. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. THE TONGUES OF BIRDS. 1011 the tongue when he says that in drinking sirup the tongue is protruded for half an inch or so and worked rapidly backward and forward. In doing this the tip of the tongue would naturally fill with sirup when protruded, and when the tongue was retracted it would "either be brought far enough back for a vacuum to be formed at the base or liquid could be forced out by pressing the tip against the roof of the mou
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. THE TONGUES OF BIRDS. 1011 the tongue when he says that in drinking sirup the tongue is protruded for half an inch or so and worked rapidly backward and forward. In doing this the tip of the tongue would naturally fill with sirup when protruded, and when the tongue was retracted it would "either be brought far enough back for a vacuum to be formed at the base or liquid could be forced out by pressing the tip against the roof of the mouth as the tongue was again extended. The tongues of wood- peckers (Plate 2, figs. 8, 9), so far as they have been observed, are con- structed on one plan, being long, slender, and pointed, round or ellipti- cal in cross section, slightly barbed on either side at the tip, and with the upi^er surface cov- ered with backwardly directed spines so min- ute that it needs a mag- nifying glass to properly appreciate them (fig. 7). There are no si)iues at the base of the tongue itself, as in most birds, for the tongue, when re- tracted, is withdrawn into a sheath, or makes its own sheath, tis when a gloved finger is drawn back and the glove doubles upon itself. In most species the tongue is very extensile—the sapsuckers {Sphyrapi- cus) are exceptions— and since, as said in the beginning, the extensibility of the tongue depends on the length of the epibranchials, we find that these are very long, in most cases even longer than the head. Such being tlie case, some special provision has to be made for disposing of the hyoid when the tongue is retracted, and this provision is obtained as follows: The two branches of the hyoid pass up over the back of the skull, coming together at the top, and then (usually) turn to the right and continue onward over the forehead, onward beneath the nostril into the beak, and thence quite to the tip. Still another method is found in some. Fig. Please
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