114 CROSSBIELE 
another obliquely,! whence the appellation Lovia (Aokds, obliquus), 
conferred by Gesner on the group and continued by Linnzus. At 
first sight this singular structure appears so like a deformity that 
writers have not been wanting to account it such,” ignorant of its 
being a piece of mechanism most beautifully adapted to the habits 
of the bird, enabling it to extract with the greatest ease, from 
fir-cones or fleshy fruits, the seeds which form its usual and almost 
invariable food. Its mode of using this unique instrument seems 
to have been first described by Townson (Zracts on Nat. Hist. 
p. 116, London: 1799), but only partially, and it was Yarrell who, 
in 1829 (Zool. Journ. iv. pp. 459-465, pl. xiv. figs. 1-7), explained 
fully the means whereby the jaws and the muscles which direct 
their movements become so effective in riving asunder cones or 
apples, while at the proper moment the scoop-like tongue is 
instantaneously thrust out and withdrawn, conveying the hitherto 
protected seed to the bird’s mouth. Without going into details it 
may be observed that in the Crossbills the articulation of the 
mandible to the quadrate-bone is such as to allow of a very 
considerable amount of lateral play, and, by a particular arrange- 
ment of the muscles which move the former, it comes to pass that 
so soon as the bird opens its mouth the point of the mandible is 
brought immediately opposite to that of the maxilla (which itself is 
movable vertically) instead of crossing or overlapping it—the usual 
position when the mouth is closed. The two points thus meeting, the 
bill is inserted between the scales or into the pome, but on opening 
the mouth still more widely, the lateral motion of the mandible is 
once more brought to bear with great force to wrench aside the 
portion of the fruit attacked, and then the action of the tongue 
completes the operation, which is so rapidly performed as to defy 
scrutiny, except on very close inspection. Fortunately the birds 
soon become tame in confinement, and a little patience will enable 
an attentive observer to satisfy himself as to the process, the result 
of which at first seems almost as unaccountable as that of a clever 
conjuring trick. 
1 As an accidental malformation, however, the peculiarity has been many 
times observed in other groups of birds, and especially in the Crows (Corvidz). 
Such cases may be well compared to the monstrosity often seen in Rabbits and 
other members of the Order Glires, wherein the incisor teeth grow to inordinate 
length. 
2 The special animosity of De Buffon on this point may perhaps be explained 
by the existence of a medieval legend (of which, however, be it said, he takes 
no notice), best known to English readers by Longfellow’s pretty version of 
Mosen’s poem, to the effect that the bird acquired its peculiar conformation of 
bill and coloration of plumage in recognition of the pity it bestowed on the 
suffering Saviour at the crucifixion. Schwenckfeld in 1603 (Zheriotropheum 
Silesiw, pp. 253, 254) gave the fable in the Latin verses of Johannes Major, which 
have been reprinted in Notes and Queries (ser. 5, vii. p. 505). 
