SIDE I.IGHTS ON BIRDS 



its strong beak may be described as a kind of 

 living adze, combined with a pair of pincers. 



Wherever the luckless worm or insect may seek 

 refuge, it is pursued by some relentless beak, 

 which seems to have been expressly designed for 

 its destruction. The first creatures to take up 

 their abode in the underworld must have con- 

 gratulated themselves on having at last found 

 a safe hiding-place from their hereditary foes. 

 But their satisfaction would be short-lived. Soon 

 the snipe came along, probing the soft ground 

 with its long beak, so delicately sensitive as to 

 detect at once the presence of any concealed 

 victim. The oddly-shaped bills of the spoonbill 

 and flamingo are both useful tools for their pur- 

 pose. The latter has its lower jaw in the shape 

 of a pipe, in which lies the tongue, and the upper 

 mandible forms a Ud. Water is sucked into the 

 pipe, then the entrance to the pipe is blocked 

 with the tongue, so that only the water can be 

 squirted through, while solid food is retained. 

 The long sharp beak of the heron forms an ad- 

 mirable spear for the harpooning of fish, but the 

 peHcan prefers to " net " its victims in the large 

 pouch provided for the purpose. Pelicans work 

 in concert " rounding-up " the fish into a corner, 

 and then scooping them up. As a rule, the 

 beak is an organ more useful than ornamental. 

 We have an exception in the case of the puffin, 

 however, which in order to enhance its charms 

 during the breeding season ornaments this rather 

 prominent organ with crude stripes of blue and 

 orange. Many of the gulls have really very 

 beautiful bills, the blending tints on that of the 

 herring-gull are like a sunset sky, with a vivid 

 orange spot on the lower mandible to represent 

 the sun. The cumbersome structure which the 



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