ART. 19 CONCERNING BIRDS ' TONGUES — GARDNER 29 



The appearance is illustrated by MyzoTnela rubratra (fig. 6), and 

 the same appearance is seen in M. nigrlventHs and M. sanguinolenta. 

 Whether the bird and tongue be a large one, as Tropidorhynchus 

 and MicrophileTnon^ or of moderate size, as Meliphaga {Ptilotis) 

 <;arunculata^ there is a surprising conformity to the pattern de- 

 scribed. This same long quadruple tongue is present also in Meli- 

 ornis australasiana^ Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, Myzantha gar- 

 rula^ and Acrulocercus hraccatus. 



So far as is known this extraordinary quadruple brushy tongue 

 is limited to and characteristic of this family. It is an interesting 

 fact that the formation of the multiple tubular and brushed tongues 

 ■of these several families of flower- frequenting birds follows different 

 lines of development using one or more of the fundamental tendencies 

 of the type tongue to curl, split, and fray. Thus, as has been demon- 

 strated, the Nectariniidae have almost purely tubular tongues, the 

 Drepanididae tubular tongues with frayed margins^ the Coerebidae 

 combine curling^ splitting^ and fraying^ to form double tubes, while 

 the Meliphagidae carry this to the degree that four curled brushy 

 tips are formed. 



Among the Mniotiltidae there is a rather wide range of variation. 

 As is the case with the type pattern these are tipped with horny thin 

 translucent tissue which may form nearly one-half of the organ 

 (see fig. 142, Dendroica dominica) or may be absent, which was the 

 case in a second specimen of the same species and is also illustrated 

 by Vermivora celata lutescens (fig. 143) and Dendroica petechia 

 gundlachi (fig. 144). The tongue may be a thin, flat structure as in 

 Catharopeza bishopi (fig. 145), Dendroica occidentalis (fig. 146), 

 and Dendroica poXmarum (fig. 147), or curled at the tip as in Grana- 

 tellus francescae (fig. 148), by upcurling of the fraying margins a 

 process which is carried to its greatest extreme in this family by 

 Dendroica tigrina (fig. 2). There may be rather marked differences 

 in shape as is evidenced by a tongue of Wilsonia canadensis (fig. 

 149), which is very broad at the middle, while others from the same 

 species showed this to a lesser degree or not at all. Oerthidea salvini 

 (fig. 150) has a rather thick fleshy tongue, grooved shallowly and 

 rather suggestive of the fringilline type. 



There is thus in this group considerable variation even in such a 

 small series as in the one genus Dendroica, as may be observed by 

 the following figures: D. nigi^escens (fig. 151), D. auduboni (fig. 

 152), D. vigorsii (fig. 153), Z>. discolor (fig. 154), D. petechia ffig. 

 155), />. striata (fig. 156), D. casta.nea (fig. 157), D. fusca (fig. 158), 

 and D. virens (fig. 159). Other members of this family are Teretis- 

 tHs femandinae (fig. 160), T. fornsi (fig. 161), Wilsonia citrina (fig. 

 162), Wilsonia pileolata pileolata (fig. 163), Vermivora lucias (fig. 

 164), Compsothlypis americana (fig. 165), Oporomis tohniei (fig. 



