. 6d.); he took the poor bird out, fixed it somewhere; he
and his companions fired at it so often they blew it to atoms. The same
year, early in September, one was shot at St. Martin's; I stuffed that
for a lady: there were four in the same tree; the day following they
were not to be found. The second week in October, the same year I had
one, and stuffed it for the person who shot it out at St. Saviour's;
there were two besides in the same tree, but I had neither one myself.
In 1868, I stuffed one that was shot at St. Peter's, in December; it was
taken home the Christmas Eve. These were all I have had, but I have
heard of their being seen about since, twice or three times." In
addition to this letter, which I have no reason to doubt, Mr. MacCulloch
wrote me word--"We have in the Museum a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, shot
near Havilland Hall, in November, 1855; I saw it before it was stuffed."
This bird was not in the Museum this year, (1878), as I looked
everywhere for it, so I suppose it was moth-eaten and thrown away, like
many others of the best specimens in the Museum, after the years of
neglect they have been subject to. From these letters, there can be no
doubt whatever that the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker has been occasionally
procured in Guernsey, and that it may be considered either an occasional
autumnal visitant, remaining on into winter, or, what is more probable,
a thinly-scattered resident.

It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as only occurring
in Guernsey. As above stated, the specimen formerly in the Museum no
longer exists.

82. WRYNECK. _Yunx torquilla_, Linnaeus. French, "Torcol
ordinaire."--The Wryneck, or, as it is called in Guernsey-French,
"Parle"[14] is generally a numerous summer visitant to the Islands,
arriving in considerable numbers, about the same time as the mackerel,
wherefore it has also obtained the local name of "Mackerel Bird." It is
generally distributed through the Islands, remaining through the summer
to breed, and departing again in early autumn, August, or September. Its
numbers, however, vary considerably in different years, as in some
summers I have seen Wrynecks in almost every garden, hedgerow, or thick
bush in the Island; always when perched, sitting across the branches or
twigs, on which they were perched, and never longways or climbing, as
would be the case with a Woodpecker or Creeper; and the noise made by
the birds during the breeding-season, was, in so