﻿EXTERNAL ANATOMY. BILL. 



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flesh of those animals which are caught, and which 

 could not be accomplished by a bill of the ordinary 

 shape. A modification of this structure is also seen 



feed upon, before it is brought between both man- 

 dibles ; so that, in fact, it serves to secure their food 

 before they begin to devour it. The notch, again, in 

 the upper mandible, so analogous to that of a rapa- 

 cious bird, is not used to tear the food, but acts as 

 a rest for those hard nuts which are to be cracked and 

 broken by the great muscular force of the under man- 

 dible. The favourite food of most of the splendid 

 macaws of Brazil consists in the seeds or nuts of 

 the different species of palms ; and these are so deeply 

 seated in their husks or receptacles, that they could 

 not be extracted but by a bill which could perforin 

 the office of a pick-axe; and such a bill has accord- 

 ingly been given to the macaws. But we must now 

 pass on to other shapes. The lateral tooth, so con- 

 spicuous in the genera last mentioned, becomes very much 

 smaller in the birds composing the tribe of Dentirostres, 

 where it only assumes (except in the Laniadce, or 

 shrikes, and their representatives) the appearance of a 

 distinct notch, such as may be observed in any of our 

 thrushes and warblers. Finally, in the conirostral 

 tribe, where we have the crows and starlings, this 

 notch becomes almost obsolete ; being always faint, and 

 frequently wanting. This substitute for real teeth is 



in the parrots (d), where 

 the point of the bill, es- 

 pecially of the macaws 

 (Macrocercus}, is even 

 more pointed. Personal 

 observation, however, en- 

 ables us to account for 

 this apparent anomaly. 

 Many of the parrots of 

 South America stick their 

 sharp-pointed and hooked 

 bill into the fruit they 



