218 



BILLS OF THE PRESSIROSTRES. 



These birds all seek their food on the ground, 

 though not in the same places. It consists of 

 worms, and other small ground animals, which are 

 sought for in all places, from the dry waste to 

 below the stones on the margin of the water. The 

 bill is in general slender, and not very long ; it is 

 sometimes compressed, sometimes depressed, some- 

 times stiff, and sometimes flexible, so that it does not 

 admit of general description, farther than that it is 

 adapted for picking up small animal substances from 

 surfaces bare of ves-etation. 



BILLS OF THE CULTIROSTRES. 



These birds have the bill, in general, very large and 

 powerful, generally pointed at the tip, sharp, and some- 

 times toothed or serrated in the cutting edges. But 

 though, in all the genera which Cuvi^r has included in 

 the tribe, the bill is very robust, it differs so much in 



Spoonbill. 



form and size, as hardly to admit of an average descrip- 

 tion. Thus the agamis, which are chiefly vegetable in 

 their feeding, have the bill short and conical, not very 

 unlike that of the poultry ; the herons and bitterns, 



