Beaks and Bills aoe 
a moment. The common Black-crowned Night Heron 
is abundant throughout most of North America, and he 
fishes in legitimate heron fashion; but his near relative, 
the Boat-billed Heron, is a more tropical species. In 
voice, appearance, and structure there is little to choose 
between the two birds,—except that the latter has a broad, 
scoop-like beak,—a pelican’s fish-trap in miniature, which 
seems to answer every requirement of this strange-look- 
ing bird. From the 
muddiness of the water 
in the tropical swamps 
from which I_ have 
flushed these birds, it 
seems probable that much 
of their food may be 
lesser fry than fish. 
Pebbles and _ shells, 
which shelter so many 
toothsome morsels along 
the shallows of our sea- 
Fic. 179.—Bill of Great Blue Heron. 
shore, offer sumptuous 
feasts to birds furnished with beaks adapted to prying 
and probing, and we find all sorts of sizes and shapes. 
A collection of bills of various wading-birds would look 
like a complete set of surgical tools! There is the stilt, 
whose bill is almost straight; the ibis, with mandibles 
curved downward to probe the crevices between the 
pebbles on which he stands; the avocet has a pair of 
recurved pliers, which search out the worm or snail in 
the deepest fissures ahead of him. At the slightest touch 
