THE BEAK. 
31 
hook nor the overlapping could be omitted, since it 
is. by the beak that Parrots so readily climb ; for 
which purpose it is therefore fitted, as well as for 
breaking nuts and other hard substances on which 
they feed. 
The way by which the Parrot's beak is able to 
answer both purposes is this: the upper mandible, 
which in other birds forms one uniform piece or 
continuation of the scull, is united to the bone of the 
head by a peculiar membrane placed on each side of 
it, enabling the bird to lift or depress it at pleasure. 
The muscular power of this contrivance is very great, 
for the truth of which all who have incautiously 
exposed their fingers to the bite even of a Paroquet 
will readily vouch. 
There is a bird, sometimes found in this country, 
called the Cross-bill, from the singular construction 
of its beak, the mandibles of which, instead of shut- 
ting together like those of other birds, cross each 
other; at first sight, this might be supposed to be 
an accidental deformity, and that the poor bird must 
have great difficulty in picking up its food. But 
this is by no means the case, for as the bird lives 
upon the seeds or kernels of the hard fir-cones of 
pine-trees, it would never be able to crack them, 
and must soon die of hunger, if not furnished with 
a bill of more than ordinary strength and peculiarity 
of construction; exactly, in short, like the bill with 
which nature has provided it ; with this it can 
instantly, and most dexterously, cut the hardest cones 
asunder. But as Divine Providence guards against 
every possible difficulty that might arise from any 
unusual conformation, so, in this case, it has been 
