WRYNECK. 163 



The Wryneck is very common during summer in the 

 south-eastern counties of England ; but it decreases in 

 numbers on proceeding to the westward : it is rare in 

 Cornwall, and has not been ascertained to visit Ireland. 

 Northward it is also scarce ; it is rare in Yorkshire. Mr. 

 Selby has ascertained that a few only appear every year in 

 Northumberland. There are records of this bird having 

 been killed twice in Berwickshire, once in Fifeshire, and in 

 one or two other instances in Scotland. Miiller and M. 

 Nilsson include the Wryneck among the birds of Denmark 

 and Sweden, the latter author noticing that it makes its 

 appearance in Sweden at the beginning of May. M. Tern-- 

 minck says it is a rare bird in Holland ; but it is common 

 in Germany, France, Spain, Provence, Italy, Corfu, and 

 Sicily, during summer. Mr. Gould has received specimens 

 from the Himalaya mountains, a locality remarkable for 

 European forms among its animal inhabitants. Mr. Blyth 

 has obtained it in the vicinity of Calcutta, and it is found 

 in China. M. Temminck includes it in his Catalogue of 

 the Birds of Japan ; and M. Vieillot says it is found in 

 Kamtschatka. The Wryneck, when quitting the southern 

 part of the European continent in autumn, goes to north 

 Africa, and the warm parts of western Asia. 



The adult bird has the beak brown ; the irides hazel ; 

 the top of the head greyish brown, barred across with 

 streaks of darker brown and white ; neck, back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts, grey, speckled with brown ; from the 

 occiput down the middle line of the back of the neck, and 

 between the scapulars, a streak of dark brown mixed with 

 black; the wings brown, speckled with lighter yellow 

 brown, and a few white spots ; the primary quill-feathers 

 barred alternately with pale yellow brown and black ; the 

 tertials on the upper surface marked with a descending line 



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