102 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



obtuse (said chiefly of tlio paragnathous sort) wluai it rajiiiUy omnes to an end tliat tlierefove 

 is not fine ; or wlieu tlie end is knobby ; it is ncute when it runs ti> a sharp point ; acuiiiiiiafe. 

 when equally sharp aud slenderer; attenuate, when still slenderer; subulate (awl-shaped), 

 when slenderer still ; acicular (needle-shaped), when slenderest possible, as in some humming- 

 birds. A bill is arched, vaulted, turgid, tumid, inflated, etc., when its outlines, both crosswise 

 and lengthwise, are notably more or less ci_>nvex ; aud contracted, when some, or the principal, 

 outlines are concave (said chiefly of depressions about the base of the upper nuimlible, or of 

 eoueavity along the sides of both mandibles). A bill is hamulate (Lat. liamus, a hook), or 

 inifjuiculate (Lat. uuf/uis, a clawj, when strongly epiguathous, as in rapacious birds, where 

 the upper mandible is like the talon I'f a carnivorous beast; it is dentate, when toothed, as in 

 a falcon : if there are a number of similar " teeth," it is serrate (Lat. serra, a saw), like a saw ; 

 it is cultrate (knife-like), M-hen extremely compressed aud sharp-edged, as in the auk, skimmer ; 

 if much curved as well as cultrate, it is fcdcate (Lat. fcd.v, a reaping-hook ; scythe-shaped) ; 

 and each mandible may he oppositely falcate, as in the cross-hill, constituting nietagnathism. 

 A hill much flattened and widened at the eud (rare) is spatulate (Lat. spatuja, a spoon) ; 

 examples : spoonbill, shoveller duck. One is called lameJiuie, when it has a series of plates 

 or processes just inside the edges of the mandibles ; as in all the duck order, and in a few 

 petrels ; the design is t'l furnisli a. sifter or strainer of ^vater. just Ailjat is ettected in the whale, 

 by the "bone" iu its mouth. Finally, the far eud of the bill, of whatever shape, is called the 

 tiji or apiej- (fig. 26, ») : the uear end, joined to the rest of the skull, the base ; the rest is the 

 contiiiuity. Some other features of the bill as a whole are best treated under separate head of 



The Covering of the Bill. — (».) In tlie great majority of birds, including nearly all 

 perchers, many walkers, and some waders and s\\-innucrs, the sheathing of the mandibles is 

 wholly hard, horny, or corneous (Lat. eoruu, a horn) : it is integument modified much as in 

 the case of the uaUs or claws of bea.'^ts. In nearly all waders and most swimmers, the sheath 

 becomes, wholly or partly, softer, and is of a dense, leathery texture. But some swimmers, as 

 among the auks, famish bills as hard-co\-ered as any, while some ]ierchers have it partly ipiite 

 soft, so that no uuexceptioual rule can lie laid down ; and, moreover, the gradations from c_)ne 

 extreme to tlie other are insensible. Probably the softest bill is found amtaigthc snipes, where 

 it is skinny throughout, aud iu typical sni)ies aud woodcocks vascular and nervous at the tip, 

 becoming a true orgau of touch, used to feel for worms out of sight in the mud. In all the duck 

 order the bill is likewise soft ; but there it is ahvays terminated by a hard, hornv, utiijuis or 

 " nail," more or less distinct ; and such a horny ehiw also occurs in other water birds with sottish 

 bills, as the pelican. An iuterestiug modification o<-curs iu all, or la'arly all. of the pigeon order ; 

 these birds have the bill hard or hardish at tip aud through most of continuity, but towards 

 and at the base of the upper manihble the sheath changes to a soft, tumid, skinny texture, 

 overarching the nostrils ; it is much the same with most plovers. But the uu>st important 

 feature in this connection is afl'orded by the parrots aud a.ll the birds of prey ; one so remarl;able 

 that it has received a distinct name: Cere. The cere (Lat. ccra, wax: because it looks 

 waxy) is a dense membrane saddled on the ujipcr mandible at base, so difl'ereut from the rest 

 of the hill, that it might be questioned whether it does not more properly belong to the head than 

 to the bill, were it not for the fact that the nostrils open in it. JMoreover, the cere is often 

 densely feathered, as in the Carolina paroquet, in the bill proper of M-hich no nostrils are seen, 

 these heing hidden in the feathered cere, which, thei-efore, might easily be mistaken at first sight 

 for the bird's forehead. A sort of false cere occurs in some water birds, as the jaegers, or skua- 

 gulls (genus Stercorarius). The tumid nasal skin of pigeons is sometimes called a cere; but 

 the term had better be restricted to the birds first above nanu^l. The under mandible probably 

 never presents softening except as a part of general skinuiness of the bill ; it may have a nail 

 at the end. (b.) The covering is either entire or pieced. In most birds it is entire ; that is, the 



