6o 



THE FOOD OF ANIMALS 



toes of this bird are provided with long curved claws well suited 

 for clinging to rough surfaces, and climbing is helped by the stiff- 

 pointed tail -quills. The long slender curved beak is sharply 

 pointed and well adapted for probing in crannies and crevices. 



..,?.>-.;^>' 



Fig. 34g.— Blue Roller [Coracias garruljis) 



Although a long probing beak is common among insect-eating 

 birds, this organ is short and conical in many species living on 

 the same sort of food. This is the case with the attractive little 

 Tits, which do a vast amount of execution among the branches 

 of trees, though of course they can only reach insects, &c., which 

 are on or near the surface, leaving those which lie deeper to be 

 tackled by woodpeckers and creepers. 



The Blue-Roller {Coracias garrulus) (fig. 349), widely distri- 



