TASTE. 



93 



of this bird minutely, by taking a female from her 

 nest, and confining her in a cage for some days. 

 A quantity of mould, with emmets and their eggs, 

 were given it; and it was curious to observe the 

 tongue darted forward and retracted with such velo- 

 city, and with such unerring aim, that it never returned 

 without an ant or an egg adhering to it ; not trans- 

 fixed 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 ex- 

 tremely serviceable, as a guide to the tongue. We 



Head and Tongue of the Wryneck (Junx torquilla). 



K 



