Y U N X T D K O f
Ymt* lorquiUa l i t u u
YU NX TOR QUILL A
Wryneck.
Wryneck, Cuckoo 8 mate, Snake-bird! How «ball I commence its history ? For its every acikm and whole
economy are as singular as ffie markings of its plumage are chaste and beautiful Mate of the Cuckoo it
has been «died, because it arrive in the spring, foretelling, like that bird, that summer is near at hand.
Its peculiar cry is known f o every cottager, and welcome is its monotonous and repeated call of pee, pee, pee.
Africa, which «ft has left, is its winter residence; but as the sun advances towards the north, it follows
in his path, w«#-knowing that it will find a congenial home in Great Britain. What, if I depict it in one ot
its trrotesQWe attitudes, when iUvrithes its head, snake-like, from side to side, with its neck contracted to the size
of a quill; or in the period <$ wlwu. ith erected crest, drooping wings, and outspread tail, it is
« f tr in r anti co q n rtfe 1- * « - * e < * £ of to attention } If I had portrayed it thus, it would scarcely have
iftMflMrtiMi proents the Wryneck niaied and sobered down for the
mprnm* duty of reproduction; the hollow branch vriS r ih rrf the egg* sad yowng birds protection from all
intruders, and enable it to rear its numerous progeny to an age when they »ay wrng their way to the distant
lands from which the parent* bail lately arrived.^
N«». * tv k the Wrvmvk a -inrni t r ~ to J^e at lies tain: for in all, or nearly ad, of the countries of the
Old World lvi»g soider the same patalltt of B- * -ud • ;* it to he found, even as'Jfer east as India, Chin», and Japan,
f r w i n c h countries, as well as from Western Asia, I possess specimens; it will be obvious, therefore, that
few birds are more widely, distributed. In the BK-i-h Maude, w hm ,H Wrarrsyk arrives at the latter end of
March or the lugtannig of April, it is very generally, though not, w#iversie,y. * . - ■, all the southern
and midland counties, (¿rads illy bcciwumc scare-. and scarcer still until we’ reach die borrier-fine of England
di ffiffii br con.-dtlrr :i the ew o t of its range' in thiit dim^on. I believe it to be more
»art i fhaa» ta fcfer wester« ivfr. HocW. in his “ List pf British Birds, 8s a
Guide to the Grjiitholo^v of suites fc&wt it is ran- ™ $ jvarts of the county ; occasionally observedin
the neighbourhood of Penzance, in the aoUsom, iWnt* the ei>8w* proba?
Ireland it is unknown. Having remained with us during tlwf apmmer, aud »emred it« progs-a;
southward again in August and September, passing through Spanj to its winter abode in Mom
that the Wryneck is occasionally found in Ac neighbourhood of Rome and at Mareeillesdn winter ¡but doubtless
the same great migratory movement takes place on the continent of Europe as in England: indeed, I know that
snch is the caw. Always solitary and recluse in its habits, its presence would rarely he detected by any but the
K .. otMi iollli erv which, most keen observer, were it nor tor its peculiar n»u iyuu *once heard, %» never be forgotten. I
know of no bird whose colon« arc k « »tractive a fa disBn.ee, or whose ftight. when .. rises from the ground,
from the rail of a fence, or from d o bole of a tree, is ...ore like that of a Sparrow, a,„1 hence, when flymg ,t
s e il dj o m' attracts n o t i c e ; b u t w tie n rckni^,ad-hy ww aa twchme do . ee tsijnwc«c»iawtTtv during the pairinyg-- time,* as bef..o. .r e uta«ted, it will be
seen that it perf£•o rms a numiberf of, «i msvfi-tva-r an. „d extraor^ary eoivnuiitutiiiwt.Mm*v . Lumikee t«hme WoodIpHkeri-the W ryneok
has a tongue equa,l m■ l, eng.tih t. o t.»h at. ol its entire kbaowdiyu .{ ianni<!| imrnmtv unnpuu mu»t b^e tlwhe: “m,uuasvcular arrangement
i ,vitu an organ which the bin! h r. die power of protroiliiig and retracting at will to such an extent
that the deepest interstices of the bark of trees, as well as the terrestrial ant-hill, are probed with ease. Insects
and then hvra . ants and their eggs, constitute. I • -licvc, llicjirincipnl food of the Wryneck; and beautifully,
indeed, is in whsibf structure adapted for obtain«" this kind fit diet.
“ TV anatomical construction of the tongue." says Mr. Yarrelf, “ and the consequent inode of taking its
food will aiupl. ttpav the closest examinution. By an elongation of dm two posterior bronchi-.- of the bones
of the tongue, ami tto exercise of the muscles attached to them, this bird is able to extend .he .ongue a
very considerable distance hryond the point of (lie beak; the end of .thelongue is ho
and long gland is situated .o the under edge of the kiwer jaw on each side, which secretes a glutinous mucus,
md transfers it to the inside of the month by a slender duet. With this glutinous mucus the end of the
tongue is always covered for the especial purpose of conveying food into the month by contact. So unerring
is the urn with which the tongue is darted out, and so certain the effect of the adhesive moisture, that tin- bird
never ii.il» hi obtaining it- object at every attempt. So rapid also is the action of tlie tongue in dm. convey
«« ford into the mouth, that the eye is unable distinctly to follow it; and Colonel Montagu, who bad an
npnortnnriv >1 seeing this bird feed while confined in a cage, says that an ant's % , w h i c h is of* light colour,
and more c.-I,<1.1. 1.01» than the tongue, had somewhat the appearance of moving towards the month b>
attract»«». a» a jM*edk* flies to a magnet.”