306 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Peculiar structure of its bill. 



with brown on the upper parts; the under parts 

 are considerably paler, being almost white at the 

 vent ; the wings are short, not reaching further 

 than the setting on of the tail ; they are of a 

 brown colour ; the tail is of the same colour, and 

 somewhat forked; the legs are black. Its co- 

 lours are extremely subject to variation, both 

 male and female appearing very different at dif- 

 ferent times of the year. 



The singular structure of this bird's bill Comte 

 tie Buffon, perhaps unthinkingly, and certainly 

 unjustly, has considered as one of JSature's freaks, 

 calculated to render the bird mut-h less essential 

 service than a beak in some other form would 

 have done.- But notwithstanding the apparently 

 awkward and useless shape of this member, it 

 has been found, on attentively watching the man- 

 ners of the bird, to have the best possible adapta- 

 tion to its destination and habits. The two man- 

 dibles do not lie straight; but pass, for a consi- 

 derable part of their length, on the side of each 

 pther, like the blades of a pair of scissars. By 

 means of this peculiar construction, the cross-bills 

 are able to procure their food with the utmost 

 address. They live principally on the seeds of 

 the cones of the fir or pine; and it is in order to 

 extract these, that this structure is principally 

 adapted. In this operation, they fix themselves* 

 across the cone, then bring the points of the 

 beak from their crossed or lateral position to be 

 Immediately over each other, In this reduced 



