BIRDS 179 



a host of different habits of food-getting, flight, song, nesting, 

 percliing, walking and swimming, etc. The teacher should con- 

 stantly strive to lead the pupils to see the correlation of the 

 structure of bills and feet and other parts of the body with the 

 special kinds of uses to which these parts are put. 



Have the children observe the running and scratching and 

 seed eating habits of the quail and domestic fowl, and note that 

 the structure of legs and feet and bill fits these parts for such 

 habits. The hawk and owl are raptorial birds, or birds of prej'. 

 They catch small animals alive, and tear and rend them with 

 bill and feet and feed on their bodies. Examine the great hooked 

 beak and the strong talons of the hawk and owl. The wood- 

 pecker bores into hard wood in search of insect grubs for food; 

 note its chisel-like bill. It uses its tail as a sort of prop to help 

 support its body when clinging vertically to the limb of a tree. 

 Note the very stiff sharp-pointed tail feathers. How are the toes 

 of the woodpecker arranged ? Of what use to it is this unusual 

 arrangement ? If a freshly killed woodpecker can be examined, 

 note especially the structure of the tongue; it is so constructed 

 and set that it can be darted far out with great force to pierce 

 (it is sharply pointed) and capture insects. The swallow rarely 

 walks; its only mode of locomotion is its swift flight. Note its 

 short, small weak feet, ill adapted to secure foothold and very 

 badly formed for walking. Its food is small insects caught while 

 flying in the air. Note its very wide mouth, and tiny weak bill. 

 Note its long, narrow, powerful wings. The sandpipers and snipe 

 wade about in marshy places or on the muddy banks of small 

 ponds. Tlieir food is found in the mud and has to be probed for. 

 Note the long slender featlierless legs adapted for wading, and the 

 long slender bill fit for j^robing the mud. The duck swims, and 

 gets its food by taking into its mouth water and thin mud in 

 which there may be tiny water animals. The duck's bill is broad 

 and scoop-like and provided witli a strainer at each side which 



