4 '20 



R I R D. 



water by moans of the feet, have the neck, an<f Irene- 

 rally also the bill, much longer than the divers which 

 plunge wholly under water : and the legs of the 

 latter are articulated more iu the rear, which makes 

 them more efficient organs of motion through the 

 water ; but the birds could not recover their hori- 

 zontal position on the surface, by means of them, so 

 easily as those swimmers which have not the habit ol 

 diving. Those ducks which do not dive, turn on 

 the articulations of the legs, and bring their heads to 

 the surface with very little progressive motion ; 

 whereas the divers rise head foremost, and always at 

 some distance from the place at which they piunge. 

 The common duck gets the head down chiefly by 

 the action of the neck ; the plunger by a swing upon 

 the webs of the feet, the whole length of the body 

 acting as a lever. The diver, too, can make the body 

 follow the bill, as guided by the eye when under 

 water ; and the bill is compressed, or at all events 

 narrowed and rounded at the tip, so as to make it 

 readily available in that action ; whereas the bill of 

 the dabbler, which does not dive, is probably available 

 only in the sludge, and incapable of capturing prey 

 that can move swiftly. Dabbling ducks rarely cap- 

 ture even the fry of fishes, in those shallows which 

 they frequent ; but these are the principal food of 

 many of the divers. 



The bills of birds are, however, so much in har- 

 mony with the other parts of their organisation, that 

 it is impossible by any description, however length- 

 ened, to give a clear and satisfactory notion of them, 

 even in their leading function of feeding instruments. 

 They have, in many species, other offices to perform ; 

 and though these are subordinate to the alimentary 

 function, as the functions of the mouths of all animals 

 are, yet the bill must necessarily vary with every 

 natural operation to which it is applied. 



The secondary functions of bills are chiefly preen- 

 ing the feathers, climbing, constructing nests, arid 

 defensive or offensive operations not connected with 

 feeding. These functions are performed with so 

 apparently equal ease by bills of so different forms, 

 that it is not easy to say which answers the best ; 

 and then the comparative merits of bills, as working 

 tools, can hardly be so generalised as to convey any 

 information useful to the student of ornithology. We 

 shall therefore proceed to give some instances of 

 bills belonging to well-known or well-marked species, 

 as illustrative of the several orders. 



Bills of the Accipitres. The annexed figure of the 

 bill of the jer falcon may be regarded as the most 



Jer Falcon. 



perfect type of those of diurnal preyers upon the 

 wing. It is short, compressed, and so formed on the 

 culmen that it is perhaps stronger in proportion to its 

 size and quantity of matter, thao the bill of any tber 



bird. The tootn is prominent, tne notch well defined, 

 and the tomia curved in the greater part of their out- 

 line. The form of the tip of the lower mandible is 

 pecidiar, acting with"a sort of sliding motion against 

 the hook of the upper one ; and this sliding motion 

 is in part communicated to the tooth and notch, and 

 to all the irregularities in the lines of the tomia. The 

 action of the mandibles is, in consequence of this 

 form, compounded of the direct cut of a chisel and the 

 drawn cut of a knife. We shall find the same sort 

 of action, partially at least, in some of those sea birds 

 which live much upon floating carcasses, though in 

 these it is a simple slide at the tip, without any notch 

 or tooth. 



This is not so much a killing beak, as a tearing 

 one ; and it answers in the economy of the bird, to 

 the tearing grinders in carnivorous mammalia, the 

 claws performing the operation of killing in the 

 falcons, just as the canine teeth do in those. It is 

 not suited for thrusting or striking ; and therefore it 

 is not so formidable as a weapon as some of the 

 straight bills ; but it takes a very firm hold ; and 

 there is no soft part of an animal which it will not 

 divide with the greatest ease. It is also well formed 

 for pulling feathers ; and by means of it the falcon 

 can deplume her game, as neatly, and with as little 

 injury to the flesh, as the most expert poulterer. It 

 can also cut open the birds, divide the tendons and 

 ligaments, and when scarcity of prey renders economy 

 necessary, it can separate all the joints, and leave 

 not an atom of eatable matter on the bones. 



In proportion as the different species of falcons 

 and hawks have the bill approaching to this typical 

 one, they are preyers on the wing, and consequently 

 preyers upon birds, killing their own game, and eating 

 it in the recent state. In proportion, too, as they have 

 this structure of the beak more perfect, they fly at 

 " higher game," or birds of more powerful wing. The 

 plumage of these is more firmly set, and the tendons 

 and even the muscles are much tougher than in birds 

 of lower flight ; and besides, the low-flying hawks, 

 harriers, and buzzards, strike prey upon the ground ; 

 and prey upon small mammalia, or occasionally take 

 a mess of carrion or garbage. 



It is thus not without some shadow of reason that 

 the high flying falcons were called " noble," and the 

 low-flying ones " ignoble ;" for there is a sublimity 

 in their style of hawking, as compared with that of 

 the others. They are the genuine birds of prey ; for 

 though they descend to the earth to strip and eat 

 their game, their preying is, in a state of nature, con 

 fined to the air, the appropriate region of birds. 



The peregrine falcon is probably next to the jer; 

 jut the gradation in the beak is not very strongly 

 marked among the high-flyers ; for the smaller ones, 

 such as the merlin and the sparrow-hawk, have it 

 very beautifully formed, better adapted certainly for 

 dividing and tearing flesh than any instrument of 

 human contrivance. 



Through the low flighted hawks there is a gradual 

 departure from the model of the jer falcon, till we 

 :ome to the beak of the kite, which combines some of 

 the characters of the falcons with some of those of 

 the owls. And the feeding of the kite is of the same 

 mixed character. It captures birds when it dares 

 and can ; but it does so chiefly on the ground, adds 

 mice and reptiles to its mess ; and although a bird 

 of fine wing, and one of the most airy hoverers of the 

 race, there is no dash or dignity about it. 



