410 



HITCHCOCK'S ANATOMY 



so efficient are these that the skin of some of the more deli- 

 cate animals is removed simply by the licking of the tongue 

 of one of the more powerful carnivora. 



758. Tongue of Birds — In the Woodpecker and Hum- 

 mi ng-Bird— In birds this sense is very feeble, since the 

 tongue is destitute of sensitive papillae, and is often of a hard, 

 horny consistence, designed probably more for the means of 

 obtaining food than of judging of its quality. In some birds 

 the tongue is furnished with one or more ossicles for the pur- 

 pose of giving stability and strength to it. In woodpeckers 

 the tongue is not only long, slender, and stout, but it is armed 



Fig. 370. 



Tongue. 



Head of the Woodpecker. 



with appendages like barbs on either side, in order that it may 

 be thrust into narrow crevices in trees, to pierce and hold in- 

 sects upon which it lives. (See Fig. 370.) Humming-birds 

 have tongues very slender and slit at the apex, so that both 

 sides can be formed into a sort of tube by curving them to- 

 gether from the outside, in order that the bird may suck 

 up the nectar of flowers. And in both of these birds the 

 tongue can be extended for a long distance in front of the 

 body. 



759. Tongue of Reptiles — Chameleon— The tongue of 

 most of the class of reptiles seems to be constructed for other 

 purposes than that of taste. Like that of birds, it is pro- 

 vided with one or more lingual (tongue) bones, and is desti- 



753. TTow is it with the sense of taste in birds ? Describe the tongue of the woodpecker. 

 What is its use? What is the tongue of the humming-bird ? How far can the tongue 

 be protruded in either of these animals ? 759. For what purpose is the tongue of rep- 

 tiles? 



