5Rl!JtTti[OtiOGtClL lNO*rte^. % G. JBOLlM lol 



which I have ever had the good fortune to see at large in 

 Northumberland, was observed towards the close of that 

 afternoon, in the grounds at Haggerston Castle. I had 

 walked, with my boy, up the side of the Lowe, in order 

 to show him the Pied Flycatchers, and was astonished to 

 see a Wryneck fly from a small bush on the grass, close 

 to us. For a long time it was quietly hopping about 

 the trees within a few yards of us, but it had evidently 

 lost its bearings, and appeared to be chiefly intent upon 

 finding a suitable roosting place. It edged itself closely 

 in against the trunk of an oak, where there was a splintered 

 limb, and although disturbed several times, always returned 

 to the same spot ; and, as dusk was setting in before 

 we left, it would no doubt pass the night there. It was 

 an object of much curiosity to a Great Tit, a Chafl&nch, 

 and a pair of Willow Wrens, who all made a very close 

 inspection of it, and unmistakably demonstrated their aston- 

 ishment at meeting with a Wryneck in their accustomed 

 haunts. That the Tit and the Finch should regard it as a 

 stranger was perhaps not unnatural, but the Willow Wrens' 

 surprise seemed less justifiable, seeing that they could not 

 themselves have been settled here for more than a few 

 weeks, and had probably encountered Wrynecks before on 

 their travels ; in spite of that, however, they were evidently 

 as much surprised as the others to meet with one, so 

 unexpectedly, in Northumberland. Most curiously, as it 

 happened, upon the same day that we saw the Wryneck at 

 Haggerston, a man, driving a cart, picked up a specimen, 

 lying dead, by the roadside at Lickar Dene, only about two 

 miles away as the crow flies, and, being at a loss to know 

 what the bird was, he fortunately preserved it, and it is 

 now in my collection. It was quite fresh when found, and 

 had not apparently been dead for more than a few hours, 

 though there was nothing to show the cause of its death. 



Mr John Wilson, of Chapel Hill, very kindly wrote to tell 

 me of a Wryneck, which was found beneath the telegraph 

 wires, against which it was supposed to have killed itself, 

 near Oockburnspath Station, on 13th May 1899. It was sent 

 to Edinburgh for preservation, and was in the possession of 

 Mr Turner, carpenter, Cockburnspath. 



