232 Mr. J. H. Gurney on the [Ibis, 



meals. Even when prussic acid was tried, they remained 

 quite indifferent, although it caused them to stagger under 

 its strong fumes, so the experiments had to be abandoned 

 as a failure. 



Next a skilled anatomist of the United States, Dr. U. M. 

 Strong, carried out an elaborate series of experiments on 

 tame doves, the results of which, disappointing as they were, 

 he has detailed in the ' Journal of Morphology.' The doves 

 were placed in tight compartments, previously specially 

 prepared either to admit or to exclude scent, when it was 

 hoped there would be some demonstration on their part to 

 indicate an association of odour with the location of food, 

 but instead of that they unfortunately remained stolidly 

 indifferent (2). 



Others have supposed that experiments might be made 

 with blind birds, and it is not unlikely that the faculty of 

 scent comes to their aid when food is required, but I am 

 convinced that any such trials made in aviaries are too 

 fallacious to be of use. What is more to the point is that 

 wild birds in which blindness was supposed to have been 

 congenital have been occasionally shot. It is true there are 

 not many such records, but an instance of a blind Shoveler 

 Duck {Spatula clypeata) is given by Mr. Harting. " The 

 eyes," he says, " were hard and opaque, reminding me of 

 the appearance of a horse that is wall-eyed " *, yet the 

 bird was in good condition. Anotlier case was that of a 

 blind Shag (Phalacrocora.v graculus) in Orkney, which had 

 a dark film covering both eyes, and the pupils were scarcely 

 discernible, yet it was quite fat when captured. A third 

 was a Weaver Bird {^Ploceva haya) which had cataract in 

 both eyes t, and a South African Barbet v/hich, though 

 blind, wks still able to maintain itself. 



* ' The Field; Sept. 30, 1871. 



t 'The Field,' Oct. 7 and 14, 1871. But a blind Rook was seen to 

 be fed by other Rooks (t. c, May 20, 1905), and assistance of this kind 

 may be sometimes forthcoming-. 



