9444 Birds. 



and the duck. But, as I have already stated, it differed strikingly in 

 more than one particular from the tongue of any other gallinaceous 

 bird I have hitherto examined; and thus, earnestly desiring informa- 

 tion myself on these matters of deep and mutual interest, I would beg 

 to submit to your readers, with humble deference to their superior 

 experience and opportunities, the following remarks. At the same 

 time 1 would add that the only magnifying power I have been able to 

 avail myself ^of has been a good pocket-lens: this circumstance of 

 course renders my deductions more purely conjectural than they 

 otherwise might have been. On the tongues of most, if not all, birds 

 may be seen rudimentary papillae, or epithelial processes, — types of 

 those more highly-developed papillae which endow the higher animals 

 with the sense of taste. It is generally supposed that birds, if not 

 altogether destitute of this special sense, do not enjoy it in the same 

 degree of perfection as animals. I cannot believe that birds are com- 

 pletely destitute of this sense ; for who can observe a parrot smacking 

 his bill, with every evidence of enjoyment, whilst munching some 

 daintj' morsel, without believing that he approves the taste as well 

 as the odour of his meal ? The sense of taste appears to be more or 

 less highly developed and modified in the various species of this great 

 family, and occurs to the greatest degree of perfection in those spe- 

 cies whose food is soft and tast}', under which circumstances the dis- 

 criminating perceptions which the sense of taste conveys to the brain 

 are rendered necessary to a correct selection of the food. On the 

 other hand, in the case of birds which feed on grain and hard and 

 comparatively tasteless substances, we find the tongue so covered 

 with hardened epithelium as to reduce by its very thickness the sense 

 of taste to a miuimum ; whilst it serves as a protection to the more 

 delicate organism beneath it, from the hard and often sharp sub- 

 stances swallowed by these birds, either as food or with their food. 

 Even in these birds, however, we find many papillae of taste between 

 the base of the tongue and the glottis, which convey to [my mind 

 direct evidence of ihe existence of the special sense, although it may 

 be fto a limited extent. These papillae, or epithelial processes, are 

 arranged in greater or lesser numbers, and occur in a greater or lesser 

 degree of development, like a fringe, along the outer margins and the 

 base of the tongue, around the glottis, or aperture which admits 

 atmospheric air into the windpipe and lungs, and beyond the poste- 

 rior margin of the glottis. These papillae, as I have called them, are 

 in some instances very small and iew in number, but they are present 

 in all birds ; and in this lowest form of development we can only 



