TASTE. 253 
‘“The senses of smell and taste,” says the doctor, 
‘in many other animals, greatly excel those of man- 
kind; for in civilized society, as our victuals are 
generally prepared by others, and are adulterated 
with salt, spice, oil, and empyreuma, we do not hes- 
itate about eating whatever is set before us, and 
neglect to cultivate these senses ; whereas other 
animals try every morsel by the smell before they 
take it into their mouths, and by the taste before 
they swallow it; and are led each to his proper 
nourishment by this organ of sense.”* 
The woodeock (Scolopar rusticola, CHARLET). 
which feeds upon earthworms, exhibits great dex- 
terity in discovering them. ‘‘ These birds,” as Col- 
onel Montagu says, ‘rambling through the dark, are 
directed by an exquisite sense of smelling to those 
places most likely to produce their natural suste- 
nance, and by a still more exquisite sense of feel- 
ing in their long bill collecting their food. The eye 
is not called into use, for, like the mole, they actu- 
ally feed below the surface; and, by the sensibility 
of the instrument which is thrust into the soft earth 
not a worm can éscape that is within reach. A 
woodcock in our menagerie,” he adds, ‘ very soon 
discovered and drew forth every worm in the ground, 
which was dug up to enable it to bore; and worms 
put into a large gardenpot, covered with earth five 
or six inches deep, are always cleared by the next 
morning without one being left. The enormous 
quantity of worms that these birds eat is scarcely 
credible ; indeed, it would be the constant labour of 
one person to procure such food for two or three 
woodcocks.”t 
Taste in Birds.—We have tried numerous exper- 
iments upon soft-billed song-birds (Sylvicole, Vieit- 
LoT), which are, in some measure, omnivorous, in 
order to discover whether or not they were guided 
* Zoonomia, i., 195. t pra Dict., p. 562, 2d edit. 
