568 



PICARIAN BIRDS. 



peckers, but even longer than is usual in that family, and the way in which it darts 

 its tongue out rapidly, completes the resemblance of the head to that of a snake, 

 and has doubtless had something to do with its sobriquet of snake-bird. The 

 common wryneck (/. torquilla) is a summer visitor to Europe and Northern 

 Asia; in many parts of Great Britain being known, besides its name of snake- 

 bird, as the cuckoo's-mate, since it generally arrives a little before that bird, 

 and is supposed to be a harbinger of the cuckoo's arrival in the spring. It is 

 also called in some parts of England the pee-pee, doubtless from its curious note, 

 which resembles the words pee-pee-pee uttered in a somewhat shrill voice. In 



summer the wryneck is found over the 

 greater part of Europe and Asia, extending 

 even to Japa; its northern range being about 

 62 north latitude. Both the Indian and 

 the Japanese birds have been considered to 

 be distinct, but Mr. Hargitt recognises but 

 one form. The Asiatic birds which breed 

 in the countries north of the Himalaya, 

 |^y and even in Kashmir, winter in the Indian 

 Peninsula, and the Japanese birds in China 

 and the Burmese countries. The European 

 wrynecks appear to winter in Northern 

 Africa and extend to Abyssinia, and on the 

 west coast to Senegambia. The wryneck 

 does not climb trees like a woodpecker, 

 though it clings to the trunk of a tree in 

 pursuit of its insect-food. It feeds largely 

 on ants, and is often seen on the ground 

 in pursuit of its prey; and, unlike the 



woodpecker, it does not bore a nest-hole, but selects one in a tree, generally a 

 decayed fruit-tree, as it is fond of frequenting orchards. The eggs are sometimes 

 as many as ten in number, but the average number is seven or eight. They 

 are white like those of a woodpecker, but not quite so glossy. 



WRYNECK. 



THE HONEY-GUIDES. 

 Family INDICATORID^. 



Long classified with the cuckoos, which they resemble in the structure of their 

 feet, while they are also believed to lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, the 

 honey-guides are now recognised as a distinct group. In place of selecting totally 

 different birds, the honey-guides appear to choose for victims their own nearest 

 kindred, such as the barbets and woodpeckers ; the little honey-guide depositing its 

 white eggs into the nests of the red- vented woodpecker, the little tiriker-barbet, or 

 the pied barbet, while the large white-backed honey-guide selects the banded 

 barbet as its victim. In structure the honey-guides are now admitted to be akin to 

 woodpeckers and barbets, having many characters in common with both those groups, 



