THE CROSS-BILL. 411 



however, are blunt, and cannot divide anything 

 asunder : but, to compensate for this, the bill is 

 provided with a large membranous pouch, which 

 forms a receptacle for a vast quantity of food for 

 the supply of its family at home. A large fish, 

 which might flounder out of a blunt-edged beak, 

 has little chance of escape from the pelican's 

 mouth, in consequence of the depth of the bag 

 into which it falls. 



There is a little bird of our own country, which, 

 in the singular structure of its bill, surpasses 

 even the last-named strange instances. This little 

 bird is called, from the curious form of its bill, the 

 cross-bill; and no term could be better selected, 

 for, if we were to look at its bill casually, we might 

 almost imagine that some person had purposely 

 twisted the one across the 

 other, somewhat like a 

 half-opened pair of scissors. 

 We might conceive, that 

 with such a singularly 

 formed bill the bird would 



find no ordinary difficulty in picking up its food. 

 Yet upon examining into the bird's habits, we 

 shall discover that this scissors'- like bill is a most 



