184 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



infer, the nostrils incased in horn render the sense 

 of smell of but slight account. It is hard to tell 

 how much a bird can distinguish in this way— ^ 

 probably only the odour of food near at hand. 

 However, when we examine the eye of our bird, 

 yfe see a sense organ of a very high order. 

 Bright, intelligent, full-circled, of great size com- 

 pared to the bulk of the skuU, protected by three 

 complete eyelids; we realise that this must play 

 an important part in the life of the bird. There 

 are, of course, many exceptions to such a general- 

 isation as this. For instance, many species of 

 sparrows are dull-coloured. We must remember 

 that the voice — the calls and songs of birds — ^is 

 developed to a high degree, and in many instances 

 renders bright colouring needless in attracting 

 a mate or in locating a young bird. 



As we have seen, the sense of smell is very 

 highly developed among four-footed animals, but 

 to make this efficient there must be something for 

 it to act upon ; and in this connection we find some 

 interesting facts of which, outside of scientific 

 books, little has been written. On the entire body, 

 birds have only one gland — ^the oil gland above the 

 base of the tail, which supplies an unctuous dress- 

 ing for the feathers. Birds, therefore, have not 

 the power of perspiring, but compensate for this 

 by very rapid breathing. On the contrary, four- 

 footed animals have glands on many portions of 



