162 THE WKYSJiCK. 



master. One day, being impatient of the ceaseless chirping of 

 one of them, he put it out of the window ; but at night it 

 answered to his call, and allowed itself to be retaken. Even 

 if sitting upon a high tree, the sight of its food box was 

 sufficient to lure it to the window. 



ADDITIONAL. This beautiful summer visitant, which has a re- 

 markable habit of twisting the neck with a slow, undulatory 

 movement, like that of a snake, and turning its head in various 

 directions, which habit has given occasion for the name Wry- 

 neck, or Writheneck, corresponding to Torquilla and Torticollis 

 comes to this country regularly a little before the Cuckoo, 

 from which circumstance it has obtained the name of Cuckoo's 

 maid, mate, or messenger. It is sparingly distributed through 

 all the south-east of England, and rarely, if ever, passes the cen- 

 tral heights, except as a straggler. 



MUDIE says that in its general shape it has some resemblance to 

 the Woodpecker; and it also a little resembles the smallest British 

 one in the markings, though not iu the tints of its colours. It 

 is also just a little larger than that bird, though not quite so long 

 in the wings. This author gives a very faithful and animated 

 description of the habits of the bird, for which we must refer our 

 readers to his History : he also says that " Wrynecks are very 

 abundant in' many parts of Surrey. They are sociable in the early 

 part of the season, and assemble at the call note, 'peup, peup,' by 

 imitating which with a sort of mouth-whistle, the London bird- 

 catchers obtain numbers of them ; they climb in the same style as 

 Woodpeckers, but not so often, though they often leap sportively 

 after each other up the boles of the trees. When a wounded 

 one is taken in the hand, it raises the feathers of the crown, 

 flattens those of the neck, writhes that part slowly like a snake, 

 and occasionally hisses. These birds, if captured, show signs of 

 pugnacity, or perhaps of fear, but their motions are slow and 

 twining. They can be partially tamed, but do not live long in 

 confinement. They usually appear in the southern counties in 

 the first week of April, and retire in October. They are very 

 noisy in the early part of the season, but become silent toward 

 the latter." KNAPP describes the bird as " unusually shy and 

 timid," and says that " when disturbed it escapes by a night pre- 

 cipitate and awkward, and hides itself from our sight ; and were 

 not its haunts and habits known, we should never conjecture that 

 this bustling fugitive was our long-forgotten spring visitant the 

 Wryneck." YARKELL says that " the Wryneck, when quitting 

 the southern part of the European continent in autumn, goes to 

 North Africa, and the warm parts of Western Asia." 



