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 in 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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