DEVELOPMENT OF SCENT 243 



J 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.-^ 

 CThe 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.-^ 

 iThe 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 



