BEAKS. 175 
attached in such a manner to the occiput as to admit of great ex- 
pansion, which permits of its swallowing plaice and other flat fish of 
Fig. 63.—Bill of Crane. 
considerable size. The Crane (Fig. 63) has the bill rather longer 
than the head, strong, straight, compressed, and pointed at the ex- 
tremity ; the sides of the mandible deeply channelled with nostrils, 
and closed backwards by a thin membrane. 
Fig 64.—Bill of Goose. 
In the Goose (Fig. 64) we find the bill short, not longer than the 
head, conical, covered at the base with a cerous skin, with under 
mandible smaller than the upper. In the Sparrows (Fig. 65) the bill 
SSS > 
Fig. 65.—Bill of Sparrow. Fig. 66.—Bill of Cuckoo. 
is strong and conical, the upper mandible slightly curved, the lower 
compressed and smaller than the upper ; nostrils lateral, basal, round, 
_ and partly concealed by the short feathers at the base of the man- 
dibles. In the Cuckoo (Fig. 66) the bill is remarkably small and 
weak, the sides inflexed and sometimes gaping. 
