254 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 
by taste in their preference or rejection of certain 
articles. The black-cap (Philomela atricapilla), for 
instance, which is very fond of berries, will greedi- 
ly devour those of the elder, the privet, the honey- 
suckle, and the ivy, as well as currants and grapes; 
but it will not touch the berries of the bitter-sweet 
(Solanum dulcamara) which a redbreast in the adja- 
cent cage seemed to relish, while he rejected the 
privet berries. What appeared to be the most re- 
markable circumstance in these experiments was, 
that the berries are for the most part swallowed en- 
tire, without the bird breaking or bruising them with 
its bill. Now it is difficult for us to conceive that 
the berry could be tasted while it remains unbro- 
ken; at least our organs are too obtuse to distin- 
guish tastes under such circumstances.* 
The observations of Mr. Knapp upon these birds 
agree exactly with our own. “Our gardens,” he 
says, “‘shrubberies, and orchards become their re- 
sort, seeking for the fruits usually produced in those 
places. ; 
** All these fruit-eating birds seem to have a very 
discriminating taste, and a decided preference for 
the richest sorts, the sweetest variety of the goose- 
berry or the currant always being selected; and, 
when they are consumed, less saccharine dainties 
are submitted to: but the hedgeberry of the season 
our little foreign connoisseurs disdain to feed on, 
leaving it for the humbler-appetited natives ; they are 
away to sunnier regions and more grateful food.” 
With respect to insects and other small animals 
upon which the same birds also feed, they are equal- 
ly nice in their preferences and rejections. Wehad — 
a fauvette (Philomela hortensis), for example, which 
was exceedingly fond of spiders (Phalangium opilio, 
Epeira diadema, &c.), the largest of which it would 
contrive to swallow; but the black-cap, though it 
* J, Rennie. + Journ. of a Naturalist, p. 232, 3d edit. 
