238 
WRYNECK.. CrassIl. 
weak, of a pale afh color, powdered with black 
and red, and marked with four equidiftant bars of 
black. The tongue is long and cylindric; for the 
fame ufe as that of the woodpecker. The toes are 
alfo difpofed the fame way. The bill is fhort, weak, 
and a little arcuate. The irides are of a yellowifh 
hazel. 
The Wryneck we believe to be a bird of paffage, 
appearing here in the fpring before the cuckoo. 
The Welh confider it as the forerunner or fervant 
of that bird, and call it Gwdés y gog, or the 
cuckoo’s attendant: the Swedes regard it in the 
fame light *. 
The food of this fpecies is infeéts, but chiefly 
ants, for on examination we found the ftomach 
of one filled with their remains. As the tongue of 
this bird, like that of the Axi-bear or Tamandria, 
is of anenormous length, it poffibly not only makes 
ufe of it to pick thofe infects out of their retreat, 
but like that quadruped may lay it acrofs their path, 
and when covered with ants draw it into its mouth. 
Its weight isone ounce and a quarter: the length 
feven inches ; the breadth eleven. It takes its 
name from a manner it has of turning its head 
back to the fhoulders; efpecially when terrified: 
it has alfo the faculty of erecting the feathers of the 
* Jynx hieme non apparet, vere autem remigrans, cuculi, 
poit quatuordecem dies, adyentum ruricolis annuntiat. dmen. 
acad, IV. 584. 
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