SEC. in EXTERIOR PARTS OF BIRDS 149 



finch or bunting family and some allied ones. — B, among water 

 birds. 5. The Imgirostral (Lat. longics, long), or long, an aquatic 

 style of the tenuirostral, best exhibited in the great snipe family. 

 6. The pressirostml (Lat. pressus, pressed), or the compact, illustrated 

 by the plovers, etc. 7. The cuUrirostral (Lat. cutter, a knife), cut- 

 ting, exemplified in the heron group. 8. The lamellirostral (Lat. 

 lamella, a plate), in which the bill is broad and plated with a series 

 of tooth-like processes, as in the duck tribe. None of these terms 

 are now used to indicate natural groups, nor have we such absurd- 

 ities as the " orders " Fissirostres, Tenuirostres, etc. A swallow, for 

 instance, and a swift are equally fissirostral, though only distantly 

 related to each other ; a swift is closely related to a humming-bird, 

 though the latter is extremely tenuirostral ; and birds of contiguous 

 genera may be dentirostral or not. The words are nevertheless 

 convenient incidental terms in general descriptions. Various other 

 similar terms, expressing special modifications, as latirostral (Lat. 

 latiis, broad), acutirosiral (Lat. acuius, sharp), etc., are also employed 

 as common adjectives. 



Other Forms. — A bill is called long, when notably longer than 

 the head proper ; shmi, when notably shorter ; medium, in neither 

 of these conditions. It is compressed, when higher than wide, at 

 the base at least, and generally for some portion of its length ; 

 depressed, when wider than high ; terete (Lat. teres, cylindric), under 

 neither of these conditions. It is recurved, when curved upward ; 

 decurved, when curved downward ; bent, when the variation in either 

 direction is at an angle ; straight, when not out of line with the 

 axis of the head. A bill is obtuse (said chiefly of the paragnathous 

 sort) when it rapidly comes to an end that therefore is not fine ; or 

 when the end is knobby ; it is acute when it runs to a sharp point ; 

 amminate, when equally sharp and slenderer; attenuate, when still 

 slenderer ; subulate (awl-shaped), when slenderer still ; acicular 

 (needle-shaped), when slenderest possible, as in some humming-birds. 

 A bill is arched, vaulted, turgid, tumid, inflated, etc., when its outlines, 

 both crosswise and lengthwise, are notably more or less convex ; 

 and contracted, when some, or the principal, outlines are concave 

 (said chiefly of depressions about the base of the upper mandible, 

 or of concavity along the sides of both mandibles). A bill is 

 hamulate (Lat. hamus, a hook), or unguiculate (Lat. unguis, a claw), 

 when strongly epignathous, as in rapacious birds, where the upper 

 mandible is like the talon of a carnivorous beast ; it is dentate, 

 when toothed, as in a falcon ; if there are a number of similar 

 " teeth," it is serrate (Lat. serra, a saw), like a saw ; it is cultrate 

 (knife-like), when extremely compressed and sharp-edged, as in the 

 auk, skimmer : if much curved as well as cultrate, it is falcate (Lat. 

 falx, a reaping-hook; scythe-shaped); and each mandible may be 



