NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



In the Tzitzikama and Knysna forests the grub 

 of a longicorn beetle does considerable mischief. 

 The grubs bore into the hardest wood and utterly 

 ruin it for timber purposes. These large borer 

 grubs feed upon the wood until mature. When adult 

 the grub bores its way to the surface and changes 

 into a chrysalis, leaving a veneer of bark between 

 its head and the outer world. After a period it emerges 

 as a large winged beetle. The woodpecker is an adept 

 at locating these chrysalides and, tearing off the pro- 

 tecting bark, they are triumphantly drawn out and 

 swallowed by the bird or fed to her brood. 



For twenty years I made a special study of birds in 

 their native haunts, mostly in Natal. I lived with them 

 in the fields, valleys, forests, and on the mountain tops, 

 spending days and weeks at a time in the wilds, my 

 sole companions being a pony, dog, and note-book. 

 The stomachs of the different species of South African 

 woodpeckers were examined at various times, and 

 noted. The contents averaged about 70 per cent, 

 beetles and their larvae. The great majority of these 

 were wood borers ; others were destroyers of roots, 

 leaves, buds, berries, and fruits. An average of 

 30 per cent, consisted of white ants (termites), 

 caterpillars, moths, and various species of leaf- 

 destroying insects. Never a trace of seed, berry, or 

 fruit did I ever discover in the stomach of a 

 woodpecker. 



Sound wood has no attraction for a woodpecker, 

 for there are no insects there. The bird is out for food 

 and not to expend its strength in useless labour. It 



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