102 FACULTIES OP BIRDS. 



whale amounts in all to a ton and a half; they form 

 the framework, as it were, of the filter ; but some- 

 thing more is necessary to complete it before it would 

 answer the intended purpose. This, however, is 

 accomplished in the most perfect manner by the free 

 edges of the lamina? being split into innumerable 

 bristles, which make the whole ceiling of the mouth 

 look like one continued brush or cushion of hairs. 

 This then is the admirable organ by whose means the 

 vast bulk of the whale is nourished ; and here is 

 another example of the Divine Wisdom, combined with 

 unlimited power, in which the works of creation 

 everywhere abound. Mr. Scoresby observes that 

 " when the whale feeds, it swims with considerable 

 velocity below the surface of the sea, with its jaws 

 widely extended. A stream of water consequently 

 enters its capacious mouth, and along with it large 

 quantities of water-insects ; the water escapes again 

 at the sides, but the food is entangled and sifted, as it 

 were, by the whalebone, which, from its compact 

 arrangement and the thick internal covering of hair, 

 does not allow a particle the size of the smallest grain 

 to escape *." 



The whale, however, does not proceed in the same 

 manner as the shoveller, inasmuch as it does not suck 

 in, but takes a mouthful of the water containing its 

 prey, and as its mouth, according to Mr. Scoresby' s 

 description, " presents a cavity as large as a room, and 

 capable of containing a merchant-ship's jolly-boat full 

 of men, being six or eight feet wide, ten or twelve feet 

 high (in front), and fifteen or sixteen feet longf,"it can 

 consequently gulp up an enormous quantity of water. 



The duck, again, employs suction to filter the mud, 

 examining, with great care, the puddle, the brake, 

 and every mixture likely to contain eligible food. The 

 operation is excellently described by Paley. " The 



* Account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i, p. 469. 

 f Ibid. p. 455. 



