I04 



Bird - Lore 



perform. The varied colors of birds we may consider at another time; in these 

 paragraphs we wish to consider some of the modifications of bill and feet, the 

 implements of birds. 



The long legs, slender neck, and the great humped bill of the Flamingo, we 

 are told, are eminently adapted to its peculiar method of feeding on the minute 

 mollusc life of the tropical mud-flats where it lives. The tremendous bills of the 



BLACK AND WHITE WHITE-WINGED EVENING GROSBEAK 



WARBLER CROSSBILL 



Diverse feeding-habits have brought about the very dissimilar bills in these closely related 

 birds. Note also the differences in their eyes 



South American Toucans and African Hornbills serve as arms for reaching far 

 out to the smaller branches for the fruits upon which these ungainly creatures 

 feed. But let us consider the commoner of our North American birds with 

 reference to their food and see if there are similar reasons for their variety of 

 form. 



The Hawks, with their strong, hooked bills, sharp talons, and powerful 

 wings fitted for the pursuit of small birds and mammals, we have already 

 mentioned, and have noted that the type of bill and foot are so necessary to 

 birds having a carnivorous diet, that the Owls, though unrelated, have developed 

 similar structures. One group of the common perching birds, the Shrikes, have 

 taken up a carnivorous diet and have likewise developed hawklike bills, 

 although their feet are of the ordinary perching type and are not used to 

 assist them in securing their prey. The Vultures, on the other hand, which have 

 degenerated from a strictly carnivorous diet to one of carrion, while retaining 

 the hooked bill for rending flesh, have lost the powerful talons and the accom- 

 panying strength of limb through disuse, so that now they even spring from the 

 ground with difficulty. 



But, if one examines more closely such a group of birds as the Hawks, 

 all having the same type of food, one discovers differences of form of body and 

 wings according to their method of securing their prey, as was pointed out in 

 the last number of Bird-Lore. There are, for example, those like the Red- 

 shouldered and Red-tailed species, which find their quarry while soaring high 

 in the air with their keen eyes fixed upon the ground. These have broad, 



