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hopping about with tolerable ease, the tail being held rather erect, as if to avoid soiling it. 

 Like the Woodpecker's its tongue can be thrust out to a great length, being slender, with a 

 horny point, the cartilaginous appendages of the hyoid bone being extremely long and curved 

 over the head to the base of the upper mandible. Beneath the tongue are two long salivary 

 glands, which open to the mouth by two ducts, through which a copious viscid fluid is poured 

 on to the tongue, so that when it is thrust out the ants or larvae stick to it and are drawn into 

 the mouth ; and so quickly is the tongue thrust out and withdrawn, that when it feeds on ant's 

 eggs it appears as if the eggs were attracted to the mouth by some magnetic power. It not 

 only takes ants from the ground or makes raids on their dwellings, but it picks them off the 

 branches or trunks of the trees, and searches amongst the old mosses on tree-trunks, and at 

 their base, for insects of various descriptions — though, as its beak is frequently found covered 

 with mould, it is probable that it obtains its food more frequently on the ground than on the 

 trees. In the stomachs of those dissected a considerable quantity of grit is always found, which 

 is probably collected with the food ; but Naumann says that he has found the stomachs of the 

 nestling birds also to contain some particles of grit. 



Soon after its arrival at its breeding-quarters it commences the business of nidification. A 

 hole in an apple-, pear-, or some soft-wooded non-evergreen tree is selected, usually rather low, 

 and seldom in a carefully hidden place. It never makes a hole for itself, but selects one that 

 appears to suit its purpose, and adapts it merely by cleaning it out and working off and ejecting 

 the rotten portions from the inside. It often takes possession of a hole in a tree where there 

 are other hollows, inhabited by other small birds, such as Sparrows, Titmice, Redstarts, &c, with 

 which it lives in the utmost peace and harmony. I have frequently found nests in fruit-trees in 

 gardens only about five or six feet above the ground, and in the most exposed localities. When 

 the hole is selected and cleared out the female deposits her eggs without any real nest being 

 built, the small pieces of wood serving the purpose of a cradle. The eggs, which are usually 

 deposited about the middle of May, or occasionally rather later, according to the season, are 

 oval, rather stout in shape, and somewhat small for the size of the bird, measuring from f £ by 

 to to |^ by ■§■§• inch, and are pure white in colour and smooth in texture, the shell being so thin 

 that the yelk of the egg shows through and gives them a pale reddish-orange tinge. In number 

 the eggs vary from seven to eleven or twelve or even more, nine or ten being, so far as my 

 experience goes, about the usual complement ; and if the eggs (but one or two) are taken the 

 bird continues to lay. Mr. Stevenson, in a letter just to hand, relates an instance of the extreme 

 fertility of the Wryneck as follows: — "In 1873 a Wryneck which frequented a garden at 

 Sparham, near Norwich, laid forty-two eggs in the season. In 1872 it laid forty-two, in 1871 

 nineteen, in 1870 eight. In 1874 I believe the number was almost as large as in 1873. My 

 friend Mr. Frank Norgate takes the eggs regularly from the nest by means of a spoon ; and the 

 bird continues laying, and does not forsake her nest." The eggs are hatched after being 

 incubated two weeks, the female incubating alone, except when relieved now and again for an 

 hour or so by her mate, doubtless whilst she is in search of food. When the young are hatched 

 they are tended with the greatest solicitude by their parents, who exhibit the greatest affection 

 for their offspring ; and whilst the young are small the female will be caught on the nest rather 

 than leave them. Like the Hoopoe, however, they are not cleanly ; and ere the young leave the 



