Beaks of Birds. 37 



the left; in others this order is reversed. In either case, by 

 means of these beaks, and by the lateral motion of the mandibles 

 (which is peculiar to the crossbills alone of all birds), they are 

 enabled, by insinuating the points between the scales of the pine- 

 cones and by the powerful lever they possess in their singular 

 bill, to wrench open the scales without difficulty and so obtain 

 the fruit. With this strange instrument they are no less 

 adept at splitting apples and pears for the sake of the enclosed 

 pips. It may readily be conceived that to work so strong a bill, 

 the muscles attached to it must also be of proportionate power 

 and size, and these are the cause of the large, heavy, and some- 

 what awkward appearance which the head presents. 



Another bird remarkable for its peculiar beak is the Avocet. 

 This is a water-bird, one of the waders and belonging to the 

 family of snipes. Its haunts are the sea-shore, and its food con- 

 sists of worms and aquatic insects, which it procures from the 

 soft mud and sand, for which it often wades to a considerable 

 depth. For obtaining these it is furnished with a beak 

 most appropriate, though very singular in form : it is very 

 long, very slender, thin, considerably curved upwards, and 

 especially towards the tip, very flexible and pointed, and looks 

 exactly like a thin piece of whalebone ; and its mode of feeding 

 is by scooping the soft oozy mud with the flat and upturned 

 beak. From this singular construction the Avocet, which was 

 once common on our shores, received the provincial names of 

 ' Scooper !' and ' Cobbler's Awl Duck !' though now, alas ! it is 

 very seldom met with at all. Bewick says that the places 

 where it has been feeding may be recognised by the semicircular 

 marks left in the mud or sand by their bills in scooping out the 

 food. 



The Turnstone is another singular bird, of the same order as 

 the last, but very different in habits. Instead of the soft muddy 

 sands frequented by the Scolopacidte, these birds delight in the 

 rocky and gravelly shores of the ocean. Here they procure 

 their food, consisting of marine insects, molluscse and crustacese, 

 by turning over the stones with their beaks, to get at the food 



