TOM— TONGUE gy- 



Phoenicopterus, Ciconiidx (less so in Ibididai), Podica, Heliamis, Fulica, 

 Tribonyx, Ocydromus, Aramus, Grues and their allies (as Psophia, 

 Eurypyga, Bliinochetus and Cariama), Laro-Limicolse (not Dromas), 

 Cathartidss and Gyjwgeranus. This modification seems to be a 

 chaiucter easily adapted according to the nature of the bird's 

 resting-place, and to be of as little taxonomic importance as the 

 comparative length of the toes. 



TOM, a nickname applied to several birds : In Jamaica 

 3Iyiarchus stolidus is the TOMFOOL, while a larger and a smaller 

 species, 31. -validus and Contopus pallidus are respectively dis- 

 tinguished as the Great and Little Tomfool (Handb. of Jam. 1881, 

 p. 107), all three belonging to the Tyrannidse (Tyrant-bird). In 

 the same island TOM-KELLY, or as Patrick Browne {Nat. Hist. 

 Jam. p. 476) in 1756 has it, " Whip-tom-kelly " has been said to be 

 the Creole name of Vireosylvia calidris, one of the Vireonidx (ViREo) ; 

 but Gosse {B. Jam. p. 195) never heard it so called and could not 

 believe that the bird's note could be so written.^ TOMMY,^ and 

 TOM-NODDY (c/. Tammy-Norie), mean the Puffin. TOMTIT 

 is a very common name in England for almost any kind of Tit- 

 mouse, but preferably perhaps to Parus cseruleus as the best known. 



TONGUE, one of those organs which in Birds presents almost 

 endless modifications, not only in size and shape, but also in gross 

 and minute structure. As a whole it consists of the Hyoid 

 (p. 452) framework, with its attached muscles (pp. 619, 620), the 

 sensory terminal corpuscles ^ of a branch of the glossopharyngeal 



^ Yet March {Proc. Ac. Pliilad. 1S63, p. 294) uses the name, and Wilson 

 {Am. Orn. ii. p. 35) declares of an allied continental form, V. oUvacea, that it 

 "requires but little of imagination to fancy that you hear it pronounce these 

 words 'Tom-Kelly! Whip-Tom-Kelly!' very distinctly," a statement denied 

 by Nuttall {Man. Orn. U. S. and Canada, i. p. 313), who also says {torn. eit. p. 

 238) that this call is uttered by Parus hicolor, the Tufted Titmouse. 



^ Tomor, or Tymor (for both readings occur) appears to be a bhd's name, 

 and though there is nothing to shew its signification, needs mention here since 

 it is included in several works and has been misprinted Tomor by Hartshorne 

 {Ancient Metrical Tales, p. 177). The authority for each form of the word is a 

 MS. i^oem without title in the Public Library of the University of Cambridge 

 (the first being given in Ff. 5. 48. fol. 69, h, line 6 ; the second in Ff. 2. 38. fol. 

 57, col. 2, line 22). They are rightly cited by Halliwell {Diet. Arch. <fc Prov. 

 Words, ii. pp. 880, 898), but Thomas Wright {Diet. Obsol. & Prov. Ungl. pp. 

 968, 988) wrongly assigns them to the old poem of True Thomas. 



^ The Tongue is commonly supposed to be the chief organ of taste ; but it is 

 certainly not so in Birds, where it is, with a few exceptions, subservient to 

 deglutition, being also in some cases (Honey-eaters, Humming-birds and Wood- 

 peckers) the means of taking up the food. It is true that the Tongue of Birds is 

 very rich in sensory bodies, the so-called Pacinian or Herbst's corpuscles, which 

 are the terminal organs of sensory nerves ; but these corpuscles are frequently 

 imbedded deeply in and beneath the impervious horny sheath, so that they 



