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CHAPTER II. 
STRUCTURE OF BIRDS. 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE.' — SKELETON. — CHARACTER OF 
BEAK. BONES, THEIR LIGHTNESS. SOLIDITY OF 
BACKBONE. BREASTBONE, USE OF. WING-BONES.— 
LEGS, PECULIARITIES OF. — WHEN RESTING ON ONE 
LEG, WHY BIRDS DO NOT FALL. 
We shall now proceed to give a few details con- 
cerning the structure and peculiarity of their forms 
and characters. 
In examining the skeleton, we find the head ter- 
minating in a beak, composed of a horny substance, 
in form and structure and hardness, as intimately 
connected with the habits and general character of 
the bird, as jaws and teeth are with those of man 
and other animals. Thus in Eagles, Hawks, and all 
birds which tear their prey, as well as in Parrots, 
which have to bruise hard substances, or procure 
their food by piercing the bark of trees, as Wood- 
peckers, the bill is extremely hard and powerful. 
Whereas in those which feed on worms, and sub- 
stances equally soft, or live by suction, or swallow 
their food, as Woodcocks, Ducks, &c., the hardness 
is gradually diminished. 
A philosopher need not go further than this in- 
strument, in search of a proof how well the provi- 
dence of God fits the means to the ends. 
The hooked tip and sharp over-hanging edge of 
the upper mandible, in the birds of prey, acts like a 
