

. WRYNECK. 161 



attraction, as a needle flies to a magnet. In consequence 

 of this bird feeding frequently at the ant-hills, the author 

 of the Journal of a Naturalist has observed, that its long 

 glutinous tongue collects much of the soil of the heaps, and 

 its stomach contains a larger portion of grit than is usually 

 met with in that of other birds. 



The Wryneck makes little or no nest, but deposits its 

 eggs on the fragments of decayed wood within the hole of 

 a tree. The eggs are from six to nine or ten in number, 

 white, smooth, and shining, nine lines and a half long, by 

 seven lines in breadth. 



Mr. Salmon, when residing in Norfolk, recorded a sin- 

 gular instance of the attachment of this bird to a particular 

 retreat, in the following terms : " I wished, last spring, to 

 obtain the eggs of the Wryneck to place in my cabinet, 

 and accordingly watched very closely a pair that had re- 

 sorted to a garden in this village for the purpose of incu- 

 bation ; I soon ascertained that they had selected a hole 

 in an old decayed apple tree for that purpose, the entrance 

 to which was so small as not to admit my hand. The tree 

 being hollow and decayed at the bottom near the ground, 

 I was enabled to reach the nest by putting my arm up- 

 wards, and I found, on withdrawing the nest, that the 

 underneath part of it was composed of moss, hair, &c., 

 having every appearance of an old nest of the Redstart's of 

 the preceding summer ; which, I suspect, was the case : 

 the upper part was made of dried roots. The nest did not 

 contain any eggs, and I returned it by thrusting it up in 

 the inside of the tree. On passing by the same tree about 

 a week afterwards, my attention was arrested by observing 

 one of the birds leaving the hole, upon which I gently 

 withdrew the nest, and was much gratified at finding it 



* Magazine of Natural History, vol. vii. p. 465. 

 VOL. II. M 



