In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury. 



307 



in Berkshire; wishing 1 for a memo' from the place in the biid 

 line, I asked my brother to shoot me a Green Woodpecker, which 

 was busily employed on the ground not far off on an ant-hill, and, 

 rather curiously, in about an hour he shot a male P. Viridis, a male 

 P. Minor, and a pair of Nuthatches, which made up a very pretty 

 case, now in my possession. One of the favorite haunts of this 

 pretty little species is to be found in the old elms of Kensington 

 Gardens, which would doubtless prove as safe a place for them as 

 they could well choose, proving — as is often the case — that a bold 

 policy is the safest in the end. 



Yunx Torquilla. " The Wryneck " One of our most beautifully- 

 marked birds, and fairly numerous, though it is seldom observed on 

 account of its generally sober-coloured plumage. Its spring note, 

 however, is sure to betray its presence, for it cannot be mistaken, 

 when once known, for that of any other bird. It consists of one 

 high, sharp, clear note, quickly reiterated some nine or ten times in 

 succession, and tells us that spring is come, quite as surely as the 

 opening of any of our spring flowers in garden or hedge-row. It is 

 often called the u Cuckoo's mate/' amidst the varieties of other local 

 names given to it ; and in old days it used to be considered an 

 effective charm in recalling the wandering footsteps of the husband 

 back to his home ; my ornithological taste having caused me to 

 remember the only line of Theocritus which I can call to mind, and 

 which tells of this supposed power in the poor Wryneck, which used 

 to be fastened to a wheel and spun round and round, during the 

 singing of* the following incantation : — " v Ivy% eX/ce rv tt\vov eyuov 

 ttotI Sw/jlcl top avhpa" — which being interpreted is, " Wryneck, 

 prithee, draw the good man to my home." Would it not be well 

 if the little bird could be used in the good cause still, in many an 

 instance ? though I am afraid the power of the little necromancer 

 would be found but small in the cases where it would be most de- 

 sirable to find it exerted. Its general plumage may be described as 

 being a mixture of pepper and salt, with intervening bars and streaks 

 of brown, presenting on the whole a most pleasing effect. It lays 

 an unusually large number of eggs, commonly ten or eleven, of a 

 dull white, in the hole of some decaying tree or stump. 



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