Story of the Tongue 



(With illustrations from an article by F. A. LucAS 

 in Bird-Lore, Vol. II, No. i) 



Tongue of 

 showing how it can be 

 extended. 



The Chickadee's fork 



YES see, ears hear, noses smell, tongues taste. 

 Tongues also push food away from the roof of the 

 mouth and from the teeth down the long throat- 

 tube. Some tongues do even more than this by help- 

 ing to find the food and bring it to the mouth. 

 Man has a tasting, pushing tongue. Cats and dogs have a tasting, pushing, 

 lapping tongue. The tongues of birds taste little, but push and feel, besides 

 hunting for food and bringing it to the mouth. 



If you have never seen a bird's tongue, you will hardly 

 believe how wonderful it is. 



There are almost as many different kinds of birds' 

 tongues as there are different kinds of birds; but when you 

 find out how very many kinds of seeds and insects and other things birds eat, 

 you will see that a bird must have the right kind of a tongue in order to get 

 the food it likes. 



The Chickadee's tongue looks like a tiny fork; the Sapsucker's might be 

 called a brush, while the Goldfinches and Cross-bills have tongues shaped like 

 scoops. The tiny Hummingbird has a kind of long double-tubed tongue, which 

 it fills with sweet liquid deep down in the honey-sacs of flowers. No birds 

 have more curious tongues than Woodpeckers. Long, narrow spears, ^ 

 pointed with barbs, as shown in the picture, these tongues, go |( | 

 well with the Woodpeckers' chisel-bills. But such tongues, 1 1 

 if used Hke spears, must be fixed so that they can be thrown out 

 beyond the bill. So the Woodpecker's tongue has very long 

 cords which hold it firm and taut, as it shoots out an inch or 

 more beyond the tip of the long bill. With such a tongue a 



The spear of the Hairy Woodpecker 



„, r iu c 1 T I J The brush of 



1 he arrow of the Solomon Islander the Sap-sucker 



Woodpecker can search for the eggs and young of many insects which bore 

 or tunnel beneath the bark of trees. When not in use, the long tongue-cords 

 are snugly wound up over the skull and down into the beak. Watch the 



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