164 On the Ornithology of Wilts. 



ingly various, and whose food is very diverse, it is clear that the 

 beak which would be most suitable for one would be wholly in- 

 appropriate to the other ; on that account we shall find the beaks 

 of this order varying from one another very much. 



I have already observed in a former paper, that the first tribe 

 takes its name " Dentirostres," from the tooth or notch near the 

 extremity of the mandibles ; now the members of this tribe live 

 almost entirely, or at any rate chiefly on insects, worms, and such- 

 like food ; we may see them hawking in the air, searching in the 

 grass, looking keenly under leaves and seizing them the instant 

 they appear : for this purpose no strong beak is necessary, but as 

 the living prey which they seize struggles violently to escape, 

 what can be more suited for a firm hold than the soft beak fur- 

 nished with a tooth such as I have described above, and which 

 belongs to this tribe ? Moreover, the accurate Selby has observed 

 that " the bill too is generally lengthened, so as to defend the face 

 from the struggles of their prey, which is always taken by the aid 

 of this member, or where it is short and broad, the base is furnished 

 with stiff, projecting bristles, or having feathers that answer the 

 same purpose of defence" {Selby, vol. i. 138). With this notched 

 beak the shrikes find no difficulty in seizing their prey ; the fly- 

 catchers can hold the insects they have caught ; the thrushes can 

 retain the worm which they have drawn out of the turf ; the war- 

 blers, the titmice, the wagtails, and the pipits can take their insect 

 food without chance of its escape. 



The second tribe of this order also derives its name " Conirostres" 

 (conical-beaked), from the formation of the beak of all those fami- 

 lies which compose it. Instead of the tooth which characterized 

 the last tribe, here we have no tooth, but a short, straight, conical 

 beak, about as broad as high at the base, compressed towards the 

 end, and acute. Birds of this division live chiefly on grain and 

 seeds of different kinds ; the nature of which food is generally hard, 

 and requires a strong bill to take it ; the soft beak of the former 

 tribe could never endure the work that has to be done by these 

 powerful little fellows ; sometimes they break down the hardest 

 seeds, sometimes they even crack the stones of different kinds of 



