Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-25
INSTINCT IN ANIMALS.
Wonderful Smartness Of the Ant and
of the WOOdpecker.

Wonderful Smartness Of the Ant and
of the WoOlpecker.
From the London Spectator.
Inc arts oI coiiecung provisions, storing
anu preserving food. oomesucaung anu
managing iiocks and capturing slaves are
quite as Wen understood by animals and
insects as by man an tine Garner stages Of
ms civilization, ana SHOW u curious anal
ogy IN tneIr development in the case OF the
lIore backward among human commune
ties.
Ants OF the same species both have and
have not learned to keep "catt.e." Lespes
found true OF black ants which had a
uocA OF COWS" whIcn they MIXED uaiy.
but ne also discovered a nest OF the same
species wnlcn mad NO nocks. These ne pre-
se.ile,. WAN some VI Lac apniues useu W
,ue.r cow-heepns relauuns. 1ne anus
SANITY at.acAeA, Killed anu ATE them, be-
having same improvement manner
.r.oe u AUSTRALIAN black tenows'
wnen presented WIN a mock OK sheep. A
AIue havwn and striking instance VI lore
sent ana INDUSTRY exhibited by bird Is
that OF the California woodpecker. Like
otners of It's KIND. TINS bird As an insect
eater.
Yet in view of the approach of winter it
prepares a store of food of wholly different
character, and arranges this with as muci1
care as an epicure might devote to the stor-
ase of his WINE in a cellar. In the summer
the woodpecker lives on ants. For the VIM
| ter il stores up acorns To hold each acorn
| 1t holiows a small mole in a tree. into which
| the acorns are exactly fitted, and is ready
| to be split by the strong beak of the climb
| ing woodpecker, though too tightly held to
| be stolen either by squirrels or other birds
reation of this woodpecker inhabits the
dryest parts of Mexico, where during the
droughts it must die of starvation unless IT
made a store. To prevent this it selects the
hollow stem of a species of aloe, the bore of
1.,r Hold
The woodpecker drills holes at intervals
in the stem, and 1t fills it from bottom to
| top with the nuts, the separate holes being
apparently made for convenience of access
| to the column of nuts within. The inteli-
gence which not only constructs a special
| storehouse. but teaches the woOdpecker to
lay by only the nuts which will keep and
not the insects which would decay, is, per-
haps, the highest form of bird reasoning
| which has yet been observed. The common
ants of Italy-inopioe metuens formica
senectae of the Romans-if not so strangely
ingenious as the gardener ants of the trop-
les, which prepare a particular soil on
which to grow within their nests the fungus
on which alone they feed. exhibit what Is
probably the most complex form of in
stinctive industry shown by any European
animal. They store up oats and various
kinds of grain. making hundreds OF little
rooms as granaries, of about the size of a
watch.
terminates How the ants prevent this is
not known Probably by ventilation. as
bees ventiIate their hives by artificial
draught. All that is certain Is that II the
ants are removed the grain sprouts. When
the ants with to use the store thew allow
the grain 70 ee~minate. until the chemical
change takas Mace In the Material which
r,akes SIS fer'ner'tnc tu'"e food suitable fol
their digestion They arrest the PROCESS ot
chanpe nv DESTROYING the soro"t, and use
tho stock If gf,tinons sugar >n1 starch SC
eft as their main food in winter.