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Bird - Lore 



The parts of the bill are the upper and lower mandibles, and these may be 

 about equal in length, or one may exceed the other, or they may even curve 

 in such a way as to cross each other. 



Only species of most unique food habit could obtain any food at all with 

 crossed mandibles. The seed-eating Crossbills, which extract the seeds from the 

 cones of evergreen trees, by forcing off the scales which hide them, are able to 

 secure food with this awkward kind of bill; but any bird of a different food 

 habit, which may be hatched deformed with respect to a crossed bill, is not 

 likely to live. 



The unhatched bird while in the shell, grows a small knob or drill on ths 

 upper mandible, called the "egg-tooth," by means of which it nicks a hole in 

 the shell and forces its way out. This curious little tool is lost soon after the 

 bird is hatched, since it is no longer needed. Perhaps you can look at a baby 

 chick just out of the shell and see the egg-tooth. — A. H. W. 



SPELLING EXERCISE 



external 



precision 



principle 



Egret 



determination 



perforate 



appendage 



Curlew 



distinctive 



physiography 



mandible 



Longspur 



inference 



variation 



invertebrate 



Quail 



practicable 



adaptation 



Gallinaceous 



Puffin 



domesticated 



environment 



Auklet 



Passeres 



superfluous 



prehension 



Ptarmigan 





SUGGESTIONS 



What birds have a hooked bill? 



What birds have the lower mandible longer than the upper? 

 What birds have very long bills? 

 What birds have very short bills? 



Can you name a bird that uses its bill like a chisel? A sieve? A spear? A trowel? 

 A needle? A hammer? A scythe? A nut-cracker? 

 What is the soil depth in your locality? 

 Make a collection of different kinds of soil. 



How much rock-formation can you see above the surface of the ground? 

 Can you tell whether there are ledges below the surface? 

 Do you know where the highest and the lowest places are? 

 Where are the wettest and the driest places? 



How much land is covered with forests as compared with what is cleared? 

 How much land is cultivated as compared with what is wild? 

 What is the average annual rainfall? 

 Does it vary much in adjoining localities? 



What are the lowest and the highest temperatures during the year. 

 Study the direction and velocity of the wind during different months of the year. 

 What wild food for birds can you find at this season. 

 What places do the birds most frequent as cold weather approaches? 



References: Bird-Life and Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America, by F. M. 

 Chapman. Color Key to North American Birds, by Chapman and Reed. The Wood- 



