THE SEARCHERS. 45 



Colonel Montague thus describes the manner in which a female of this species that he had tamed 

 took its food : — " A quantity of mould with emmets and their eggs was given to it ; and it was curious 

 to observe the- tongue darted forth and retracted with such velocity and such unerring aim that it never 

 returned without an ant or an egg adhering to it, not transfixed by the horny points, but retained by a 

 peculiar tenacious moisture provided for that purpose. While feeding, the body is kept motionless, 

 only the head being turned from side to side ; and the motion of the tongue is so rapid that an ant's 

 egg, which is of a light colour, and therefore more conspicuous than the tongue, has the appearance 

 of moving to the mouth by attraction, as the needle flies to the magnet. The bill is rarely used, except 

 to remove the mould, in order to get more rapidly at the insects where the earth is hollow. The 

 tongue is thrust into all the cavities to rouse the ants, and for this purpose the horny appendage is 

 extremely serviceable as a guide to the tongue." 



The following interesting account of an attempt to drive a pair of these birds from the nesting- 

 place they had selected is given by Mr. Salmon, in the Magazine of Natural History: — "I wished 

 to obtain the eggs of the Wry-neck to place in my cabinet, and accordingly watched a pair very 

 closely that had resorted to a garden in the village for the purpose of incubation. I soon ascertained 

 that they had selected a hole in a decayed apple-tree for that purpose, the entrance to which was 

 so small as not to admit my hand. The tree being hollow and decayed near the ground, I reached 

 the nest by putting my arm upwards, and I found on witlidrawing the nest that the underneath part 

 of it was composed of moss and hair, having every appearance of being the deserted home of a 

 Redstart ; the upper part was made of dry roots. The nest did not contain any eggs, and I returned 

 it by thrusting it up inside the tree. On passing the same way a week afterwards my attention was 

 arrested by observing one of the birds leaving the hole ; upon which I gently withdrew the nest, and 

 was gratified to find it contained five most beautifully glossy eggs, the shells of which were perfectly 

 white, and so transparent that the yolks shone through, giving them a delicate pink hue. I replaced 

 the nest and visited it during the ensuing weeks, when, to my astonishment, I found that the birds 

 had not deserted the hole, but the female had six eggs more, which I obtained by thrusting the nest 

 up the tree. Next week I again visited the spot, and found that they still pertinaciously adhered to 

 their domicile, having further laid four eggs more. I repeated the experiment, but not having an 

 opportunity of revisiting the spot until ten days after, I thought at the time that the nest was 

 abandoned, and was not undeceived till I again withdrew the nest, having taken the precaution of 

 endeavouring to frighten off the old bird should she be within, which I found was the case ; 

 nevertheless she suffered me to pull the riest to the bottom of the tree before she attempted to escape. 

 There were seven eggs slightly sat upon. It seems to me very extraordinary that the female should 

 allow her nest to be disturbed five times, and the eggs (amounting to twenty-two) to be taken away at 

 different periods within the month, before she finally abandoned the spot she had selected." 



HUMMING BIRDS. 



The Humming Birds {Stridor), a family of most beautiful and fair)r-like beings, inhabiting the 

 Western Hemisphere, comprise some of the smallest members of the feathered creation. In these 

 birds the beak is generally long, slender, straight, or curved, usually round, and sharp at the tip ; the 

 nostrils are basal, and covered with a large scale ; the wings and tail are very variously formed, the 

 latter being always composed of ten feathers ; the very short tarsi are most delicately consti'ucted ; 

 the long slender toes are covered with small scales, and either partially united or completely free from 

 each other ; the sharp-pointed claws frequently exceed the toes in length. The glorious plumage 



