1922.] Sense of Smell possessed III/ Bird a. 247 



how easily birds forsake their nests and eggs when too much 

 inspected, the reason being, I take it, not so much that 

 the fabric of the nest has been disturbed as that the eoL's 

 and nest have become tainted by contact with the human 

 hand ; this, at all events, seems to be the solution of their 

 behaviour in a great many cases. One of the most sus- 

 picious birds appears by report to be the Great Bustard 

 (^Otis tarda). We know but little of its habits in England, 

 but Lafourcade, whose account of the Bustard is very com- 

 plete, describing them in the south of France, tells his 

 readers that if a Bustard's eggs are handled, or even 

 touched, they are nearly certain to be forsaken (8). 



The same jealousy is attributed to them by Daniel*, and 

 by another French sportsman M. Descourtils. " If in the 

 absence of the female," observes the latter writer, " un 

 touchc a ses oeufs, elle les abandonne, quelque avancee 

 que soit I'incubation " (10). In these cases it can be nothing 

 but the operation of scent which provokes the parent Bustard 

 to forsake her treasures so easily. 



PART III. 



Conclusions on the Scent question very difficult to arrive at. — 

 Here, then, the much-disputed problem of scent v. no scent 

 comes to an end, and it must be confessed the matter does 

 not terminate satisfactorily, for it leaves us with a w^eb still 

 unravelled, and but little that can be said to be certain one 

 way or the other on the scent question. That a large portion 

 of the feathered kingdom possesses some power of smelling 

 food and also the presence of dangerous enemies seems 

 pretly clear — he would be a bold man Avho denied that 

 much — and further, that it is a power which occasionally 

 seems to be accentuated to a marvellous degree. 



But granted that l)irds can smell, we may safely con- 

 jecture that all species are not eciually endowed with the 

 faculty — e.g., it is most unlikely tliatan Owl uses or requires 

 the olfactory nerve like a Petrel, or an Ostrich in the same 

 * ' liuml Sports,' vol. iii. p. 28. 



