Concerning Birds' Tongues 



certainly useful for catching minute insects. The tongues of some 

 of the Australian and Hawaiian Honey-suckers are even more com- 

 plicated, ending in four little spiral brushes instead of two. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRUSHY TONGU 



a, Connecticut Warbler; *, Australian Honey-sucker; 



c, American Honey-creerer ; (/, Australian Friar Bird; 



e, Tip of Tongue of Honey-creeper 



Still another kind of tubular tongue is found in the Ruby- 

 throated Hummingbird, or, for that matter in alH Hummingbirds 

 so far examined, each half of the very long and very deeply cleft 

 tongue being edged on the outer side with the thinnest imaginable 

 membrane, which curls inward to form a delicate tube.. 



Now, since the Honey-creepers, the Honey-suckers 

 and the Hummingbirds all have tubular tongues, it is 

 natural to suppose that they use them for sucking the 

 nectar of flowers, and yet, so far as actual knowledge 

 goes, the food of these birds consists principally of minute 

 insects and spiders, which goes to show that in mat- 

 ters pertaining to natural history a little observation is 

 much better than a great deal of theory. 



Theory may, perhaps, be right in ascrib- 

 ing the little pitchfork the Chickadee car- 

 ries by way of a tongue to the fact that 

 THE chickadee's such a thing would be useful for prying 



FORK insects and their eggs out of chinks in the 



bark of trees, but it is difficult even for theory to explain 

 why some birds have just such tongues as they do : why, 

 for example, the big-billed Toucan should have a tongue 

 very much like a long, loose feather, or that of the Pen- 

 guin should be made up of long spines. Perhaps when 



the habits of these birds are better known we may see the 



J. , , ^ , . 1 , . the penguin's 



reasons tor the shapes of their tongues, and the spm}^ rake 



