathers flexible. Feet with two ante- 

 rior toes joined together at their origin, and two behind uncon- 

 nected. 



Yunx torquilla. This is the "Ivyt of the Greeks. Aristotle has 

 well described the bird, its long tongue, its power of protruding and 

 retracting it, and the writhing snake-like motion which it can impart ! 

 to its neck without moving the rest of the body. ('Hist. Anim.,' j 

 ii. 12.) It has been made familiar to most of our literary readers by 

 the adjuration in the second Idyll of Theocritus (' Pharmaceutria '). j 

 It is also the lynx of the Romans. (Pliny, xl. 47.) Yunx is the form j 

 used by Linnaeus and zoologists generally, but it ought to be Itinx, or 

 lynx. The Wryneck is the Torcol of the French, and also the Tercou, 

 Torcou, Turoot, Tercot, and Torcot of the game, according to Belon ; 

 Torcicollo, Collatorto, Stortacoll, Capetorto, Vertilla, and Formieula, 

 of the Italians; Gjoktyta of the Swedes; Bende-Hals of Brunnich; 

 Natterwindl, Wendhals, Wendehals, and Dre-Hals, of the Germans ; 

 Long-Tongue, Emmet-Hunter, Snake-Bird, Cuckoo's-Mate, Cuckoo- 

 Maid, Cuckoo's-Maid, and Cuckoo-Fool (two last Gloucestershire) of 

 the English; Gwas y Gog and Gwddfdro of the Welsh; Arizui of 

 the Japanese. 



Tbe male has the ground-colour of the plumage of the upper parts 

 rusty ash-colour, irregularly spotted and speckled with brown and 

 black ; a large brown streak extends from the occiput to between the 

 scapulars ; on th3 external barbs of the wing-feathers rusty squared 

 spots ; tail-feathers bounded with black zig-zags ; throat and front of 

 the neck pale rusty, with small transverse black lines ; bill and, feet 

 olive-brown : irides hazel or yellow-brown. Total length 7 inches. 

 It is found in Denmark, Sweden (May), Germany, Holland (where it 

 U rare), France, Spain, and Italy (summer) ; England, and Wales, 



Scotland (rare in the last and in the north of the first summer) ; 

 Katntschatka (Vieillot), Japan, Himalaya Mountains. Winter resi- 

 dences, North Africa and warm parts of Western Asia. 



When the Cuckoo is heard, the Wryneck may be looked for ; and 

 from their advent and departure at about the same time, some of the 

 English names and one of the Welsh appellations, Gwas y Gog, must 

 have originated, for in other respects there is no relationship or simi- 

 larity between the birds. 



Caterpillars and a variety of insects form the food of the Wryneck, 

 and it is a great devourer of ants and their eggs. Elderberries have 

 been mentioned as being a part of its diet. 



Colonel Montagu says that the Wryneck makes a noise very like 

 the smaller species of Hawks, frequently repeating it in spring. Mr. 

 Yarrell describes the note as a sharp sound, repeated several times, 

 and not unlike the whistle of a kestrel. 



In captivity the Wryneck is a favourite, and the bird soon becomes 

 reconciled to the half-reclaimed state in which English and French 

 boys are fond of keeping it, taking it out to the woods with a long 

 string tied to its leg, and sufferiug it to ascend trees and forage for 

 food generally, within the length of its tether, and letting it climb 

 at intervals about their dress. 



In the ' Portraits d'Oyseaux ' the following quatrain is printed under 

 the cut of this species : 



" Le Tercot est an pic ver'd ressemblant, 

 Do naturfil et noil de corpulence, 

 Sa langue longue hors de trois doigts il lance, 

 Ayant en cc du serpent le seznblant." 



The two last Hues are very nearly a translation from Aristotle. 



z 



'/ A'MIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Cycadacea. 

 * The species of this genus are trees with a single cylindrical trunk, 

 increasing by the development of a single terminal bud, and covered by 

 the scaly bases of the leaves ; the wood consists of concentric circles, 

 the cellular zones between which are exceedingly loose, the ligneous 

 tissue having the tubes marked by circular discs ; the leaves are pin- 

 nated, not articulated, and have a gyrate vernation. The flowers are 

 dioecious; the male flowers are arranged in tessellated catkins with 

 abrupt scales, the anthers oval, sessile at the under side of each scale. 

 The female flowers are in tessellated catkins, the scales peltate, drupes 

 two at the under side of each scale. The species are found in the 

 tropics of America and Asia, and also at the Cape of Good Hope and 

 in Australia. 



Z. tpiralia has numerous leaflets, linear, very smooth, somewhat 

 curved, with a few spinous teeth at the extremity ; the catkins smooth, 

 with pointed scales in the female, and wedge-shaped ones in the male 

 flowers. This plant is a native of New South Wales. The cone is 

 about half the size of a man's head, and composed of nuts about the 

 size of a chestnut. These nuts are eaten by the natives of Australia, 

 but on being tried by English settlers produced sickness. Their flavour 

 is not unlike that of chestnuts. 



Z. cycadii, Bread-Tree Zamia, has lanceolate spinous smooth entire 

 leaflets tapering at the base ; the scales of the catkins abrupt, obtuse, 

 pointless. It is a native of the south-eastern parts of southern Africa. 

 Tbe stem is thick and scaly, and attains a height of six or seven feet. 

 Thunberg states that when the stems become old they are broken 

 through by the Kaflres and Hottentots, who collect the pith and tie 

 it up in the skin of a sheep or calf which has been previously well 

 rubbed with grease. It is then buried in the ground, and after 

 remaining there till it becomes putrefied, it is taken up and bruised 

 between two stones, and then formed into little cakes about an inch 

 in thickness. These are baked in wood-ashes, and are esteemed by 

 those who prepare them as a great luxury, though they are not at all 

 palatable to a European taste. 



About seventeen species of the old genus Zamia have been described. 

 Kight of these are now placed in the genus or sub-genus Arthrozamia, 

 which is characterised by having the leaflets articulated with the 

 racliis of the frond-like midrib ; there is also a preparation in the 

 rudimentary stamen to form a 2-celled anther, while in Zamia the 

 leaflets are confluent, and the pollen is not disposed in 2-lobed masses. 

 A fine collection of these plants exists iu the Royal Gardens at Kew, 

 and another has been made by Mr. Yates at Lauderdale House, 

 Highga'.e. 



The genus Zamia has many representatives in a fossil state. Of the 

 sixteen species that have been discovered, twelve resemble so nearly 

 the recent species that they have received the same designation. The 

 remaining four differ in the exsertion and venation of their leaves, and 

 hence they are placed under the fossil genus Zamites. Tbe principal 

 forma of these genera have been found in the lias and oolitic formations. 

 Two fomil stems nearly resembling those of Zamia were found by Dr. 

 Auckland in Portland stone. These are made by Brongniart to con- 

 stitute the genus Mantellia, a name given in honour of Dr. Gideon 



Mantell. He has also included in the same genus a stem fouud in 

 shelly limestone near Luneville. 



ZAMI'TES, a genus of Fossil Cycadeous Plants from the Oolitic, 

 Wealden, and Cretaceous formations (Presl.), synonymous with 

 Mantellia and Brongniart. 



ZANELOSTOMUS. [CucuLiD*:.] 



ZANNICHELLIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Pfaiadacece, named after John Jerome Zannichelli, a botanist. The 

 flowers in this genus are monoecious. The male flowers have neither 

 calyx nor corolla, with a single elongated filament surmounted by an 

 oblong anther ; the female flowers have a calyx consisting of a single 

 leaf, no corolla, the germens four or more, the stigmas peltate, and 

 the capsules sessile. 



There is but one species of this genus, /. palustris, the Marsh 

 Horned-Pondweed. It is a native of ponds, ditches, and rivulets in 

 most parts of Europe. 



ZANO'NIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Cucurbitacea!, named after James Zanoni. The only species belonging 

 to this genus is Z. Indiva, the Climbing Indian Cucumber. The fruit 

 is described by Rheede as obscurely triangular, and having the flavour 

 of the cucumber. 



ZANTHOMIZA. [XANTHOMYZA.] 



ZANTHORNUS. [STURNIDJE.] 



ZAPORNIA, Leach, a genus of Birds belonging to the family 

 Rallidce. The beak is slender, shorter than the head, acuminated, 

 compressed, acute ; upper mandible gradually incurved ; nostrils 

 linear, lateral, placed at the base of the beak. Legs long, slender, 

 cleft, with three toes in front; the hinder toe elevated from the 

 ground at its base ; the tibia! half naked. (Gould.) 



Z. porzana, the Spotted Crake. This is the Petit Rale d'Eau, 

 Caouchouan, and Marouette of the French ; Porcellana, Porzana, 

 Grugnetto, Porciglione, and Gallinella, of the Italians ; Punktiertes 

 Rohrhuhn and Kleines Gesprenkeltes Waaserhuhn, of the Germans ; 

 Speckled Water-Hen and Skitty, of the English ; and Dwfriar 

 Fannog of the Welsh. 



Adult and Old Male. Forehead, eyebrows, and throat leaden-gray; 

 sides of the head ash marked with black ; upper parts olive-brown, 

 but all the feathers black in tha centre and variegated with small 

 spots and stripes of pure white; breast and lower parts olive, shaded 

 with ash and markod with white spots these spots are rounded on 

 the breast, but disposed on the sides iu transverse bands ; middle 

 tail-feathers bordered with white ; lower tail-coverts pure white ; bill 

 greenish-yellow, red at the base; feet greenish-yellow; iris brown. 

 Length about 9 inches. 



Adult Female. Ash-colour of the thros.t and neck less extensive ; 

 sides of the head with brown spots ; base of the bill with rather 

 less red. 



It is found in Sweden (summer visitor, rare) ; Southern Russia ; 

 north of Germany and Holland (rare) ; France, Provence, and to the 

 Mediterranean (more common). It is of most frequent occurrence ia 

 the south and eist of Europe ; it has been seen at Smyrna in the 

 winter, and is stated to extend to India. It is a summer visitor in 



