worm fairly out of the ground, it throws up its head with a jerk,/ 

 and swallow- it whole." 



In many birds the covering of the bill near its base and close to 

 the forehead is swollen, and forms various protuberances, horns, 

 knots, and other apparently ornamental excrescences. I have 

 already alluded to the hornbills. In the Coots the sheath is 

 prolonged backwards over the forehead like a yellow plate or shield. 

 Some of the swans have remarkable round knobs in nearly the 

 same place. In the mute or domestic swan, the knob, which is 

 black, is much larger in the male than in the female. 



One of the Cotingas of Sauth America, the common Bell bird, is 

 thus described : " He is about the size of the jay. His plumage is . 

 white as snow. On his forehead rises a spiral tube nearly three 

 inches long. It is jet black, dotted all over with small white 

 feathers. It has a communication with the palate, and when 

 filled with air it looks like a spire; when empty, it becomes 

 pendulous His note is loud and clear, like tlie sound of a bell, 

 and may be heard at the distance of three miles. You hear his 

 toll, and then pause for a minute, then another toll, and then a 

 pause again, and then a toll, and again a pause. Then he is 

 silent for six or eight minutes, and then another toll, and so on." 



Dr. Eastes concluded by reading " The Chorus of the Birds,'" 

 from Mr. Courthope's Paradise of Birds : — 



We wish to declare 



How the birds of the air 

 All high institutions designed ; 

 And, holding in awe 



Art, Science and Law, 

 Delivered the same to mankind. 



To begin with, of old 



Man went naked and cold 

 Whenever it pelted or froze. 

 Till we showed him how feathers 



Were proof against weathers, 

 With that, he bethought him of hose. 



And next it was plain 



That he, in the rain. 

 Was forced to sit dripping and blind, 

 While the Eeed Warbler swung 



In a nest with her young. 

 Deep sheltered and warm from the wind. 



