THE WEONG TUKNING 89 



remembered that the cuckoo is out of moral and physical 

 health and that its behaviour is a very rare exception to 

 the general rule. 



WRYNECK-MORALITY 



I have this morning watched a performance on the part 

 of a wryneck, which, as it is not recorded by Morris, or 

 any other bird book in my possession, may perhaps be 

 of sufficient interest to justify publication. Last year 

 a pair of these birds noted some nest boxes in my garden 

 as likely building sites, and kept three of them vacant for 

 some time ; I watched them eject bit by bit the entire 

 nest of an unlucky blue tit, but to my disappointment 

 I never really sympathized with a house agent before 

 they departed elsewhither after about a week's hesitation. 

 This spring they have reappeared and resumed the same 

 tactics. A few days ago they made an attempt on a box 

 occupied by a pair of nuthatches, but were defeated, 

 either by the efforts of the owners, who, though alarmed, 

 struck at the intruder repeatedly, or by the small size of 

 the entrance, which had been reduced by a mud wall 

 built after their fashion by the nuthatches. This morn- 

 ing my eyes were caught by the sudden appearance from 

 another box of a wryneck and a great tit, locked in un- 

 equal combat. The poor tit had no chance in the open, 

 and made off at once. The wryneck returned directly to 

 the nest, which she started to throw out piecemeal, and 

 three times at short intervals emerged with an egg in her 

 beak, which she carried to an adjacent branch and ate, 

 dropping the empty shell to the ground. An hour later 

 the inside of the box was absolutely clean, from which it 

 would seem that the tenancy, and not the eggs, was the 

 prime object of the attack. At the same time, the charge 

 of egg-sucking is a serious one to bring against any bird, 

 and it would be interesting to know if it can be substan- 

 tiated against the whole species, or is only the bad habit 



of a stray individual. 



C. D. MOGGRIDGE. 



