114 THE BIRDS OF DEVON. 



sometimes takes the trouble to excavate several holes before finally 

 choosing one for its nest, and is very rapid in its carpentering, as may be 

 judged from the quantity of "saw-dust" lying on the ground beneath 

 the trees. 



Wryneck, l/jnx tovrndlla, Linn. 



[Long-tongue, Emmet-hunter, Snake-head.] 



A casual visitor of rare occurrence. 



Mr. Elford only once saw this bird in Devon (Polwhele, Hist. Devon, 

 i. chap. (■)). According to Mr. Comyiis it was not uncommon in the 

 ncighbourliood of Dawlish, and hud bred there. He had two fresh 

 s])ecimens in his possession in. May 1S2U (E. M., Trans. Plym. Inst. IS^JO ; 

 Mag. Xat. Hist. n. s. 1837, p. 227). Specimens occurred at Lcigham, 

 MiUaton, and Ham, near Tlymoutli, and one was caught by a limed twig 

 on Lipsom Hill in July 1&31 (E. M., Kowe's Peranib. Dartmoor, 1848). 

 It has occasionally been observed in the vicinity- of Teignmouth and afc 

 Ashburton (T. & K.). One was shot at Topsham, May 80th, 1841 

 (F. W, L. It., MS. iii. p. 82). One was obtained at Pennycomequick, 

 near Plymouth, March 2.")th, 1852 (.J. G., ' X.-itiiralist,' l8.')2,'p. 131, and 

 J. P., op. cit. 1853, p. 2U4). In August or September 1858, Mr. G. F. 

 Mathew shot a young sjiecimen in Is'^orth Devon (' Xaturalist,' ISOiJ, 

 p. 357). One flew against the Eddystoue Lighthouse, April 14th, ls75 

 (J. G., Zool. 1875, p. 4rl90). There are specimens in the Torquay 

 Museum from Ilsliam and Torquay, and in A. M. M. probably from the 

 neighbourliood of Exeter, from Dr. \V. II. Scott (Zooi. 1841>, p. 2384) and 

 Mr. llalph Sanders, but none have occurred there for many years. Mr. 

 II. P. ^'icholls, of Kiugsbridge, informs us that about six have been 

 met with in that neighbourhood in twenty-five years. A boy shot one 

 on a grass-plot behind a house at the top of Kingsbridge, September 0th, 

 1878 (E. A. S. E., MS. Notes). Mr. Seaward, of Exmouth, has a specimen 

 shot at Topsham during the past summer (l8iil). The Wryneck is a very 

 rare straggler at the period of the autumn migration in Xorth Devon, 

 the only example we ever saw being one Avhich was shot in a clover-field 

 on high ground when we were after the Partridges in September. 



But where the bird m >st abounds it is, however, seldom seen. The 

 colour of its plumage harmonizes so well with that of the bark of trees 

 that we have looked up in vain for it into some hedge-row ehu fiom 

 which we have heard proceeding its singular and unmistakable crv 

 which not a little resembles that of the Kestrel. The AVryneck has the 

 same elongated tongue which is peculiar to the "Woodpeckers, but it has 

 not the stitt' tail on which the Woodpeckers balance themselves in ascend- 

 ing trees, and is, in consequence, more of a percher than a climber. Its 

 favourite food consists of ants, and these it picks up with its ton.sue, 

 darting at them with such rapidity that its motions almost escape the 

 eye, securing them with a sticky secretion ut the tip. The bird gets its 



