Wrynecks 



601 



''.A 



is thickly spotted with brownish black; the top of the head is bright yellow, 

 cut by a band of red. Of its habits as observed in Haiti, Mr. Cory says: "Its 

 habits resemble those of a Woodpecker; it climbs about the trunks of trees in 

 search of food. It has a short, sharp note, generally uttered while flying. The 

 nest is built in a hole in a tree." 



The Rufous Piculets (Sasia), of which three Old World species are known, 

 are distinguished at once from all the other members of the group by wanting 

 the first toe, and in having a naked space around the eye; the coloration is also 

 very different from that in Picumnus. In the Himalayan species (5. ochracea) 

 the plumage is rufous-olive above, becoming bright orange-brown on the rump, 

 and brownish rufous or orange-brown below, the nasal plumes and forehead 

 being golden yellow in the male and brownish in the female; the length is a 

 little more than three inches. It is a solitary bird, usually observed singly or 

 in pairs, and frequents the brushwood and bamboo thickets, where it secures 

 its food of insects. The nest-hole is usually excavated in a bamboo, sometimes 

 in a tree. 



The Wrynecks (Subfamily lyngina). The second subfamily of the Picida 

 comprises a single genus (lynx) and four species, the so-called Wrynecks, 

 and all are natives of the Old World. They 

 are obviously related to the Piculets, having 

 the same soft, flexible tail-feathers, but the 

 tail is relatively longer, and the large nostrils 

 are not covered by plumes, but are partially 

 hidden by a membrane. The conical, com- 

 pressed bill is of moderate size, while the 

 hyoid apparatus is well developed and the 

 tongue as extensile as in many of the true 

 Woodpeckers, but it is not barbed at the 

 tip, as is often the case in the latter. The 

 plumage is soft, brownish gray in color, finely 

 mottled or vermiculated above with brown 

 and black lines; the sexes are similar, and 

 the length between six and eight inches. The 

 common name of Wryneck is derived from the 

 curious habit of elongating the neck and twist- 

 ing the head, and when disturbed, especially 

 when in its nesting hole, it utters a loud hiss- 

 ing sound, whence in England it is often called 



the Snake Bird. The Wrynecks do not climb about the trunks of trees, as 

 their tails are too weak to support them, though they often cling to the trunks 

 while in search of their food. 



The Common Wryneck (lynx torquilla) is distributed over much of Europe 

 and Asia, wintering in northern Africa, the Indian peninsula, and China. It is 

 not an uncommon summer visitor to England, where, in addition to its other 

 names, it is also called the Cuckoo's mate, from the fact that it precedes the 



FIG. 175. 



Common Wryneck, lynx 

 torquilla. 



