28S TxniRCCT BExnriTs df.p.ived from insect?, 



back again at doubls the price ^. The icteric oriole i> 

 kept by the Americans in their houses for the sake oi 

 clearing them of insects: and the purple grackle is so 

 useful in this respect, that \vhen, on account of their 

 consuming- grain, the American farmers in Xew En- 

 gland offered a reward of threepence a head for them, 

 and they were in consequence nearly extirpated, in- 

 sects increased to such a degree as to cause a totalloss 

 of the herbage, and the inhabitants >vere obliged to ob- 

 tain hay for their cattle not only from Pennsylvania but 

 even from Great Britain''. Of tiiis order also is the 

 bee-cuckoo {Ciiculus Indicator) so celebrated for its in- 

 stinct, by which it serves as a guide to the wild bees' 

 nests in Africa. Sparrman describes this bird, whicli 

 is somewhat larger than a common sparrow, as giving 

 this information in a singular manner. In theevenin» 

 and morning, which are its meal times, it excites the 

 attention of the Hottentots, colonists, and honey-rateh 

 by the cry of c/^rr, chcrr, c/icrr, and conducts them to 

 tlie tree or spot in which the bees' nest is concealed, 

 continually repeating this cry. When arrived at tlie 

 spot, it hovers over it, and then alighting on some 

 neighbouring tree or busli, sits in silence, expecting to 

 come in for its share of the spoil, which is that part of 

 the comb containing the brood '^. — The wryneck and the 

 woodpeckers, the nut-hatch and tree-creeper, live en- 

 tirely upon insects which they pick out of decayed trees 

 and out of the bark of living ones. The former also 

 frequents grass-plats and ant-hills, into which it darts 

 its long flexible tongue and so draws out its prey. The 



• Stillingfl. Tracts, 175. Linn, Trans, v. 105. note b. 

 •» Binglcy, ii. 287-290. ' Sparrman, ii. 186. 



