244 Mr. J. H. (iurney on the [Ibis, 



(/ollege o£ Surgeons, for the accompanying photograph (PI. I. 

 figs. 2, 2 a) of the section through the head of an Apteryx, 

 taken from a preparation preserved in the College (No. E 112 

 Physiol. Series, Royal College of Surgeons Museum). This 

 will explain the several parts belter than a description. 

 In it the position of the olfactory bulb is shown, as well 

 as the turbinal bones in the nose-cavity covered by the 

 olfactory membrane. Considerable evidence of the alleged 

 powers of the Apteryx has been at different times advanced, 

 all of which need not bo quoted ; indeed, some of it is not 

 satisfactory * and is hardly worth reproducing. 



An experiment tried in London by Dr. Strong and 

 Mr. E. I. Pocock with Apteryx mantelli at the Zoological 

 Gardens, was not conclusive (2), nor was one which was 

 detailed some years ago in ' The Field ' very satisfactory, 

 but, on the whole, there is a consensus of opinion that the 

 Apteryx makes great use of the nasal apparatus with which 

 nature has provided it. 



The supposed ahility of Pheasants and Wild DucJcs to 

 scent water. — By no field-naturalist has the debated question 

 of scent been more studied than by Xavier Raspail, who 

 argues that if birds can scent seed and grain, there is no 

 particular reason why they should not smell water (1). In the 

 case of a certain Pheasant's nest on his property in France, 

 where he had carefully watched the hen, he writes : — 

 " II est incontestable que cette Faisane, de meme que tous 

 les Faisans males ou femelles que j'ai vus trouver I'eau quel 

 que soit I'endroit cache ou je I'avais placee, en avait perQU 

 les emanations a une distance qui ne pouvait etre moindre 

 de 180 metres (about 225 yards) " from the spot where 

 " son nid aurait ete etabli sur la lisiere meme du bois." 

 This, then, seems to be pretty clear. 



We see the same instinctive knowledge of the whereabouts 



* See ' The Field,' 1874, p. 277. Sir Walter Buller has a good deal 

 to say on the subject (Birds of New Zealand, 2nd ed., vol. ii. p. 313), 

 and he returns to it in his Supplement when treating of A. lawreyi. 



I 



