44 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



bird with a bill expanded at the tip like a miniature 

 Spoonbill's, and presumably used in much the same 

 way, i.e. for sifting as a Duck does. 



The true Spoonbills, by the way, are nearly 

 related to the Ibises, and in India our British species, 

 which is well known there, is called Spoon-Ibis 

 (Chamach Buza) — a creditable tribute to the un- 

 taught native's discrimination in classification ; 

 our European ornithologists have generally put the 

 Spoonbills in a family by themselves, though they 

 are so near the curve-billed Ibises that a Spoonbill- 

 Ibis hybrid was bred some years ago at the Berlin 

 Zoo. The Curlews, which are so often confused 

 with the Ibises, are simply large Sandpipers with 

 the beak modified into the same bow-shaped form 

 as that of an Ibis. The Curlews, however, simply 

 probe for food, without the lateral sweeping action 

 so noticeable in Ibises. 



Curved or bowed bills are common among 

 passerine birds, and are often employed in different 

 ways ; the use of such a bill as a probe is familiar 

 in our tiny Tree-creeper (Certhia familiaris), which 

 investigates the bark of trees by its aid ; but there 

 are also other Creepers with straight bills, and the 

 group grades into the strong-billed Nuthatches, 

 whose beaks are powerful hammers ; a Nuthatch 

 hews like a Woodpecker, and splits his nut with a 

 powerful swing of the whole body from the hock, 

 having first fixed the nut in a crevice to give a 

 purchase and k^ep it steady.' 



Some of the social Thrush-like Babblers in the 



