'. 
‘is rather spoonshaped, as in the Spoonbill and Boatbill. In many 
birds that feed chiefly in water or mud the beak is rather broad, 
and its edges are widened and divided on the surface into fine 
plates or ridges somethiug like the undersurface of a mushroom. 
When the upper and: lower mandibles are nearly closed, this acts 
like a sieve to filter the water through and retain the particles of 
food. Geese and ducks show this variety well. In the Shoveler 
this sieve-like arrangement is beautifully shown. In the Flamingo, 
the bill is bent downwards at an obtuse angle, and the bird, which 
has very long legs and neck, sifts the soft mud of the lagoons in 
which it is wading to feed, by turning its bill upside down, as 
though it were preparing to stand on its head. The upper 
mandible is also more movable than the lower in this exceptional 
bird. The young Flamingo is born with a short straight bill, and 
‘this final shape is assumed gradually and comparatively late. In 
many of our smailer common birds, such as the finches, an1 the 
house sparrow, the bill is short, ¢ nical, and hard, well adapted 
‘for shelling and eating the various seeds that form the chief 
p rtion of their dietwhen adults. Modifications extend in the 
direction of fineness and delicacy to the beak of the robin, and of 
massive strength to that of the hawfinch. I have mentioned that 
‘the Apteryx or kiwi is the only bird that has its nostrils at the 
extreme end of the maxilla. Sir W. Butler gives the following 
‘account of its behaviour when obtaining its food :—:‘ While 
hunting for its food the bird makes a continual sniffing sound 
through the nostrils, which are placed at the extremity of the 
upper mandible. Whether it is guided as much by touch as by 
smell, I cannot safely say; but it appears to me that both senses 
are used in the action. That the sense of touch is highly developed 
seems quite certain, because the bird, although it may not be 
audibly sniffing, will always touch the object with the point of its 
bill, whether in the act of feeding or of surveying the ground; aud 
when shut up in a cage or confined iu a room it may be heard all 
through the night tapping softly at the walls It is interesting to 
watch the bird. in a state of freedom, foraying for worms, which 
constitute its principal food; it moves about with a slow action of 
the body ; and the long flexible bill is driven into the soft ground, 
generally home to the very root, and is either immediately with- 
' drawn with a worm held at the extreme end of the mandibles, or 
it is gently moved to and fro, by an action of the head and neck, 
the body of the bird being perfectly steady It is amusing to 
observe the extreme care and deliberation with which the bird 
draws the worm from its hiding place, coaxing it out as it were by 
degrees, instead of pulling roughly or breaking it. On getting the 
