WEYNECKS. 
185 
" Rap, rap, rap, rap, I hear thy knocking bill. 
Then thy strange outcry, when the woods are still ; 
Thus am I ever labouring for my bread. 
And thus give thanks to find my table spread." — Jas. Montgomery , 
The "Wrynecks are closely allied to the woodpeckers^ and 
agree with .them in having a long tongue^ capable of being 
extended ; it is unfurnished with spines : the beak is with- 
out angles^ and the tail has no stiff and pointed feathers. 
Our species {Yvmx Torquilla) is not uncommon^ though its 
colour and shyness do not invite inspection. Prom its 
habit of twisting about its head and neck in different direc- 
tions^ it has acquired its English name and its Latin specific 
appellation. The unfortunate but sweet poet^ John Clare^ 
in his forty-first sonnet^ has accurately described some of its 
habits : — 
"THE WRYNECK'S NEST. 
" That summer bird its oft-repeated note 
Chirps from the dottrel ash, and in the hole 
The green woodpecker made in years remote, 
It makes its nest. When peeping idlers stroll. 
In anxious plundering moods, they by-and-by ^ 
The wryneck's curious eggs, as white as snow. 
While squinting in the hollow tree, espy. 
The sitting bird looks up, with jetty eye, 
And waves her head in terror to and fro. 
Speckled and vein'd with various shades of brown ; 
