26 BILLS OF BIRDS 



fusion between them and the shore. Now watch 

 them narrowly. As each monstrous bill opens, the 

 thin bones of the lower jaw stretch sideways to the 

 breadth of a span by some curious mechanism not 

 described in the books, and at the same time the 

 shrunken bag expands into a deep, capacious net. 

 Simultaneously the whole instrument is plunged 

 into the struggling, silvery mass and comes up full. 

 The side bones instantly contract again, and the 

 upper jaw is clapped on them like a lid. No wonder 

 the fishermen of the East detest the pelican. 



In the same marsh, perhaps, standing with un- 

 equalled grace upon the longest legs known in this 

 world, is a troop of giant birds as wonderful as the 

 pelican, but how opposite ! The beautiful flamingo 

 is a bird of feeble intellect, delicate appetite, and 

 genteel tastes. It cannot eat fish, for its slender 

 throat would scarcely admit a pea. Besides, the 

 idea of catching anything, or even picking up food 

 from the ground, does not occur to its simple mind. 

 Its diet consists of certain small crustaceans, classed 

 by naturalists with water-fleas, which abound in 

 brackish water ; and it has an instrument for taking 

 these which it knows how to use. I kept flamingos 

 once, and, after trying many things in vain, offered 

 them bran, or boiled rice, floating in water. Then 

 they dined, and I learned the construction and 

 working of the most marvellous of all bills. The 

 lower jaw is deep and hollow, and its upper edges 

 turn in to meet each other, so that you may fairly 



