SNAKES' OLD CLOTHES USED 311 



Woodpeckers, the American species Melanerpes 

 formicivorus stores acorns in holes bored in tree- 

 trunks, and even in telegraph-poles. 



Parrots are usually not only non-provident, but, 

 like monkeys, wantonly wasteful, which wastefulness, 

 I am inclined to suspect, is one reason why they 

 are so rare outside the tropics, with this suicidal 

 tendency to squander their supplies ; so the case 

 of a Grey Parrot communicated to me by Mr. W. 

 Elcome, a resident in my neighbourhood, is par- 

 ticularly interesting his bird at meals asks for 

 food, and drops it, till it sees it can get no more, and 

 then proceeds to eat what it has begged for. 



Rather reminiscent of the habits of both Bower- 

 birds and Shrikes is the trick which some birds 

 have of lining, and possibly, in their own opinion, 

 ornamenting, their nests with curious objects of 

 animal origin, the most conspicuous cases being of 

 those birds which insist on using a snake's slough 

 for this purpose, such as the Great-crested Fly- 

 catcher (Myiarchus crinitus), one of the American 

 Tyrants, and the Rufous Warbler (Aedon galactotes) 

 of Europe ; in India the black Robins (Thamnobia) 

 and that burrowing Starling, the Bank Mynah 

 (Acridotheres ginginianus) also have this curious 

 selective habit. All the birds with this liking for 

 snakes' old clothes breed in holes, and it has been 

 suggested that the slough is used to terrify intrusive 

 lizards, which are no friends to eggs and young 

 birds, and are themselves much preyed upon by 

 snakes. 



