120 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
when an Australian boy of 12 was attracted by the strange
actions of European Starlings, that an enquiry of any persistence
began. Since then the question has engaged the attention of
the ornithologists of four continents and many nations. Peter
Bradley, a boy living in a suburb of Melbourne, described what
he called a strange sight. He had seen Starlings "picking up
sugar-ants and putting them under their wings and then flying
away." The boy's statement might have been discredited but
for the fact that in 1927 an Australian aviculturist had asked why
certain soft-billed birds, particularly European Starlings, "pick
up soldier-ants, put them under their wings, and after a while
take them out again."
Although Mr. Chisholm did not doubt the basic soundness of
those who had claimed to have seen anting, he had been writing
frequently during nine years before he himself saw the occurrence
in summer, February 25th, 1943, in the grounds of a Melbourne
suburban hospital. Each bird of 15 European Starlings took
an ant from a gravel path and put it rapidly first under one
wing and then under the other, finally the insect was usually
dropped. On occasion, however, a bird continued to hold
an ant after applying it to its plumage and snatched up another
while still holding the first one. The Starlings acted very rapidly
and two birds nearly fell over backwards in their efforts to apply
the ants beneath their tails. He saw nothing to indicate that the
insects were eaten. After the departure of the birds he found the
path bespattered with dead and maimed ants; the abdomens of
about 50 per cent had been burst while some were more or less
intact. The ant was Campanotus consobrinus, a species known to
bite and spray quickly, which may account for the rapidity of the
Starlings' actions.
Birds which had been recorded as anting in Australia up to
1944 were the European Starling (about 20 cases), Song-thrush
and Blackbird (one each) and Indian Mynah (about 10 cases);
also four native species—Satin Bower-bird (Ptilonorhynchus),
Magpie-Lark (Grallina), Lewin Honey-eater (Meliphaga) and
Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala), each of which has been seen to
ant only once and casually with one exception, this being the
Magpie-Lark, which was seen sprawling on an ant-mound. All
the introduced birds anted in company; all the native birds
individually. In all instances except the Bower-bird the birds
were free ; in all cases except the Honey-eater the anting was seen
in late summer and autumn. In one instance all the ants appeared
to be eaten after being applied to the plumage, in other instances
some ants were eaten and some discarded, but on some occasions
the birds were not seen to eat any of the insects. In Australia