THE BEAK. 
29 
deep into moist earth, from whence they extract their food. 
In this case strength is not requisite, and would have been 
quite out of character with the slender neck of this family, 
as well as unnecessary, for the purpose of collecting small 
worms ; but length was indispensable, and nature has pro- 
vided accordingly. 
Woodcocks and Snipes are such shy birds, that their 
modes of feeding can rarely he observed; hut sometimes 
opportunities have occurred which prove the truth of what 
is here said. A couple of Snipes were, by means of a good 
telescope, actually seen thus boring with their slender beaks 
in soft mire for their food. They were feeding close to the 
edge of a lake, pushing their hills into thin mud, by repeated 
thrusts, quite up to the eyes, then drawing them hack again 
with great quickness, and every now and then shifting their 
ground a little. 
The hills of Ducks and similar birds, which live partly by 
suction, and partly on small fish or aquatic animals, merit 
particular notice from their peculiar adaptation to that office. 
The inside of them, towards the edge, being thickly set with 
rows or lines of short, strong, sharp -pointed prickles. These 
might he mistaken for teeth : this, however, is not their 
purpose, which is merely to act as a sort of filter. Observe 
a Duck in a brook, crushing, with that quick motion of his 
head, soft weeds and other substances mixed with the mud. 
The operation is thus carried on : by plunging its flat bill 
into the oozy pulp, the finer portion is sucked up through 
these tooth-like lines ; what it chooses is retained, the rest 
being thrown out and washed away by the rapid clattering 
motion of the flat bill. As a further help, enabling them to 
judge what is an agreeable and proper food, these birds are 
furnished with an additional supply of delicate nerves, extend- 
ing to the very end of the beak ; hence it has been con- 
jectured that they have some sense of taste, of which birds 
in general are supposed to be destitute. That this is the 
use for which these additional nerves is designed, may be 
further gathered from the accurate examinations of a bill, 
much resembling a Duck’s, belonging to one of the most 
