402 Remarkable Formation of the. Bill 
into a redstart; or of the cuckoo itself being nothing but a 
metamorphosed sparrow-hawk, while, immediately after this 
miraculous change, it is so weak, that the kite is so obliging 
as to carry it on its back !!!— So grossly are the Sonaees 
facts misrepresented, when not observed with scrupulous ac- 
curacy. 
Art. IfI. Ona remarkable Formation of the Bill observed in several 
Species of Birds. By Joun BLAcKWALt, Esq. 
Sir, 
Insrances of extraordinary deviation from typical forms in 
the structure of animated beings are highly interesting to the 
physiologist, whether his attention be dir ected to the idence 
which organic modifications exercise upon the animal eco- 
nomy, or to the more abstruse investigation of the predis- 
fo) 
posing causes of these curious phenomena. Such beine the 
case, a concise account of a few examples of this nature, high 
have recently come to my knowledge, will, it is presumed, 
require no apology. 
A jackdaw, killed at Bowers, in the parish of Standon, 
Staffordshire, was presented, in January last, to the Society 
for the Promotion of Natural History eeablcned in Man- 
chester, and is now deposited i in their Museum in King Street. 
This bird, in the structure of its bill, presents a form closely 
resembling that which so strikingly characterises the species 
constituting the genus Loxia, the mandibles crossing each 
other at some distance from their points, the upper one curv- 
ing downward on the right side of the lower one, which takes 
an upward direction to the left. The preternatural elong- 
ation of the mandibles, in conjunction with a considerable 
degree of curvature, gives to this individual, which, on dis- 
section, proved to be a male, a peculiar phy siognomical ex- 
pression, and must have contributed greatly to modify its man- 
ner of feeding; the contents of the stomach, however, were so 
changed by maceration, that it was not possible to determine 
by inspection of what they consisted. I may remark, that 
this bird was in excellent condition, notwithstanding the 
inclemency of the season; a convincing proof that it had 
acquired much expertness in the management of its singularly 
formed bill. 
A rook, also preserved in the Manchester Museum, has its 
mandibles crossed near their extremities, but so slightly as not 
to have interfered materially with the mode of procuring food 
oO 
usually employed by this species, as is clearly evinced by the 
