THE WRYNECKS. 15 



was staying, and allowed him to observe their ways at a short 

 distance from his window. 



The food of the present species consists mainly of insects, 

 which it obtains by splitting off the bark of the trees, but, like 

 other Woodpeckers, it will also feed on fruit and berries, 

 though it never seems to descend to the ground to feed on 

 ants like the Green Woodpecker. The drumming on a small 

 branch of a tree, supposed to be a call-note between the sexes, 

 is often heard in the spring. 



Nest. None. A neatly made hole is drilled into a dead or 

 decayed branch by the birds themselves, and there at the 

 distance of six or eight inches downwards, the eggs are laid in 

 a small chamber, on the chips of wood or the powdered dust 

 caused by the excavation. Such a nest-hole can be seen in 

 the Bird-Gallery of the British Museum, and is the identical 

 one described by Mr. Gould in his " Birds of Great Britain." 

 This bird often takes advantage of any hole which it may find 

 in a decaying tree and may be found nesting in a pollard 

 willow or an ancient fruit-tree. 



Eggs. From five to eight in number. They are laid about 

 the middle of May, and are pure ivory-white. Axis 0*8-0-9 ; 

 diam., o'55-o*7. 



THE WRYNECKS. SUB-FAMILY 



The Wrynecks constitute a little group of Woodpeckers, 

 with a soft-plumaged tail, rather long, and variegated and 

 mottled like the general colour of the upper surface of the 

 body. The bill is stout and shorter than the head, and the 

 nasal aperture is not concealed by bristly plumes, but, on the 

 contrary, is exposed and partially hidden by an overhanging 

 membrane. The feet are zygodactyle and resemble those of 

 a Woodpecker in every respect, and the long extensile tongue 

 is exactly fashioned like that of the other members of the 

 Family Pidda. 



The Wrynecks are represented by a single genus lynx. 

 This name is written " Yunx" in most works on Natural 

 History, b\t, as Dr. Henry Wharton has pointed out, the name 

 is derived from iu, " to cry out " : hence lynx. 



