DEVELOPMENT OF SCENT 243 



The Apteryxes, however, are exceptions, as these 

 birds, which unlike all others have the nostrils at 

 the tip of the beak, nose their way about like a 

 beast, even sniffing audibly. Some sportsmen also 

 are of opinion that wildfowl have a keen scent, and 

 should be approached accordingly with due regard 

 to the direction of the wind, as in stalking deer and 

 other similar animals ; and decoymen used to burn 

 a turf before their mouths when working a decoy, 

 so as to hide the human scent. St. John also 

 recorded that his domesticated wild Ducks scented 

 out a heap of diseased potatoes which had been 

 well covered with earth. On the other hand, 

 Mr. Millais found that wild Geese approached 

 quite near him when concealed in a pit, so as to 

 suggest they had no particular power of scent. 



The sense may be well developed in the Crows, 

 for M. Rogeron says a pet Jackdaw of his could 

 distinguish between salt and powdered sugar, 

 which nevertheless were alike to the eye, taking 

 only a few grains of the one substance and a big 

 beakful of the other, and Dickens describes how his 

 second tame Raven disinterred the halfpence and 

 bits of cheese his , predecessor had buried in the 

 garden. Pigeons also used at any rate to be credited 

 by fanciers with liking the smell of aniseed, which 

 was supposed to attach them to a cote. 



The only case in which I myself have seen any- 

 thing which suggested scenting power in a bird 

 was that of a Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros mala- 

 baricus) I kept in India, which, when offered 



