Mr. Ainsworth's Observations on Cleanliness. 261 



connected with stammering, such as nervousness, of which it 

 would be necessary to treat, in an essay written expressly on 

 this important and interesting subject.' 



I am persuaded that I need not apologize to Dr. Arnott for 

 this free and plain discussion of his views relative to stammer- 

 ing, our mutual object being the discovery and establishment 

 of truth. 



OBSERVATIONS ON MR. RENNIE'S PAPER ON THE 



PECULIAR HABITS OF CLEANLINESS 



IN SOME ANIMALS. 



BY WILLIAM AINSWORTH, ESQ. 



TN the first number of the Journal of the Royal Institution, I 

 observe a paper on the cleanliness of animals by Mr. Rennie, 

 in which it is advanced upon the authority of Wilson, the 

 author of the American Ornithology, that the serrated structure 

 of the claw of the goat-sucker is employed as a comb to rid 

 the plumage of vermin an erroneous opinion as to its use 

 having been held by Swainson, White, &c. 



It is a fact, not generally known, that the claws of most 

 birds are used for similar purposes ; and thus birds which have 

 short legs, as the swift, are most infested by insects. The 

 expedients which birds characterized by short feet the waders 

 which, from the inflexible nature of their legs, and the geese 

 tribe, from the opposition to scratching, offered by the mem- 

 brane extending between the toes, are put to, in order to get 

 rid of their vermin, are well deserving of attention, as illus- 

 trating the ingenuity of animals, and the curious provisions 

 made by nature for their cleanliness. When birds, by accident 

 or imprisonment, are deprived of the natural means of ridding 

 themselves of vermin,. they often fall victims to these attacks. 

 Walking one day along the shore of Holy-Island, off the coast 

 of Northumberland, I disturbed an ash-coloured sanderling 

 (Calidris Islandica, Step.), which flew heedlessly, and as if 

 injured. On shooting the bird, I found that it was covered 

 with vermin, more especially about the head ; so much so, 

 that the poor thing must have fallen a victim to their torment- 

 ing ravages : on further examination, I found that it had lost 



