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WRYNECK, Yunx torquilla. The Wryneck is al- 

 ways included amongst the Picidse, although differ- 

 ing from them in some respects, especially the tail- 

 feathers, which are not strong and pointed like those 

 of the true Woodpeckers, but, on the contrary, soft 

 and somewhat rounded. Although this bird has 

 two toes in front and two behind, it is by no means 

 so decided a climber as the rest of the family in 

 which it is included. In Guernsey, where I have 

 had most opportunities of watching this bird, I have 

 generally seen it perched in the ordinary way on a 

 small branch of a tree, or low bush, or hedge. It is 

 a summer visitor, arriving in this country in the 

 middle of April, about the same time as the Cuckoo, 

 from which circumstance it has had the name of 

 " Cuckoo's Mate " given it. In Guernsey, where it 

 is, as I said, very common, it is always called the 

 " Mackerel Bird," as it arrives about the time the 

 mackerel are in season : another very common local 

 name for this bird is the " Snake Bird," from the 

 peculiar noise it makes when disturbed, and from 

 the snake-like manner in which it occasionally moves 

 its head. 



Though in general not amongst the earlier 

 summer migrants, not arriving till the middle of 

 April, and departing again at the end of August or 

 beginning of September, occasional stragglers appear 

 to arrive rather earlier, and also to make a later 

 stay, the 19th of March being the earliest note I 



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