76 FACULTIES OP BIRDS. 



they may be fishing such substances as they judge 

 by smell to be unfit for food, while they will eagerly 

 swallow a bit of biscuit which for the sake of experi- 

 ment may be concealed amongst the mud ; and they 

 will as eagerly seize and swallow any animal garbage 

 which they find in the same place, and which has just 

 been rejected by their fellow-swimmers the swans, 

 whose food is wholly vegetable*. Dr. Darwin was 

 therefore in some degree right in the following remarks, 

 though he evidently carries his principle to extremes 

 which facts will not altogether justify. " The senses 

 of smell and taste," says the Doctor, " in many other 

 animals greatly excel those of mankind ; for in civi- 

 lized society, as our victuals are generally prepared by 

 others, and are adulterated with salt, spice, oil, and 

 empyreuma, we do not hesitate about eating whatever 

 is set before us, and neglect to cultivate these senses ; 

 whereas other animals try every morsel by the smell 

 before they take it into their mouths, and by the taste 

 before they swallow it; and are led each to his proper 

 nourishment by this organ of sense t." 



We have already mentioned the instance of a 

 chicken, which, the instant it was excluded from the 

 shell, picked up a spider, evidently guided thereto by 

 the eye. The celebrated Greek physician, Galen, 

 made an experiment which proves a similar early 

 development of smell, and will furnish an interesting 

 illustration of our subject. 



" On dissecting," he says, " a goat great with 

 young, I found a brisk embryon, and having detached 

 it from the matrix, and snatching it away before it 

 saw its dam, I brought it into a certain room, where 

 there were many vessels, some filled with wine, others 

 with oil, some with honey, others with milk or some 

 other liquor, and in others were grains and fruits : 

 we first observed the young animal get upon its 

 * J. R. t Zoonomia, i. 195. 



