THE SENSES 
109 
It should be repeated, as we close this short section on structure 
and habit, that the species mentioned in connection with the functions 
of bill, wings, tail and 
feet have been restric- 
ted mainly to North 
American birds, in 
order that the student 
may verify, by per- 
sonal observation, the 
close relation existing 
between the form of 
an organ and the 
manner in which it is 
employed. 
The Senses . — In 
order that we may 
more nearly take the 
birds’ point of view 
and appreciate the significance of their actions, it is essential that we 
should have some knowledge of the development of their senses. 
Briefly, it is believed that in birds the senses of smell, taste and touch 
are inferior to our own, but that in sight and hearing they are 
immeasurably our superiors. 
There do not appear to be on record any well-defined illustrations 
of the sense of smell in birds. Vultures are believed to find their food 
by the exercise of sight alone, and it is by no means certain that prob- 
ing birds are attracted to their prey by its scent. 
To what extent birds taste their food it is difficult for us to deter- 
mine. That certain things are pleasant and others disagreeable will be 
obvious to any one who has seen a bird vigorously wipe its bill after 
attempting to eat an ill-tasting bug; but it is also clear that the bird’s 
standard of gustation is not to be measured by our own. The experi- 
ments of Judd (Am. Nat., 1899, p. 474) showed that many insects, 
which to man are both nauseating and foul-smelling, are relished by 
birds, while others are refused. It is, however, certain that the bird’s 
restricted sense of smell in a large degree limits its ability to detect finer 
differences in taste. 
The bird’s sense of touch is evidently more highly developed than 
either the sense of smell or that of taste. It is seated mainly in the tip 
of the bill, and the precision and delicacy with which this organ is 
used in picking up the smallest seeds, dislodging insects, their eggs and 
larvae from the crevices in bark, grasping worms or grubs out of sight 
in the ground, or catching minute forms of life in muddy water, demon- 
strates the degree of ability with which it is employed. 
When we reach the sense of hearing, we must at once concede that 
the bird is so far beyond us that we probably do not fully realize the 
extent of its powers. A Barred Owl, which alighted with his back toward 
Fig. 21. Lobed feet (a) 
swimming birds of the 
b. 
Phalarope and (6) Coot, 
Snipe and Rail families. 
