HOW A BIRD FEEDS. 47 



frightened hosts, which, entangled in this sub- 

 stitute for bird-lime, are swiftly drawn back to 

 be speedily swallowed. The skeleton which 

 supports the tongue is of extreme delicacy and 

 has to be stored away by being curled up round 

 the head just under the skin. 



A precisely similar method of feeding on 

 ants has been developed by various mammals — 

 the ant-eater for instance, and the echidna, 

 or spiny ant-eater of New Zealand. Thus 

 again we have more instances of exactly simi- 

 lar and independently acquired modifications 

 of the same organs due to the need to per- 

 form the same functions. That is to say, 

 the woodpecker and the New Zealand and 

 South American ant-eaters are not even re- 

 motely related, yet, having adopted a similar 

 diet, all have followed the same method of 

 obtaining it. 



There is a barbarous and old-time custom 

 of splitting a bird's tongue to make it sing 

 better; did those who practise this brutal 

 custom but know it, they would be spared the 

 excuse of performing this operation. The 

 tongue does not improve the song, the organ 

 of voice or song is at the lower end of 

 the wind-pipe, concerning which we shall have 

 something to say later. That it can have 

 but little to do with the voice can be seen 

 in the fact that the starling, the raven, the 

 magpie, and others, all alike in having a hard 

 horny tongue, can be taught to talk well, as 

 distinctly as the most familiar example of all 

 talking birds — the parrot, which has a large and 



