THE OONE-BILLED FEROBERS. 24£> 



hands of its benefactress, flew against a window pane, and instantly 

 fell dead on the floor. 



The Crossbill is instantly known by the crossed points 

 of the beak, and the horny scoop at the tip of the tongue. It 

 uses these tools to open the fir-cones, on 

 the seeds of which it feeds. The bird 

 inserts both its mandibles under the scales 

 of the cone, then by separating them the 

 scale is raised up, while the seed is scooped 

 out by the horny tip of the tongue. This 

 singular structure of the beak enables 

 the bird to divide an apple in halves, so 

 as to get at the pips. Although the 

 crossed mandibles appear rather a barrier rrosebni 



to picking up small objects, yet the Cross- 

 bill can pick up and husk the smallest seeds, or shell almonds, 

 which latter feat is accomplished by picking a hole in it and then 

 wrenching it open, just as an idle schoolboy opens a nut with his 

 penknife when he ought to be using that instrument in the more 

 legitimate operation of mending his pen. 



Mr. Yarrell gives an amusing account of a pair of crossbills, 

 who amused themselves by twisting out the wires of their cage. 

 They actually succeeded in pulling out a flat-headed nail usM to 

 confine the network, but the bird lost the point of his bill in his 

 efibrts. They were at last banished on account of their unceasing 

 destruction of cages. 



The Khinoceros Hornbill. — This singular and almost 

 startling family comprises but few species, which are all natives 

 of India and Africa. The enormous bill, with its incomprehensible 

 appendage, although of course heavy, is really much lighter than 

 it looks ; being composed of a kind of light honeycombed struc- 

 ture. The upper protuberance is hollow, and the only conjecture 

 formed of its use, is that it serves as a sounding-board to increase 

 tbe reverberations of the air, while the bird is uttering its peculiar 

 roaring cry. 



In spite of the apparently unwieldy bill, the bind is very 

 21* 



