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 papillae." 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 describes 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 (lubrica), 

 and without any appearance of papillae, 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 lubrica 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 XX. 



WALKING OF BIRDS. 



BIRDS, 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 bustling 

 activity with the ant, which is not one fourth of 

 its size ; nay, the large wood ant (Formica rufa) is 



