TOUCH — FIELDWORK AND EXPERIMENTS II9 



Earthworms, slugs, snails, starfish, sea anemones are also 

 responsive to touch, not only on the most sensitive parts of 

 their bodies, but on their bodies as a whole. Frogs, toads 

 and newts, too, are sensitive to touch over the whole body 

 surface. 



The response to touch in amphibians and reptiles is easily 

 tested in captivity by using a long stem of grass and touching 

 the bodies in various places. Even the scaly bodies of lizards 

 and snakes are sensitive enough to show that a light touch 

 is felt and reacted to by escape movement. Tortoises and 

 terrapins are well known to be sensitive to touch; in fact 

 one golden rule when buying one of these creatures for a 

 pet is to test the response to touch in order to find out if 

 the specimen being tested is in good health — a quick response 

 shows good condition and lack of it means ill health. 



I have mentioned the delicate sense of touch located in 

 the tips of the bills of certain birds which feed mostly on 

 soft-bodied creatures hidden from sight on damp or marshy 

 ground. It is not easy to test this ; but observation in the 

 field, aided by a good pair of binoculars, will show clearly 

 that sight plays no part in these feeding activities below the 

 surface of the earth ; for as the bills of these birds probe here 

 and there, and every now and then emerge with an item of 

 food, it will be clear that the invertebrate prey are located 

 by feeling their movements and also that a very sensitive 

 tactile sense is employed in aiding in their capture once they 

 have been found. 



Anyone who possesses a parrot or other seed-eating bird 

 can watch for himself and see the way in which seeds are 

 shelled ; and it can only be a sense of touch which enables 

 such a delicate operation to be performed. I have hand- 

 reared woodpeckers and have noticed with what care these 

 birds explore crannies and holes, using their long tongues 

 to tell them whether an insect or seed is hidden from sight. 

 In fact, it is my opinion that any unfamiliar item of food is 

 tested by touch; and even inanimate objects are touched 

 with the tongue as though in curiosity, though it is more 

 likely that the real motive is to ascertain by touch (and 

 possibly by taste) whether the object is edible or not. 



In the mammals, a sense of touch manifests itself in many 



