Birds. 1107 



ing in my garden, for a friend, but I was prevented by a brood of jays 

 devouring all the acorns before they were ripe, — at least before any 

 fell to the ground. 



Great Black Woodpecker, Picus Martins. Mr. Hewitson, in 

 his ' Eggs of British Birds' (part 13, p. 193), mentions Mr. T. Mey- 

 nell, of York, says that he well remembers having seen a pair in the 

 grounds of the Friarage at Yarm. This bird is not included in Mr. 

 Selby's Catalogue. 



Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis. Not unfrequent in some of 

 our woods. When we consider the vast destruction many insects make 

 to our noblest forest trees, we ought to protect the Picidae as much as 

 possible ; for it is by these birds, which live on those insects, that we 

 can best hope to prevent their destruction and almost certain decay. 

 The tongue of the woodpeckers deserves especial examination from 

 its structure and mechanism. 



Great Spotted Woodpecker, Picus major. This species is in- 

 serted in Graves's ' Birds of Cleveland :' but I have never seen a spe- 

 cimen from this vicinity. In Northumberland, Mr. Selby is induced 

 to consider it as a bird of passage. 



Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Picus minor. " One was shot 

 some years since, near Stockton Bridge." — J. G. 



Wryneck, Yunx torquilla. Migrates to us early in the spring, 

 and is not uncommon in this district. Mr. Selby, however, informs 

 us that he has not traced it further north than the Wansbeck, in Nor- 

 thumberland; although Mr. Yarrell states (vol. ii. p. 156) that it has 

 been killed three or four times in Scotland. The plumage is remark- 

 able for the great variety and beauty of its pencilling and spots. The 

 occipital feathers of the male nearly approach to a crest. The con- 

 formation of the tongue and its muscles is truly wonderful. Linnaeus 

 says very correctly " collem contorquens circumspicit," from which 

 circumstance, indeed, it takes its English name. I have often noticed 

 it on hedge-banks, seeking for ants ; once, Sept. 15, 1829, in particu- 

 lar, T observed a fine bird picking insects out of a fungus on the edge 

 of a ditch. I have, in my former Catalogue, p. 9, No. 70, re- 

 tained the more correct form of writing the name Jynx ; the Greek 

 word is fry! j — expressive of its sharp and harsh cry, resembling a repe- 

 tition of Jynx, Jynx, Jynx, which is derived from the verb lb$a 9 clamo. 

 Linnaeus at first used Jynx in his ' Fauna Suecica,' 97 ; but after- 

 wards adopted the less correct word Yunx in his ' Systema Naturae,' 

 vol. i. p. 172 (edit. 1766), which appears to have been followed by 

 all subsequent writers. 



