78 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
flamingoes prove an exception to the general 
rule inasmuch as that member is clothed 
with a layer of soft skin, except at the tip. 
It is also interesting to note that the situa¬ 
tion of the nostrils differs in various species 
of birds. In the majority the nasal orifices 
are placed a short distance from the base of 
the bill, but in the gulls, geese and cranes 
they are at the centre, while the flightless 
apteryx of New Zealand is unique in having 
them at the extreme end. 
It is, however, to the more curious forms 
of beaks that we desire to draw special atten¬ 
tion in our present chapter, and in this respect 
no bird is more remarkable than the crossbill 
whose beak is unlike that of any other member 
of the feathered folk, the end of the lower 
mandible curving upwards and crossing over 
the upper one in a manner that suggests a 
malformation rather than a normal condition. 
This peculiarity, however, proves of great 
service to the bird, enabling it to obtain the 
seeds from the fir cones upon which it so 
largely subsists, by forcing back the scale¬ 
like growths that overlay them. 
Only the adult birds possess this extra¬ 
ordinary form of beak, that of the young being 
of the more usual straight type. 
There are quite a number of birds that 
