THE WRYNECK 



[ORDER: Coraciiformes. FAMILY : lyngince] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. C. R. JOURDAIN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



WRY NECK [lynx torquilla, Linnaeus. Cuckoo's mate, barley or snake bird, 

 long tongue. French, torcol ; German, Wendehals ; Italian, torcicollo], 



i. Description. The wryneck may readily be distinguished by its zygo- 

 dactyle feet, protrusible tongue, and the exquisite mottled greys and brown of the 

 plumage. The sexes are alike, and there is no seasonal change of plumage. (PI. 77.) 

 Length 7 inches [177*80 mm.]. In the male the upper parts are of a silvery grey, 

 finely " powdered " or freckled with darker grey, and faintly tinged with buff. The 

 crown is variegated by narrow bars of dark chestnut and small oval spots of white ; 

 while the hind neck and interscapulars are of a pale chestnut, with broad striations 

 of very dark chestnut. The scapulars are lichen-grey with sharp streaks of chest- 

 nut ; the lower back is similarly coloured and mottled with white. The wing- 

 coverts are pale chestnut, freckled with grey and spotted with white. The remiges 

 are dark brown, with pale chestnut bars on the outer webs : the innermost second- 

 aries are of a pale chestnut freckled with grey, and barred with dark chestnut. 

 The tail is lichen-grey, with more or less conspicuous zig-zag bars of black, bordered 

 with white. The throat and foreneck are of a rich buff, with closely set transverse 

 dusky bars ; the rest of the under parts are of a pale buff or white, the mid-breast 

 marked with chevrons of dark grey or the chevrons may be Y-shaped. The 

 flanks are marked by dusky transverse bars, but the abdomen is without markings. 

 The under tail-coverts are white, barred with dark chestnut and pale buff. The 

 female is slightly duller and slightly smaller than the male. The juvenile plumage 

 differs from that of the adults in being darker and greyer than the adult, the pale 

 chestnut areas of the adult are in the juvenile darker and duller: the white spots 



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