578 



WYNKERNEL. 



nest, it has a singular action of defence : stretching itself at full length, 

 and erecting the feathers on the head, it suddenly rises, making at the 

 same time a short hissing noise, something like that of a cock turkey. 

 This was frequently done in the cage when it was approached. *Mr. 

 Knapp thus happily describes the habits of this bird: — " Shy and un- 

 usually timid," says he, " as if all its life were spent in the deepest 

 retirement away from man, it remains through the day on some ditch- 

 bank, or basks with seeming enjoyment, in any sunny hour, on the 

 ant-hills nearest to its retreat ; and these it depopulates , for food, by 

 means of its long glutinous tongue, which, with the insects, collects 

 much of the soil of the heaps, as we find a much larger portion of grit 

 in its stomach than is usually met with in that of other birds. When 

 disturbed, it escapes by a flight precipitate and awkward, hides itself 

 from our sight, and, were not its haunts and habits known, we should 

 never conjecture that this bustling fugitive was our long-forgotten 

 spring visitant, the Wryneck. The winter or spring of 1818 was, 

 from some unknown cause, singularly unfavourable for this bird. It 

 generally arrives before the middle of April ; and its vernal note, so 

 unlike that of any of its companions, announces its presence throughout 

 all the mild mornings of this month, and part of the following; but 

 during the spring of that year it was perfectly silent, or absent from us. 

 The season, it is true, was unusually cheerless and ungenial."* 



It is not uncommon in the southern and eastern parts of the king- 

 dom ; but is more scarce westward, and is rarely if ever found in Corn- 

 wall. It chiefly inhabits woods, orchards, or thickly-enclosed countries, 

 where trees abound. It is seldom observed to climb trees, although 

 the feet seem calculated for that purpose. It is said sometimes to 

 make a nest of dry grass ; but the eggs we have repeatedly taken from 

 a hole in a bare decayed tree, and rotten wood. 



WYNKERNEL.— A name for the Gallinule. 



