52 
SENSE OF SMELL. 
like the owls, are afflicted by tlie sounds that other birds find so 
agreeable. 
The external nostrils in birds are usually placed on the sides and 
near the base of the upper mandible, in the form of simple perforations, 
which not unfrequently, through the deficiency of the cartilaginous 
partition, or septum, communicate from side to side. Sometimes the 
nostrils are protected by bristles ; in the Easores, by a scale. In the 
New Zealand apteryx, the nostrils are situated at the tip of the 
elongated upper mandible. As to the power of smell possessed by birds, 
a considerable difference of opinion exists. Some hold it absurd to 
believe that the crow can detect at a distance the odour of the powder 
in the sportsman's gun, and the kite or vulture scent the carrion he 
loves at several leagues off'. It may be admitted, however, that 
several naturalists accept the latter statement as proved by numerous 
observations. 
As regards taste, the birds are much below the level of the 
mammals. It is in a few species only, such as the parrakeets, that 
