432 



BIRD. 



.Rills of the Columbadce. We have already men- 

 tioned some of the reasons why the dove or pigeon 

 family should be separated from the poultry ; but as 

 they are chiefly ground feeders, and as some of both 

 perch on trees, and others sit or squat on the ground or 

 on rocks, we may expect some correspondence in the 

 form of their bills. The pigeons are, however, more 

 vegetable in their feeding ; and tnough they are by 

 no means elaborate nest-builders, some of them at 

 least do much more in that way than the gallinaceous 

 birds. 



There are three forms of bill among the pigeons, 

 each corresponding to a difference of luibit ; but they 

 differ so little from the bill of the common pigeon, 

 and that is so well known, that we need not describe 

 them at length, or illustrate them by examples. They 

 are all simple feeding bills. 



The tree pigeons, which are chiefly inhabitants of 

 the warmer parts of the eastern hemisphere, and live 

 upon the seeds of trees, which they gather on the 

 trees themselves, and migrate from region to region 

 after their food, have the bill strong, considerably 

 arched, compressed and very sharp at the tip. In 

 some it bears a resemblance to the bills of the smaller 

 hawks, only it has no tooth, but in its use it ap- 

 proaches more nearly to the bills of the parroquets. 

 The common pigeons have the bill more slender 

 than the tree ones, and flexible for some part of its 

 length, and they have their characters the more de- 

 cided the more exclusively that they are found on 

 the ground. The long-legged pigeons of the oriental 

 isles, which are large and heavy birds, and more 

 exclusively confined to the ground than any of the 

 others, have the bill still more slender in proportion 

 to their size ; and in some of their habits, as well as 

 some of their characters (such as having naked skin 

 on the head), they resemble the gallinidse. Both 

 agree in having the nostrils pierced in a membrane 

 at the base of the bill, and protected only by a car- 

 tilaginous scale, and not by hairs or feathers. 



Pigeon. 



Bills of the gallinaceous birds. The gallinaceous 

 birds are all ground feeders, though they vary a little 

 in the nature of their food, and the places where they 

 find it. The whole of the tribe have the head very 

 small in proportion to the size of the body, and the 

 neck so long that the point of the bill can not only 

 reach the ground, but command a considerable extent 

 of it when the body is in a horizontal position. The 

 bill is, in most of the genera rather short, arched in 

 the upper mandible, and strong and hard at the tip. 

 Indeed the bill of the common fowl, of which it is 

 unnecessary to give either description or figure, is a 

 very good average type of what may be termed a 

 pecking bill. The two genera which have the bill 

 different are the peacock pheasant (ftJjplectron 



chinquis) of the east of Asia, and the genus Tinamut 

 of South America, where they are called partridges 

 or quails. Both of these have the bill straight, and 

 longer and more slender than in the rest of the 

 order ; and in the American genus it is depressed, 

 but has the upper mandible strengthened by a keel 

 or ridge on the exterior. In their food, manner of 

 feeding, and habits generally, they do not differ much 

 from the rest of the order. 



Hills of the short-winged birds. These have the 

 bill very similar to the gullinidae, which might be 

 expected from the correspondence of their habits in 

 feeding. The bustards, which, though not bad fliers, 

 form the most natural transition from the one order 

 to the other, have the bill strong, conical, or little 

 compressed, and a little arched in the upper man- 

 dible. It bears a very considerable resemblance to 

 the bills of those small birds which pick seeds from 

 the stems of herbaceous plants. 



The birds which are incapable of flight have the 

 bills a little different. In the ostrich it is of moderate 

 length, depressed, or flattened at the tip, having the 

 mandibles of nearly equal size, and somewhat flexible, 

 with a sort of nail at the tip of the upper one, but the 

 tips arc obtuse or rounded. It bears a slight resem- 

 blance to the bills of geese. This is the first indica- 

 tion of a grazing bill which occurs in the class, viewed 

 in the order in which we have considered it ; and 

 the habit of the bird corresponds. The nhandeu, or 

 ostrich of South America, has the bill shorter, and 

 rather compressed toward the tip, which, however, 

 is obtuse and furnished with a nail like that of the 

 African ostrich. The cassowary of the south-east of 

 Asia, has the bill compressed in its whole length, 

 with a horny knob at the base, and a keel on 

 the upper mandible which makes it stiff; but the 

 lower mandible is flexible. These feed more on fruits 

 and seeds than the others. The emu of Australia 

 has the bill very similar to that of the South Ame- 

 rican ostrich. 



The most singular bill of this order is that of the 

 apteryx. The bird is altogether a singular combina- 

 tion ; the body of an ostrich, the feet of a fowl, and 

 a bill more like that of the ibis than any other. See 

 APTERYX. 



Sills of the Pressirostres. These birds all seek their 

 food on the ground, though not in the same places. 

 It consists of worms, and other small ground animals, 

 which are sought for in all places, from the dry waste 

 to below the stones on the margin of the water. The 

 bill is in general slender, and not very long ; it is 

 sometimes compressed, sometimes depressed, some- 

 times stiff, and sometimes flexible, so that it does not 

 admit of general description, farther than that it is 

 adapted for picking up small animal substances from 

 surfaces bare of vegetation. 



Bills of the Cidtrirostres. These birds have the 

 bill, in general, very large and powerful, generally 

 pointed at the tip, sharp, and sometimes toothed or 

 serrated in the cutting edges. But though, in all the 

 genera which Cuvier has included in the tribe, the 

 bill is very robust ; it differs so much in form and 

 size, as hardly to admit of an average description. 

 Thus the agamis, which are chiefly vegetable in their 

 feeding, have the bill short and conical, not very 

 unlike that of the poultry ; the herons and bitterns, 

 the first of which are fishers, and the others rather 

 miscellaneous in their feeding, have it straight, or 

 nearly so ; while that of the spoonbills, as may be 



