Welsh Journals

AN ANTING ROBIN ERITHACUS RUBECULA (LINNAEUS). PHILIP M. MILES It is perhaps of interest to note that birds seen to apply ants to their feathers have been described for at least 110 species of Passerines involving in excess of approximately three hundred individuals. There are records of six British species (Simmons 1966) anting under semi-natural cir- cumstances, five species anting in captivity, eight species in the wild and there may well be other instances not reported or known to the writer. Those species which have been recorded as anting in completely natural circumstances in the wild in Britain, i.e., with no ant species alien to the environment being liberated, or interference with the species of ants natural to the habitat, are as follows: Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis), Blue-tit (Parus caeruleus), Robin (Erithacus rubecula), Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus), Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos), Blackbird (Turdus merula), Starling (Stumus vulgaris), and in addition there is an account of unusual behaviour in the presence of ants for the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and Dunnock (Prunella modularis). Anting observations indicate that Passerines rather than non-Passerines are involved. Could this be attributable one wonders to less time spent on watching non-Passerine species which are not so readily accessible to many bird observers? The writer is inclined to think this is not the case and gives some reasons later to support this view. Under natural circumstances the ant species most frequently identified with the act of anting is Lasius niger, although Lasius flavus workers have also been reported as used by four immature Starlings. Other ant species not indigenous to the habitat have been liberated experimentally and Formica rufa has been frequently employed for this purpose of anting, although it has not apparently been observed where the ant occurs naturally. It is not intended to review the literature or the subject of anting but from what has already been stated, this form of behaviour in Passerine birds is relatively seldom witnessed and only occurs infrequently in view of the large numbers of some species of perching birds that would be expected to indulge in this behaviour. The Robin appears not to allow ants to crawl over its body while itself remaining passive in their midst, but takes up the ant in its beak and applies it to its plumage as a distinct and deliberate act. One such occasion when the writer was fortunate enough to observe a Robin anting was at about 10.15 a.m. BST on 20 September 1973, at which time it was cool, overcast, dry and calm. While standing talking with Mr. and Mrs. D. Griffiths in their garden at Aber Magwr, near Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, a Robin alighted on the fine shale-covered walk that surrounds the flower beds. The sudden arrival of this bird only some 12 feet away from us, held our attention from the outset when, without delay it moved from where it had alighted to pick up something from the ground a few inches away which was too small to identify at that time. Then raising its right wing slightly, it put its head under the wing and applied its beak to the under-tail coverts (see 1 in illustration) after which, it again picked up something from the ground where it was standing and with the wing arched forward and flexed it applied its beak to the inside webs of the first few