30 THE BEAK. 



case, for as the bird lives upon the seeds or kernels of 

 the hard fir-cones of pine-trees, it would never be able 

 to crack them, and must soon die of hunger, if not fur- 

 nished with a bill of more than ordinary strength and 

 peculiarity of construction; exactly, in short, like the 

 bill with which nature has provided it: with this it can 

 instantly and most dexterously, cut the hardest cones 

 asunder. But as Divine Providence guards against 

 every possible difficulty that might arise from any 

 unusual conformation, so, in this case, it has been found, 

 that the muscles for closing the lower mandible were 

 much larger and stronger on the side opposite to that 

 where the lower mandible crossed the upper one; a 

 highly necessary provision, to make amends for the 

 increased quantity of power, necessary to give the man- 

 dibles equal and uniform strength. 



The Puffin is another bird with a strangely large and 

 disproportioned bill, something like a Parrot's, whence 

 it is sometimes called the Sea Parrot; it is also very 

 powerful, and a bite from one of them would inflict a 

 serious wound. When once they seize an object, they 

 are with difficulty induced to leave hold of it; and, as 

 they grasp it with great force, a singular mode of 

 catching them is practised, which we shall notice when 

 we come to speak of these birds. 



Again, the longer tapering bill of the Snipe and Wood- 

 cock tribe is the precise instrument wanted, for pene- 

 trating deep into moist earth, from whence they extract 

 their food. In this case strength is not requisite, and 

 would have been quite out of character with the slender 

 neck of this family, as well as unnecessary, for the 

 purpose of collecting small worms ; but length was indis- 

 pensable, and nature has provided accordingly. 



Woodcocks and Snipes are such shy birds, that their 

 modes of feeding can rarely be observed; but sometimes 

 opportunities have occurred, which prove the truth of 

 what is here said. A couple of Snipes were, by means 

 of a good telescope, actually seen thus boring with their 



