42 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



paces from my window, using an opera-glass, I had a 

 good view of everytting. The two were separately en- 

 gaged, each at an ant-heap of its own. In point of fact, 

 there was no "hill," the roller having hindered that; 

 but a slight swelling on the surface told of a colony of 

 ants underneath in winter quarters — the common yellow 

 species {Formica flava). The bird would plant itself 

 firmly, with tail hard pressed against the ground, as a 

 hand to hold by, then commence " stocking," its head 

 going up and down in rapid repetition, and a ludicrous 

 resemblance to that of " Punch " in the showman's box. 

 Thus it would continue, till its beak was buried in the 

 earth up to the cere, and the head itself out of sight in 

 the short sward of grass. And while thus it would 

 pause at intervals, and remain for seconds at a time 

 without any visible motion, as if drinking ! What it was 

 actually doing when thus stationary I can only give a 

 guess at. My conjecture is, that the tongue was extended 

 underneath, playing along the hollow passages which the 

 ants have, and licking up the insects, with their so-called 

 " eggs " — these last being abundant at that time of year. 

 No doubt the tongue of the woodpecker is highly sensi- 

 tive, and its true organ of touch : for its hard, horny 

 beak cannot be, in this respect dififering from the snipe 

 and other soft-billed grallatores. 



Notwithstanding the commonness of the Fiais viridis 

 in most wooded districts of our country, it is strange 

 how much of erroneous belief exists about its habits, even 

 standard ornithologists assigning to it ways it wots not 

 of, and doings it never did. In a further note I purpose 

 exposing some of these errors, while further illustrating 

 the life of this very interesting avis. 



