256 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 
ER), have, according to M. de Blainville, an exceed- 
ingly small tongue, smooth, slippery, without horny 
texture, and with no trace of papille.” These 
birds, however, feed chiefly, if not exclusively, on 
live fish, the species of which require little discrim- 
ination, as no species, we believe, comes amiss to 
them. The tongue in the ostrich (Struthio Camelus, 
ARISTOTLE), however, which is an omnivorous bird, 
is also small. Baron Cuvier deseribes it as “short 
and rounded like a crescent ;” and Vallisnieri, the 
celebrated Italian naturalist, says it is ‘‘ very short, 
similar to that of fishes, smooth, slippery (/uérica), 
and without any appearance of papille, which, ac- 
cording to Malpighi, are the chief organs of taste ; 
and indeed it heedlessly swallows pieces of wood, 
stones, ropes, bits of cloth, iron, glass, and the like, 
not seeming to feel any taste, but foolishly gulping 
them down.” 
We think, on the contrary, the luérica of his own 
description would lead to the conclusion that the 
ostrich did possess taste, and that the shortness of 
the tongue corresponds with the short bill. 
CHAPTER XxX. 
WALKING OF BIRDS. 
Birps, particularly small birds, appear to be the 
most restless of all animals; a circumstance which 
might lead us to conclude that animals are restless 
in proportion to their diminutive size, were this not 
in opposition to many other facts. The bee, for 
example, is equally noted for industry and bustiing 
activity with the ant, which is not one fourth of 
its size; nay, the large wood ant (Formica rufa) is 
