STRENGTH OF THE CROSS-BILL. 413 



following account : " One of their principal occu- 

 pations was thrusting out the ends of the wires of 

 their prison, which they accomplished with great 

 ease and dexterity. A short flat-headed nail, that 

 confined some strong net-work, was a favourite 

 object upon which they tried their strength ; and 

 the male, who was usually the pioneer in every 

 new exploit, succeeded by long-continued efforts 

 in drawing this nail out of the wood, though not 

 without breaking off the point of his beak in the 

 experiment. Their unceasing destruction of cages 

 at length brought upon them sentence of banish- 

 ment." In concluding his memoir, Mr. Yarrell 

 makes the following just observations upon the 

 wisdom of the Creator, evidenced in this departure 

 from the general form of the bill, in contradiction 

 to the irreverent and unphilosophical language of 

 Buffon. " The remarks of Buffon on the beak of 

 this bird, which he characterises as ' an error and 

 defect of nature and a useless deformity,' exhibits, 

 to say the least of them, an erroneous and hasty 

 conclusion, unworthy of the spirit of the science 

 which he cultivated. During a series of observa- 

 tions on the habits of the British birds, I have never 

 met with a more interesting or beautiful adaptation 



