12 P1CID.E. 



large scales ; the toes have smaller scales on their upper 

 surface, and the soles of the feet are rather flat, and warty ; 

 the claws arc grooved beneath, compressed at the sides, 

 and terminate in very sharp points. The tarsi mea- 

 sure nine lines in length ; the outer front toe one inch, 

 including the claw, which measures three lines ; the inner 

 front toe, including the claw of two lines and a half, 

 measures six lines and a half; the outer hinder toe ten 

 lines, including the claw of three lines in length ; and the 

 inner hinder toe five lines, including the claw of two lines. 

 The colour of the legs and toes is raw umber, and that 

 of the claws dusky. The feathers of the head about the 

 nape are loose, and somewhat elongated, like those of the 

 larks, so that the bird can erect them to form a sort of crest. 

 The general colouring of the Wryneck is a graduated 

 mixture of brown and grey, with waved crossings or trans- 

 verse markings of pure black, and the disposition of these 

 colours is as follows. The top of the head is grey, with 

 very fine waved lines of black towards the tip of each of the 

 feathers ; the nape is the same, but less distinctly marked ; 

 from the back of the neck commences a row of black spots, 

 which reaches down the back, where it is broadest ; the 

 lower part of the back, as far as the tail, is ash-coloured, 

 finely marked with black lines and dots, with black shafts to 

 the feathers, some of which are ornamented with arrow-shaped 

 markings ; about the shoulders the grey is strongly intermix- 

 ed with brown, and covered with black arrow-head shaped 

 spots, which are bordered with pale yellowish brown ; and on 

 the feathers which lap over the wings is a row of the largest 

 of these black spots, which is continued down the greater 

 wing-coverts and tertials, and ends in a line with the dusky 

 tips of the greater quill-feathers on each side of the back 

 when the wings are closed. The wings are entirely brown 

 with black markings, as represented in the plate. From the 



