188 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Mode of preying on ants. 



insect tribe; they are put into general motion, 

 endeavouring to provide for their own safety, 

 while the bird luxuriously feasts upon them at 

 Jeisure, darting its tongue with unerring certainty, 

 and quits not its situation until it has devoured 

 the whole, or satisfied its appetite. At times, 

 either from a want of supply, or from an inclina- 

 tion to change their food, they will seek out the 

 ant-hill; and here again they show a peculiar sa- 

 gacity, for as the ants are generally too deep 

 under the earth for them to reach with their 

 tongues, they peck away the top, which disturb- 

 ing the nest, the ants are put in motion, which 

 the woodpeckers observing, they thrust out their 

 long tongues as far as they are able, and as the 

 ants come upon them, they draw them in with 

 wonderful celerity, and by this means they never 

 fail of obtaining a sufficient suppty. 



This bird not only makes small holes in trees 

 to procure its food, but also large ones to form 

 its nest, and even this seemingly arduous task 

 they also perform with the bill, although some 

 have affirmed that the animal uses its tongue as 

 a gimblet, to bore with ; but this is a supposition 

 evidently founded in error, since in large woods 

 and forests, the noise of the bill has, and fre- 

 quently may be heard, while they are employed 

 in that office. It is, however, certain that they 

 select for this purpose trees that are decayed, or 

 wood that is soft, like beech elm, and poplar. 

 In these, with very little trouble, they make holes 

 6 



