WRYNECK. 165 



head and neck towards each shoulder alternately, with 

 grotesque contortions, becomes an object of terror to a 

 timid intruder, and the bird, taking advantage of a moment 

 of indecision, darts with the rapidity of lightning from a 

 situation whence escape seemed impossible. 



These birds feed on caterpillars and various other in- 

 sects, and are often seen on the ground near ant-hills, con- 

 suming as food large quantities of the ants and their eggs. 

 Bechstein says the Wryneck will eat elderberries. The 

 anatomical construction of the tongue and its appendages 

 in the Wryneck, and the consequent mode of taking its 

 food, like the Woodpeckers, will amply repay the closest 

 examination. By an elongation of the two posterior 

 branches of the bones of the tongue, and the exercise of 

 the muscles attached to them, this bird is able to extend 

 the tongue a very considerable distance beyond the point of 

 the beak ; the end of the tongue is horny and hard ; a large 

 and long gland is situated at the under edge of the lower 

 jaw on each side, which secretes a glutinous mucus, and 

 transfers it to the inside of the mouth by a slender duct. 

 With this glutinous mucus the end of the tongue is always 

 covered, for the especial purpose of conveying food into 

 the mouth by contact. So unerring is the aim with which 

 the tongue is darted out, and so certain the effect of the 

 adhesive moisture, that the bird never fails in obtaining its 

 object at every attempt. So rapid, also, is the action of 

 the tongue in thus conveying food into the mouth, that the 

 eye is unable distinctly to follow it, and Colonel Montagu, 

 who had an opportunity of observing this bird feed while 

 confined in a cage, says, that an ant's egg, which is of a 

 light colour, and more conspicuous than the tongue, had 

 somewhat the appearance of moving towards the mouth by 

 attraction, as a needle flies to a magnet. In consequence 

 of this bird feeding frequently at the ant-hills, the author 



