BIRDS WHICH FEED ON INSECTS 65 



resemble birds of prey. They feed on insects and small verte- 

 brates, and impale such prey as are not immediately required upon 

 thorns, often forming in this way a very respectable "larder'* 



(fig- 354)- ^ 



A considerable number of well-known birds feed upon worms, 

 snails, and other small animals which are found in the mud of 



Fig- 354- Great Butcher-Bird (Lanius excubitor) 



ponds and streams, or in damp marshy places. Everyone has 

 seen a Duck in the water, with its tail turned up, engaged in 

 this sort of work, and in this animal the broad bill (fig. 355) 

 acts as a strainer, and is exquisitely sensi- 

 tive, enabling the creature to effectively sift 

 the wheat from the chaff, if such a meta- 

 phor be permissible. The long neck of the 

 Swan enables it to investigate somewhat 

 deeper water with the same practical aim. 

 Ducks and Swans, however, are not purely 

 carnivorous. 



A number of birds are fond of haunting the 

 banks of streams and ponds with a view of catching insects and 

 other small animals. Among the most attractive and familiar of 

 these are the Wagtails (fig. 356), of which there are five British 

 species, the most familiar being the Pied or Water Wagtail (Mota- 

 cilla lugubris\ The slender pointed beak is obviously suited to an 

 insect diet. W. Warde Fowler (in Summer Studies of Birds and 

 Books] speaks thus of the little group of birds now under considera- 



355- Head of Duck (Anas 

 boschas) 



VOL. II. 



37 



