Beaks and Bills 



249 



natives of New Zealand — in which not only is the bill 

 of the species designed for a special method of procuring 

 food, but the bills of the two sexes are ver}" different in 

 form and use, and complement each other's methods. 

 Concerning the peculiar use of the bill in the Huia birds, 



Fig. 193. — Bill of Purple Finch and Crossbill compared; the latter specialized 

 for extracting seeds from pine-cones. 



Professor Newton writes: "Its favourite food is the grub 

 of a timber-boring beetle, and the male bird with his short 

 stout bill attacks the more decaj^ed portions of the wood, 

 and chisels out his prey, while the female with her long 

 slender bill probes the holes in the sounder part, the hard- 

 ness of which resists his weapon; or when he, having 

 removed the decayed portion, is unable to reach the grub. 



