68 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OP BIRDS. 
Strong clawj and is somewhat analogous to the talons of 
an eagle, by being struck into the prey. It certainly is 
not used, like that of the true rapacious order, for tearing 
the food in pieces, for it is well known that pelicans, 
in a state of confinement, preserve their natural habit 
of swallowing their food entire, and we have evidence 
to prove tliat the whole of the cormorant family do the 
same. Indeed, the great expansive power of the throat 
of both these genera, manifestly constructed for receiv- 
ing food in such a state, places the fact beyond dispute. 
The owls, which represent the Natatorial order (wherein 
this structure is only found), show it in its incipient 
state ; for, although their upper mandible is greatly 
hooked, there is no appearance of the notch so universal 
among the falcons. 
(63.) II. A cuneatcd, or wedge-shaped bill, is 
altogether confined to the woodpeckers and the nut- 
hatches: we can only look for its full development, 
however, in the genus Picas as now restricted. A 
glance at the hill of the Pious rohustus {fig. SS. a) will 
convey, much better than by words, a just idea of its 
general shape : both mandibles are of such an equal 
size and thickness, that when closed the commissure (or 
line made by the joining of the two together,) is pre- 
cisely in the middle ; the bill gradually liecomes smaller 
from the base ; and its circumference would be cylindrical 
were it not for certain ridges, which form little pro- 
jecting angles, so that its 
section ( 6 ) appears nearly 
hexagonal : the end has not a 
sharp point, hut a perpen- 
dicular edge, like that of a 
wedge or hatchet. By this 
most beautiful mechanism, 
aided by uncommon strength 
in the muscles of the neck, 
these birds can break through and demolish the hardest 
wood ; so that in their native regions, the base of the 
trees where some of the larger species have been at 
