( 5«o ) 
That he is of the Infe&ivorous kind is certain, and 
lives not only upon Inlets catcht creeping on the out- 
fideof Trees, bur alfo on fuch as are under the Bark be- 
tween the Bark and Wood, as likewife on thofe in rot- 
ten Wood ; and as 1 am very confident on Worms and 
other Infe&s in the Ground : for 1 have frequently obfcr- 
ved the Roots of their Bills very dirty, as it is in Crows 
and Rooks, Whence I fuppofe he firikes his long 
lharp Bill into the foft Earth to take the Worms out of it. 
1 have alfo found thir Craws full of Email Ants. 
But the Contrivance and Mechanifmof the Tongue in 
this Bird being the molt Remarkable, I fhall prefume to 
lay before this Illuftrious Society fome few Remarks of . 
this curious Contrivance of Nature, with fome Figures I 
have drawn by the Parts themfelves, in order to explain 
the whole. 
This Bird is known to throw out a long, flender, 
round Tongue, to a confiderable difiance beyond the 
End of his Bill ; and to draw it in again very quick into 
his Mouth or Bill, with the caught Infed fpitted on the 
Tip of it. 
The Chameleon indeed darts out its Tongue to a con- 
fiderable length ; and having intangled the Fly in the glu- 
tinous Matter at the End of it, draws it into its Mouth, 
together with the Prey; but the Mechanifm in that Ani- 
mal is wholly different from that of the prefent Subject .• 
as may be feen by the Account the Gentlemen of the 
Academy Royal give thereof, in their Memoirs for a 
Hiftory of Animals. 
The Protrufion therefore of the Tongue to the length 
even of three or four Inches in this Bird, being very ex- 
traordinary, and the Mechanifm of the feveral Parts for 
that end no lefs Curious ; feveral learned and diligent 
Enquirers have attempted to explain it 5 but I am of 
opinion 
-l 
