Wryneck. 257 



motionless all the while, and this is especially seen when the 

 bird is engaged at an ant-heap, extracting those insects and 

 their larvae which form its favourite food ; hence another of its 

 names, ' Emmet-hunter.' The manner in which it seizes its prey 

 is by darting out its very long extensile tongue, which is even 

 longer in proportion than that of the woodpeckers, and trans- 

 fixing or securing it by means of a glutinous secretion with 

 which it is furnished, and this it does with wonderful rapidity 

 and never-failing accuracy: from this habit it is often called 

 'Long- tongue.' Again, it is known as the ' Snake-bird,' from the 

 hissing noise made by the parent and young birds when the 

 hole in which it has made its nest is disturbed ; on such 

 occasions they will puff out their feathers, snap with their bills, 

 hiss like snakes, and assume the most bold and defiant aspect. 

 It is also known as the ' Cuckoo's mate,' and ' Cuckoo's fool, 1 and 

 1 Cuckoo's leader,' because it arrives a few days before the 

 cuckoo ; and in Sweden as Gohyta, and in Norway as Sd Gouk, 

 that is ' Seed Cuckoo,' because its note is heard during seedtime. 

 In Malta it enjoys two names, Sultan issummiem, or ' King of 

 the Quails,' arriving on migration just before its subjects ; and 

 Abu lebbiet, 'Father of Crouchers,' I know not for what reason. 

 The late Mr. Knox said that in Sussex it is known as the 

 ' Rinding Bird,' so called from its appearance in the spring 

 being supposed to indicate the proper time for felling the oak- 

 trees, and removing the bark or rind from the trunks and 

 branches. Now the operation of ' rinding ' cannot be attempted 

 until the sap has begun to flow ; then myriads of minute insects 

 are roused from their winter sleep in the deepest recesses of the 

 bark, and seek the surface, where the long elastic tongue of the 

 Wryneck extracts them rapidly from the crevices. Mr. Marsh 

 used to say that in Wiltshire this bird is sometimes known as 

 the 'Valiant Sparrow.' It received the name Yunx (in classical 

 Greek tuyg) from its cry sounding like the exclamation /u, whence 

 ''uw, ' I shout ;' but, according to mythologists, the nymph Yunx, 

 the daughter of Echo, was transformed into a Wryneck through 

 the jealousy of Juno. In Spain and Portugal it derives its 



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