86 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



ALDROVAND), it is so very small *, that its very exis- 

 tence has been denied by several good observers; 

 among whom Willughby says, "I could not see any 

 tongue ; but where the root of the tongue was fixed, 

 I observed certain perforate bodies:" and Ray adds, 

 " neither could Faber, who saw this same bird after- 

 wards at Rome, find the tongue, though he searched 

 diligently for itf." The gulls (Larida, LEACH), 

 and the cormorant (Carbo cormoranus, MEYER), 

 have, according to M. De Blainville, an exceedingly 

 small tongue, smooth, slippery (/me), without horny 

 texture and with no trace of papillae J." These birds 

 however feed chiefly, if not exclusively, on live fish, 

 the species of which require little discrimination, as 

 no species, we believe, comes amiss to them. The 



Tongue and Head of the Ostrich (Struthio Camelus). 



* Blumenbach, Comp. Anat. 233; Cuvier, Regne Animal 

 in voce. 



t Ray's Willughby, Ornith, p. 327 j Anat. Comp. p. 261. 



