i6 
at.i.en’s naturai.ist’s library. 
THE WRYNECKS. GENUS lYNX. 
Yunx, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 172 (1766). 
Type, I. torquilla ( 1 .,). 
Only four species of Wryneck are known, three of which 
are resident in Africa and peculiar to that continent. These 
are I. pectoralis, which ranges from Natal to the Transvaal, and 
the Congo Region in the west, I. pulchricollis, confined to the 
Upper White Nile districts, and /. mquatorialis, from Shoa and 
Southern Abyssinia. The fourth species is the Wryneck of 
Europe. 
I. THE COMMON WRYNECK. lYNX TORQUILLA. 
Yunx torquilla, Linn. S. N. i. p. 172 (1766) j Macg. Br. iii. p. 
100 (1840). 
lynx torquilla, Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 103, pi. 289 (1875); 
Newton, ed. Yarr. Br. B. ii. p. 487 (1881) ; B. O. U. List 
Br. B. p. 80 (1883); Seebohm, Br. B. ii. p. 372 (1884); 
Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 261 (1889); Hargitt, Cat. B. 
Brit. Mus. xviii. p. 560 (1890). 
Adult Male. — General colour above variegated, brown and grey 
and rufous with black markings and vermiculations, including 
the tail, the latter grey with irregular bars of white and black ; 
the scapularies and inner secondaries rather more rufous than 
the back, with black median stripes ; sides of face and sides 
of neck, throat, and chest, buff with narrow bars of black, the 
chin whiter; a whitish streak above the ear-coverts, which are 
rufous-brown, barred with black; under-parts creamy- white, 
with a shade of rufous on the upper breast and sides of the 
body and thighs, with black arrow-head shaped markings or 
spots; under tail-coverts buff, with faint black markings; 
“ bill, feet, and claws pale greyish-brown ; iris light brown 
(W. Mac^illivray). Total length, 6-5 inches; culmen, o'6; 
wing, 3-35 ; tail, 2-6; tarsus, 07. 
Adult Female.— Similar in colour to the male. Total length, 
6'S inches; wing, 3- 15. 
Young.— Similar to the adults, but without any spots on the 
abdomen. 
