GROUND PINCHES. 
173 
than three inches and a quarter in length. These 
birds have a remarkably short, thick, conic bill. They 
feed, it is said, upon the hard seeds of the African 
millet, and some other of the tall grasses, or rather 
reeds, so common in the swamps of that country. 
The species which exhibits in the highest degree 
the peculiar strength and conic form of bill, so cha- 
racteristic of the family, appears to be the Crimson 
Nutcracker, which Mr. Swainson has designated by the 
name Fyrenestes sangidnem. This bird, he observes, 
. is the most pre-eminent type he has yet seen of this 
family. It may safely be affirmed, he continues, that 
this extraordinary bird has the thickest and most 
massive bill in the feathered creation. Eoth mandibles, 
indeed, are of enormous size; but, contrary to what 
we find in the generality of birds, the under one is 
still more powerful than the upper. What are the 
nuts or seeds, the breaking of which requires such an 
amazing strength of bill, is perfectly unknown ; but 
they must be of a stone-like hardness. The sharp tooth 
at the base of the upper mandible is, no doubt, highly 
useful in this operation, probably performing the office 
of a canine tooth by making a first indentation in the 
nut, whereby to procure a hold upon it.* 
The bill, it will be ob- 
serv^ed, is a perfect cone, the 
sides of which are quite 
straight, and in no wise 
curved outwards. Theupper 
mandible does not project 
at its tip beyond the under ; 
its margin is quite entire, excepting the short and 
* Birds of Western AlKca. 
