Page:Bird-lore Vol 01.djvu/233

 THE FLICKER Concerning Birds' Tongues BY FREDERIC A. LUCAS Curator of Comparative Anatomy, United States National Museum Illustrated bv the author man may be an unruly mem- le tongues of his furred and ilatives are under much better control and, in the absence of hands, serve many useful purposes. Every one knows how the cat laps milk, washes her face and combs her hair, all with her tongue ; every one has seen a Duck investigating a puddle, and some have seen a Flicker probing the depths of an ant-hill. It may have occurred to the observer that in each case there must be some device whereby the tongue is fitted for the work to be done, and it is plain that the tongue of the Duck should be quite different from that of the Woodpecker, since they are used for very different pur- poses. But unless one has actually in- vestigated, he might not suspect how very unlike their tongues are, nor how com- plicated is that of the common Duck, be- ing, as it is, a sort of combined rake and strainer. Neither, without some little study, would one suspect the many kinds y' of tongues found among birds and the cu rious modifications they present. All, or nearly all, of these modifica- ^ tions probably have more or less to do with obtaining or manipulating food, al- though, to tell the truth, it has to be as- sumed that this is the case more from the apparent fitness of the organ for that purpose than from any actual observa- tions on the subject. Not that every bird has a remarkable tongue, for the great majority of our small perchers have rather commonplace tongues adapted for general rather than special purposes, and there- fore constructed on the same general plan. A tongue of this type is rather thin, slightly hollowed, and frayed out a little towards the tip, like the tongue of the Connecticut Warbler, which may be taken as the type of tongue possessed by the great majority of Warblers and TONGUES OF RINGED-NECKED DUCK («), RED-BREASTED MERGANSER [b).