BIRD BILLS. 



ON the two following pages are the heads of several 

 different birds, — birds not only of different 

 kinds, but of different families and of very different 

 ways of life. Some of them belong to families about 

 which you have already read. You can find a back- 

 woodsman anions: them with his chisel, and a Grouse 

 with his all-round bill, useful for crushing grain, gather- 

 ing fruit, or seizing insects. The Flamingo and Duck 

 both strain water through their bills, but the Flamingo 

 turns his upside down so that you could almost say 

 that he stood on his head to eat. Some of the other 

 birds have bills of very strange shape. The gypsy 

 Crossbill has a pair of scissors with which he cuts 

 pine seeds, and the Humming Bird has a tube that 

 enters the deepest flowers. Look through your book 

 for birds of other families. Herons, Owls, Hawks, and 

 Gulls ; compare their bills with these, and with each 

 other, and try to find out how each bird is helped by 

 the particular shape of his bill. 



