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interpreted it as allowing the ants to “carry away troublesome vermin.” Active anting has already been described, the formic acid is crushed from the insect’s abdomen and rubbed on the feathers.
Birds are nothing if not adaptable to man and his ways. A number of items are described in the ornithological literature as being used by birds as substitutes for ants. All appear to have an acid that serves the purpose of removing parasites and relieving skin irritation at the time of molt. The Ust is long and includes: certain species of beetles, orange and lemon rind, coffee grounds, vinegar, cigarette butts, and land snails. Grackles have been observed picking holes in the hulls of English walnuts and rubbing the juice through their feathers.
The subject of mothballs as a rabbit deterent in a garden has been described. This is from The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds: “A woman in Milwaukee, Wise., put mothballs in her vegetable garden to prevent rabbits from eating the young green plants, and observed one morning that a flock of grackles were picking up mothballs in their bills and preening with them, rubbing them under their wings and over the feathers of their bodies.” In response to my answer to her letter, Ms. Rhoadhouse agreed that the grackle she observed was probably using a mothball.
Maybe I’ll put out some mothballs next summer.
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