I dare say you notice that all the birds in this picture have long beaks. We may be sure from this that they live in places and seek for their food in ways in which long beaks are just what they want. The fact is they are all marsh birds, and the soil of marshes being wet and soft, and full of worms, these long beaks enable them to probe it, and so get at the worms. I think the beaks of birds afford a striking example of how good God is in adapting creatures to the mode of life He has appointed for them. The eagles and hawks, you know, are provided with strong, short bills to enable them to seize and tear flesh. Those of canaries and all the finches are just the very instruments to crack seeds with. Parrots, with their tremendous weapons, can crush the hardest nuts of the tropic forest. The crossbill is fitted with a wonderful tool for tearing fir-cones to pieces. Robins and the other warblers have soft bills, which are all they want for eating insects and grubs.
| | I would rather be my lady's hawk,
And perch upon her hand,
Than I would be the deerhound grim,
To range this forest-land. |
P—THE PELICAN. ON river banks, on shores of lakes,
Or marge of sounding sea,
The Pelican, in quest of fish,
Roams uncontrolled and free. Q—THE QUAIL. WHEN come the leaves and buds of spring
Then comes the swift-winged quail:
But ever quits our western lands
Before the winter pale. R—THE RHINOCEROS. DOWN to the waterside to drink,
Within the jungle's shade,
Has come the huge Rhinoceros,
In knotty hide arrayed.
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