48 ; THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



grass, or even on the short turf in the open 

 park, is made of dry grass and moss, and lined 

 with finer grass and hair. The eggs are four 

 or five in number, huffish or greenish white in 

 ground colour, spotted with reddish brown and 

 gray. The spots on the eggs of this species 

 are more distinct, and the ground colour more 

 apparent than in those of the Skylark. 



Our parks and gardens in summer are also 

 the haunt of another very interesting and curious 

 English, bird, the WRYNECK (lynx torquilla). It arrives 

 easf h R n a d rer here from its winter quarters in Africa about the 

 L middle of April, and then its loud, shrill, far- 

 sounding note of heel-heel is quite sufficient to 

 identify the species without closer scrutiny. The 

 mottled-brown and gray of this bird's upper 

 plumage are very beautiful, and the pale buff throat 

 and breast, crossed with dark bars, are very 

 characteristic. It is most closely allied to the 

 Woodpeckers ; its feet are the same, two toes in 

 front, two behind, and the tongue is extensile 

 like theirs, whilst its habits too are very similar. 

 You may watch it climbing about the old moss- 

 grown trees in the park, searching the chinks and 

 crannies of limbs and trunk for its insect food, 

 then flying in undulating course to another tree, 

 where the same close search is made. In climbing,, 

 however, the bird never uses its tail for support. 

 The Wryneck is also often flushed from the 

 ground, where it searches the ant-hills for eggs 

 and ants, picking them up with lightning speed, 

 as they cling to its long sticky tongue, shot in 

 and out too rapidly for the eye to follow it. The 

 Wryneck pairs for life, and season after seasoa 



