BIRD. 



427 



and the ones which connect it most obviously with 

 the predatory or omnivorous birds ; but the resem- 

 blances are much slighter than those which can be 

 traced between order and order in other parts of the 

 system. The larger beetles form the principal food 

 o"f the shrikes ; and as many of those in the larva? 

 state, and some of them when perfect, are destructive 

 to vegetation, shrikes are useful b:rds to the cultivator, 

 while, as they do not eat vegetables, they do him no 

 harm. The shrikes are, however, chiefly woodland 

 or hedge birds, and leave the open fields for the pas- 

 ture of rooks. They do not inhabit the very cold 

 countries, as their staple food is not so abundant in 

 these. Many of the beetles on which they feed have 

 the elytra or wing-cases very hard, almost proof 

 against the action of the bill, notwithstanding its 

 strength and its notches. In these cases, the birds 

 are understood to stick their prey upon thorns, and 

 divide and eat it at their leisure by the strokes of the 

 bill. It is also said that in this way they bait the 

 hedges for the purpose of capturing the feebler insec- 

 tivorous birds ; but though they do sometimes kill 

 birds by pinching their necks between the mandibles 

 as they do beetles, these and some other habits which 

 are attributed to them would require to be well 

 authenticated. The bill of the shrikes can both 

 strike and squeeze more powerfully than that of most 

 of the division ; but still it is properly an insectivo- 

 rous bill. 



Shrike. 



The next gradation of this character of bill is in 

 the thrush tribe, which have the middle and outer 

 toes united, so as to form a firmer walking foot than 

 that of the shrikes ; and they are accordingly more 

 of ground feeders. They partake more of the vege- 

 table feeding character ; inhabit colder climates, and 

 live upon berries in the severe weather ; but mollusca 

 and worms form the principal part of their summer 

 food. But whether animal or vegetable, these birds 

 prefer soft food mollusca to worms, and viscid pulpy 

 berries to farinaceous ones or seeds. Their flesh is 

 in consequence more sweet and juicy than that of 

 many birds ; and these qualities are increased by the 

 small tendency they have to flight, unless when, as is 

 the case with those that summer in the more inhos- 

 pitable climates, they are obliged to migrate. 



Missel Tii rush 



In accordance with these habits, the tomia of their 

 bills are sharp cutting edges, as the hardest labour 

 they have to perform in feeding is breaking the shells 

 of snails, which they do by hewing them to pieces 

 with the point of the bill. The preceding is the 

 eneral figure of these bills. 



The ant-catchers, dippers, menura, manakins, todies, 

 fly-hunters, fly-catchers, and a number of other races, 

 chiefly inhabiting the warmer parts of the world 

 where insects are most abundant, follow these, vary- 

 ing in their bills with the nature of their principal 

 food, and in their other organisations with their 

 haunts and action ; but all agreeing in the general 

 structure of the bill as insectivorous, and generally 

 having it of such consistency as that it can bruise 

 or divide a hard crusted insect. The greater part of 

 them also agree in residing where food is more per- 

 manently to be found, and consequently not being so 

 much given to distant migration as many of the in- 

 sectivorous races which remain yet to be noticed. 



To these again succeed the chats, wagtails, chanters, 

 warblers, and analogous genera, having the bill gene- 

 rally feebler, feeding on larvae and soft insects, gene- 

 rally sweet singers, much affected by the vernal season, 

 and migrating to warm climates in the winter. In 

 them the notch in the bill is not quite so conspicuous ; 

 and in the wrens, especially the crested wrens, it 

 approaches in some of its characters to the bills of 

 the Tenuirostres of Cuvier ; and in the pipits to that 

 of the larks, though the insectivorous character is not 

 lost even in them. 



Common Wren. 



Robin. 



Bills of the Tenuirostres. These are chiefly, 

 though not all, insect feeders, and have their bills 

 slender and without any notch at the tip ; but they 

 differ Considerably in form with the places where the 

 food is obtained, and in consistency with the nature 

 of the food itself. They are bark birds, wall birds, 

 or rock birds, yet some of them range the air for 

 their food, and others seek it in the nectaries of 

 flowers. The feet rather than the bill form their 

 distinguishing character. The nuthatch, which is a 



Nuthatch. 



climber, has the bill straight, angular, and very strong, 

 and it feeds much upon nuts, The shells of which it 

 punches open with considerable activity. The tree 

 creepers which also run on the boles of trees, and 

 dig in the crevices of the bark for insects, have the 

 bill of moderate length and angular, but a little curved. 

 The wall creepers have it very long and slender, and 

 angular only at the base. The nectar suckers have 

 the bill weak and very slender at the tip, and the 

 tongue extensile, tubular as a sucker, and cleft at the 

 tip. The humming-birds have the bill in general 



