436 Birds. 



ling the fly within their reach ; it had no power to get away. On 

 showing them an insect, they would come from any part of the room 

 and perch on my finger and take it, and they would often touch it 

 with their tongue before they ate it. They would climb by short 

 springs all over my person, every now and then insinuating their worm- 

 like tongue (very like a slender brandling worm) in the button-holes 

 of my coat or in my pockets, or tickling me about the eyes, nose, ears 

 and neck, in short there was scarcely any crevice or place but what 

 their long tongues would be prying into. For the purpose of keeping 

 them as clean in feather as possible, I put each of them into a sepa- 

 rate cage, and after three weeks let them out in the room. Their ac- 

 tions were now very different to what they had been when they were 

 together ; they would scuffle about the room in a rapid manner, look 

 fiercely at each other, stretching out their heads and necks and point- 

 ing like two game cocks, each pursuing his opponent round the room, 

 and evidently inclined for battle. This pugnaceous disposition is ob- 

 servable in the males of most of the smaller summer birds, and causes 

 them to separate more widely when in the wild state. 



At times, if not well supplied with food, these birds (particularly 

 the old one) would hammer the cage with their bills, not for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining their liberty, but as they are in the habit of doing 

 in the wild state, with the view of alarming those insects that are con- 

 cealed behind the decayed bark of trees : these insects are their prin- 

 cipal food. 



I kept these birds three months, and then parted with them : how 

 they got on with their new acquaintance I have never heard. 



The wryneck is very partial to the hole she has selected for a nest- 

 ing-place, and cannot easily be made to forsake it ; she will continue 

 to lay her eggs in it year after year, they likewise sleep in these holes 

 at night. In cages they will rather sleep in a corner, or creep into 

 the feeding- trough, if there is room enough, than roost on the perch. 



Although robust, stout-built birds, they are rather susceptible of 

 cold ; and my nestlings, when well grown, would all huddle together 

 in a corner of the cage at night. 



Wrynecks seem to prefer cultivated grounds : I have no recollec- 

 tion of seeing them in any of the large woods, or of taking their eggs 

 in such places. They generally leave this country in September. 



I have not here attempted any scientific description of the bird, but 

 have mentioned facts just as they have occurred and come under my 

 own observation. W. H. Thomas. 



6, Park Place, Walworth, December 1, 1843. 



