THE SENSES 



109 



a. b. 



FIG. 21. Lobed feet (a) Phalarope and (6) Coot, 



swimming birds of the Snipe and Rail families. 



It should be repeated, as we close this short section on structure 

 and habit, that the species mentioned in connection with the functions 

 of bill, wings, tail and 

 feet have been restric- 

 ted mainly to North 

 American birds, in 

 order that the student 

 may verify, by per- 

 sonal observation, the 

 close relation existing 

 between the form of 

 an organ and the 

 manner in which it is 

 employed. 



The Senses. In 

 order that we may 

 more nearly take the 

 birds' point of view 

 and appreciate the significance of their actions, it is essential that we 

 should have some knowledge of the development of their senses. 

 Briefly, it is believed that in birds the senses of smell, taste and touch 

 are inferior to our own, but that in sight and hearing they are 

 immeasurably our superiors. 



There do not appear to be on record any well-defined illustrations 

 of the sense of smell in birds. Vultures are believed to find their food 

 by the exercise of sight alone, and it is by no means certain that prob- 

 ing birds are attracted to their prey by its scent. 



To what extent birds taste their food it is difficult for us to deter- 

 mine. That certain things are pleasant and others disagreeable will be 

 obvious to any one who has seen a bird vigorously wipe its bill after 

 attempting to eat an ill-tasting bug; but it is also clear that the bird's 

 standard of gustation is not to be measured by our own. The experi- 

 ments of Judd (Am. Nat., 1899, p. 474) showed that many insects, 

 which to man are both nauseating and foul-smelling, arc relished by 

 birds, while others are refused. It is, however, certain that the bird's 

 restricted sense of smell in a large degree limits its ability to detect finer 

 differences in taste. 



The bird's sense of touch is evidently more highly developed than 

 either the sense of smell or that of taste. It is seated mainly in the tip 

 of the bill, and the precision and delicacy with which this organ is 

 used in picking up the smallest seeds, dislodging insects, their eggs and 

 larvae from the crevices in bark, grasping worms or grubs out of sight 

 in the ground, or catching minute forms of life in muddy water, demon- 

 strates the degree of ability with which it is employed. 



When we reach the sense of hearing, we must at once concede that 

 the bird is so far beyond us that we probably do not fully realize the 

 extent of its powers. A Barred Owl, which alighted with his back toward 



