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Summary. The anting movements of nine passerine species were studied in captivity and in the wild. The birds applied acid-spraying Formicine ants (genera Lasius and Formica) to the plumage with the bill, with one wing extended and the tail brought round and often pressed against the wing. Only the Magpie deliberately applied the ants both to the tail and wing. In the Song Thrush, Blackbird, Starling, Western White-eye and Blue Tit, application was to the wing-tip alone, while the Pekin Robin, Black-chinned Yuhina and old-world Robin treated the wing-tip and also, incidentally, that part of the tail held close to it. The direct result of this behaviour is the anointing of the wing-tip with formic acid, the posturing of the tail facilitating this by making the wing-tip rigid. Anting is, apparently, one of the “feather maintenance” activities (preening, oiling, bathing, dusting, sunning) and, in the Pekin Robin and Song Thrush at least, the movements used in applying preen-oil to the wing-tip are very similar to, and probably homologous with the anting movements. Formic-acid possibly supplements the natural preen-oil but the exact function of the anointing remains to be discovered. |
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