238 
BIRD-LIFE. 
from personal observation with the oval-formed body, the 
broad oar-like feet, the long neck and the singularly 
toothed bill. These birds look like animated ships. 
The strikingly close plumage increases the circum¬ 
ference of the body, adding at the same time but 
little to its specific gravity, while the fatty matter with 
which the feathers are anointed renders them imperme¬ 
able to water; the feet do double duty, as oars and 
rudder. 
We now come to the singular bill, which resembles 
a colander in its structure ; it is furnished on the inside 
edges of the upper mandible with a series of horny plates 
or laminae ranged side by side like the teeth of a comb; 
besides this, it is covered both inside and out with a 
membranous skin like that of the Snipe’s bill, through 
which a number of nerves ramify; it is considerably 
assisted by the large fleshy tongue, which is also provided 
at the edges with tooth-like processes; this, indeed, 
renders complete the most perfect organ of taste vouch¬ 
safed to the feathered tribe. The tooth-billed, or more 
properly serrated-billed, bird is alike fitted for grazing on 
plants and grasses, or seeking its food at the slimy 
bottom; in exploring the latter the water strains through 
between the comb-like apparatus, leaving a residue from 
which the nutritious portions are extracted after having 
come in contact with the tongue and gums. 
Most saw-billed birds are fairly provided with the 
means of flight; this is, however, not generally the case 
with the fishers of the deep—the Divers. With them the 
stunted character of the wings is remarkable, and in this 
form they finally vanish altogether, that is to say, they are 
no longer wings. The general aspect of the Diver at once 
shows it to be thoroughly fitted to rule the depths below. 
