INTRODUCTION. xix 



It is doubtful, however, if they have much sense of 

 smell, and in many cases the sense of taste cannot be 

 very acute. I have found, for instance, that birds will 

 take certain insects and swallow them on the first trial, 

 and then refuse the same kind afterwards. Thus it 

 would appear that they are guided as to the quality of 

 food by their stomachic sensations ; and this is sup- 

 ported by the well-known fondness of Pigeons and 

 Fowls for hemp-seed, which they swallow whole, and 

 therefore cannot possibly taste it in the mouth. Their 

 sense of touch is as delicate as can be expected, con- 

 sidering the fact that their body is covered with feathers 

 or horn : their feet seem to be the most sensitive part^ 

 and are easily hurt, a fact which some intelligent species 

 take advantage of when fighting. 



The battles of birds are very often severe, and in some 

 cases they have special weapons, such as the two spurs 

 on the wings of the Screamers and the single one on 

 those of the Jaganas and some birds of the Plover and 

 Duck families. Leg-spurs are only found among the 

 game-birds, and generally in the males only of these. 

 In some they may be as many as four in number. In 

 some birds, like the Crane and Cassowary, the enlarged 

 claw of the inner toe is used as a weapon. Birds of 

 prey, when fighting, very commonly turn on their 

 backs, so as to use their talons to good effect. 



Birds naturally fight a great deal at the season of 

 courtship, and the general consensus of observers is to 

 the effect that the hen bird usually falls to the lot of the 

 strongest male present. This somewhat discounts the 

 value of the selection supposed to be exercised by the 

 female in favour of the handsomest male, but it is well 

 known to bird fanciers that the hens do show individual 

 preferences, and a sufficiently extended series of experi- 

 ments might prove that they really are attracted by 

 superior beauty. The positions assumed by the male 

 bird in courtship appear to be those expressive of emo- 



