m Hiflory fl/ANi M A L S* 40j 
it is not more than a third of an inch in length, and is of an cbtufely anguiated form* 
but much lefs angular than in the generality of the fpecies of thofe birds: it is of a deep 
and dufky lead colour or bluifh, and the membrane at the bafe is of a pale red in the 
male bird, and greyifh in the femael: the noftrils ftand fomewhat forward, and are of 
a rounded form, and hollowed 5 the tongue is very, long* and terminates in a bony 
and fharp fpine: the eyes are large and piercing5 their iris is of a hazel colour, but 
with a tinge of yellow 3 and the pupil is very bright, and of a bluifh-black. 
The colouring of the whole bird is very elegant; the head is of a very bright 
grey, variegated with tranfverfe lines and fpots of black, white, and a reddifh-brown, 
and it has a power of raifing the feathers of the crown into a kind of creft : from 
the top of the head to the middle of the back there run a feries of black feathers: the 
rump is grey, but it is variegated with tranfverfe lines, and fpots of black : the back 
and the covering feathers of the wings are variegated with black, brown, reddifh, and 
grey : the throat and the lower part of the belly are of a pale yellowifh colour, and 
there are feveral tranfverfe lines of black on them : the bread: is of a yet paler colour, 
and with lefs of the yellow; it is, indeed, almoft whitifh, and there are fewer fpots 
on it than on the belly or throat. 
The wings are moderately long, and very well feathered ; the fhort plumes which 
immediately cover the roots of the long feathers are yellow, and have fome variega¬ 
tions of black: the long feathers are nineteen on each wing 3 they are black, fpotted t 
with a reddifh-brown, and fome of thefe fpots, efpecially thofe on the feathers, which 
are neared: to the body, are themfelves again fpotted with black, in very minute dots. 
The tail is moderately long 5 it confifts of ten feathers, and thefe are flender and 
weak, not rigid or formed as thofe of the wood-pecker-kind : they are of a grey co¬ 
lour, and each of them has four or five tranfverfe black lines on it: the part of the 
feather which is neared: thefe lines is of a mixture of brownifh with the grey 5 the 
red: of the feather is a mere unmixed grey, and is, when clofely examined, found to 
be fprinkled over with fmall dots of black. 
The legs are fhort, and not very robuft 3 they are of a pale lead colour in the one 
fex, and of a flefh colour, or very pale red in the other: the toes are moderately 
long 3 they ftand two before and two behind, and the anterior ones are connected at 
the bafe : the two outer toes on each foot are equal in fize, and they are on each twice 
as long as the two inn'er ones. 
We have this in England, but it is not very frequent. It inhabits large forefts, and 
is feldom feen out of them 5 I (hot two a few years fince in Charleton-foreft in SufTex. 
It feeds on ants and other fmall animals 3 it pierces thefe with it’s tongue, which it 
darts out upon them, and never bites them with the beak, but to prepare them for 
going down the throat. It has a very fingular way of twilling it’s head about, and 
bending it’s neck: it thence obtained of the Latins the name Torquilia J and, with 
us, that of the Wry-neck. All the writers on birds have defcribed it. Bellonius calls, 
it Jynx, Torquilia, Turbo, and Sifopigis 3 Gefner, fimply, Jynx 3 Aldrovand, and 
fince him Ray, Willughby, and the reft fince his time, Jynx five Torquilia 5 Linnae¬ 
us, where he ranks it with the cuculus, calls it Cuculus fubgrifea maculata redtricibus 
nigris, fafciis undulatis 3 Charleton calls it Sifopigis Torquilia. 
CUCULUS. 
f " 1 “”^ H E beak of the Cuculus is fmooth : the noftrils are not hollow, as in the jynx, 
JL but protuberant: the tongue is entire, and of a fagittated figure : the toes are 
four, and they ftand two before and two behind, as in the parrot and wood-pecker- 
kinds. 
Of this genus there is only one known fpecies. 
Cuculus 
