BIRDS 



13 



power in their claws. In our grouse or uses its bill as a chisel. In southern Ari- 



partridge a horny, fringe-like growth ap- zona the Californian woodpeckers have 



pears on the toes late in the fall, serving used the poles of the Western Union 



as a sort of snowshoe during the winter, Telegraph Company in which to store 



by which the bird is enabled to walk on acorns, and in some instances have bored 



the surface of the snow. This growth large holes entirely through the poles. In 



is shed in the spring. those woodpeckers which feed on bark we 



The bill is the most important organ find the tongue brush-like to swab up the 



of the four we are discussing. It has the sap. Where woodpeckers chisel the 



offices of the hand. There is an almost tongue is horny. In prying off cones 



limitless variation in its shape, admirably from trees the cross-bill finds its appar- 



adapted in each instance to its food re- ently malformed tongue most helpful. In 



quirements. The fish-eating duck grasps humming birds there is a marked vari- 



its prey with a saw bill. The pelican ation in the bill, enabling them to feed on 



catches its fish by diving from .the air, different sorts of flowers. 



often from distances of forty feet, and 

 catches its fish in a bill an inch and a half 

 in width. As it throws its head out in 

 diving, it widens the rim of its bill and 

 catches the prey in its curious pouch. 

 The flamingo catches, with its food, mud 

 and sand, which it expels through a curi 

 ous straining apparatus. The woodcock 



The hurabird of New Zealand has the 

 most curious bill known. The male has 

 one sort which he uses in excavating, 

 after which the female can insert her bill 

 and secure the food which the male has 

 thus obtained. 



After a study of the various forms of 

 bird structure and habits has been made, 



has the power of curving up the upper it still remains a problem whether their 



portion of its bill, giving it the grasping structure is the result of natural selection, 



power of a finger, which greatly aids it or natural selection is the result of their 



in probing for worms. The woodpecker structure. 



WILSON'S THRUSH. 



( Turdus fusee scens.} 



THIS very interesting bird is found in 

 all parts of eastern North America. 

 Breeds in the states bordering on the 

 Great Lakes and as far north as Mani 

 toba. It winters in Central America. It 

 is generally partial to low, swampy wood 

 lands. He is much more shy than his 

 pretty cousin, the wood thrush ; he lives 

 nearer the ground and is not so likely to 

 leave the cover of his haunts. In locali 

 ties where he is equally common with the 

 wood thrush he is less frequently ob 

 served. 



The nest of this thrush is made of 

 strips of bark, rootlets and leaf stems, 

 wrapped with leaves and lined with fine 

 rootlets. The nest is always on or near 

 the ground. 



Mr. Chapman says of him: "He has 

 a double personality, or he may repeat the 



notes of some less vocally developed an 

 cestor, for on occasions he gives utterance 

 to an entirely uncharacteristic series of 

 caching notes, and even mounts high in 

 the tree to sing a hesitating medley of the 

 same unmusical cacks, broken, whistled 

 calls and attempted trills. 



Fortunately, this performance is com- 

 p..ratively uncommon, and to the most -'>f 

 us he is known only by his own strange, 

 unearthly song. His notes touch chords 

 which no other bird's song reaches. The 

 water thrush is inspiring, the wood and 

 hermit thrushes "serenely exalt the 

 spirit," but Wilson's thrush or the veery 

 appeals to higher feelings. All the won 

 drous mysteries of the wood find a voice 

 in his song; he thrills us with emotions 

 we can not express." 



