- 48 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. 
less condition.” Hven Man himself presents 
traces of gill-openings, and indications of 
other organs which are fully developed in 
lower animals. 
MODIFICATIONS 
There is in New Zealand a form of Crow 
(Hura), in which the female has undergone a 
very curious modification. It is the only case 
I know, in which the bill is differently shaped 
in the two sexes. The bird has taken on the 
habits of a Woodpecker, and the stout crow- 
like bill of the cock-bird is admirably adapted 
to tap trees, and if they sound hollow, to dig 
down to the burrow of the Insect; but it 
lacks the horny-pointed tip of the tongue, 
which in the true Woodpecker is provided 
with recurved hairs, thus enabling that bird - 
to pierce the grub and draw it out. In the 
Hura, however, the bill of the hen-bird has 
become much elongated and slightly curved, 
and when the cock has dug down to the 
burrow, the hen inserts her long bill and 
re 
