Wrynecks.

OTHER nearly allied genera are associated with the Woodpeckers, and, from the variation in the structure of the bill, support the necessary connection with the other families of the tribe. Such is the genus Pogonias, which, from the deep curved form of the bill, seems to lead back to the Psittacidae; and nearly allied to it follows that of Bucco, or the Barbets, where the bill makes a nearer approach to that of the Woodpeckers. The Wrynecks (genus Yunx) are also properly included in this family, as well as that group of which the genus Oxyrynchos is the type.*

The common Wryneck (Yunx torquilla), which appears in this country from the south, in the spring, a little before the cuckoo, although not possessed of the climbing powers of the Woodpeckers, is yet enabled to support itself against the trunk of a tree, its toes being like theirs arranged in pairs; but the tail, unlike that of the Woodpecker, is soft and flexible. It feeds upon small insects, chiefly ants, which it collects from the bark of trees or from the ground; and it is therefore provided with a long extensile tongue, armed at the tip with a sharp cartilaginous point, but without any barbs. The chief food of the Wryneck, Mr. Selby observes, consists of ants and their larvæ; and we accordingly find that at the period of its arrival the

* Selby.

B

hybernation of these remarkable insects has yielded to the influence of the vernal sun, and the societies are busily employed near the surface of their little mounds in the various duties so admirably described by Huber and the authors of the "Introduction to Entomology." Its departure is also regulated by the same laws, as it leaves us when these insects, upon the approach of autumn or cold weather, again retire to the recesses of their subterranean habitations.

The mode by which the Wryneck picks up its food has not, it appears, been exactly ascertained. White of Selborne says the Wrynecks thrust their bills into the turf in quest of ants, which are their food. While they hold their bills in the grass, they draw out their prey with their tongues, which are SO long as to be coiled round their heads. Colonel Montagu says that the ants are not transfixed by the horny point, as some have imagined, but retained by a peculiar tenacious moisture, by nature provided for that purpose; while it is feeding the body is motionless, the head only is turned to every side, and the motion of the tongue is so rapid, that an ant's egg, which is of a light colour, and more conspicuous than the tongue, has somewhat the appearance of moving towards the mouth by attraction, as a needle flies to a magnet. The bill is rarely used except to remove the mould, in order to get more readily at these insects; where the earth is hollow, the tongue is thrust into all the cavities to rouse the ants; for this purpose the horny appendage is extremely serviceable, as a guide to the tongue. Mr. Rennie having procured a young bird of this species, placed it in a cage in which was the empty nest of a

whitethroat. Some ants with their pupa were thrown into the cage, and it was observed that the bird uniformly thrust its tongue between the grass stems of the whitethroat's nest, to rout out the ants which had taken shelter there, and as soon as they were thus forced within its reach, it picked them up in the usual way with its beak.*

The Wryneck frequents warm and dry soils. Shy and unusually timid, Mr. Knapp observes, as if all its life were spent in the deepest retirement away from man, it remains through the day in some ditch bank, or basks with seeming enjoyment, in any sunny hour, on the anthills 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 it in its stomach than is usually met with in that of other birds.

The Wryneck breeds in the holes of decayed trees, but is unable to excavate a hole itself, although it may be capable of enlarging or otherwise adapting one to its purpose. The eggs are numerous, being nine or ten, and are deposited upon the bare rotten wood. Their colour is pure white.

Faculties of Birds.

Creepers.

THE last group of the Scansores consists of those birds which are familiarly called Creepers (Certhiade), from their habit of creeping about the boles and branches of trees, old walls, or other ruinous buildings. The members of this family are all climbers, but are separated from the preceding groups by the form of the feet, which instead of having the toes divided into pairs, have them disposed in the usual manner, that is, with three toes before and one behind; their length and structure, however (particularly that of the hind toe), is such as to render them equally efficient instruments for scaling perpendicular surfaces. In some species of the genus Dendrocolaptes, the bill is nearly the form of that of the Woodpeckers; and in

others it is very con

siderably modified, in

accordance with the

peculiar habit of the

species. The general form of the bill is, however, long and

slender, and usually more or less curved downwards. For the structure of foot best adapted for running up the perpendicular surface of a wall or trunk of a tree we must look to the typical groups of the present family, and we shall find that the principal charac

mum;

teristic features consist in the elongation of the hinder toe and claw, and the general curvature and sharpness of all the claws, so that they may hitch into the slightest inequalities of surface. It is only in the Australian genus Climacteris, Mr. Swainson observes, that this excessive development of the posterior toe is at its maxiin this genus, owing to its enormous claw, the hinder far exceeds the length of the middle toe, and this latter is connected to the one that is external, nearly to the end of its first joint. It must, however, be observed that those birds which exhibit this great development of the hinder toe and claw derive their faculty of climbing from these members only; they receive no assistance whatever from their tail, which is not only destitute of naked points, which characterise the true Creeper, but are likewise destitute of all rigidity, so that, as a means of support, it becomes quite useless. When the tail acts as a support to the bird in its perpendicular ascent, the hind toe is proportionately diminished in length. It is in the subfamily Certhiana that the highest development of the powers requisite for a scansorial Creeper are displayed. The toes of the common Creeper of this country (Certhia familiaris) for example, are very slender, the inner one considerably the shortest, and the hinder one again so lengthened that it equals the middle one; all the claws are large, very slender, and acute, but while those in front are greatly curved, that behind is much less so. The tail in this species exhibits a true scansorial structure, the feathers gradually tapering to a point (a), which are thus enabled to enter into the crevices and inequalities of the