. The natural history of birds . there are some very curiously formed billsamong them, there are none that can be consideredas of a very murderous character, for the most formi-dable ones belong to those which feed on vegetablesubstances ; and the owners are so completely treebirds that the bill is a climbing instrument, by thehooked upper mandible of which they can, if neces-sary, hang a considerable time without sustainingany injury. The bills, though not admitting of typical ex-ample or description, as appropriate to the wholeorder, may yet be conveniently explained in groups. 206 BILL OF T
. The natural history of birds . there are some very curiously formed billsamong them, there are none that can be consideredas of a very murderous character, for the most formi-dable ones belong to those which feed on vegetablesubstances ; and the owners are so completely treebirds that the bill is a climbing instrument, by thehooked upper mandible of which they can, if neces-sary, hang a considerable time without sustainingany injury. The bills, though not admitting of typical ex-ample or description, as appropriate to the wholeorder, may yet be conveniently explained in groups. 206 BILL OF THE WOODPECKER. The first group includes the bills of the jaca-raars, the woodpeckers, and the wrynecks. The billin all these is straight, fitted for digging into thebark of trees, and extracting insects and larvse;and though some of the birds are of considerablesize, and the insects on which they feed remarkablysmall, yet they pick them up with wonderful follo^ving figure will show the general characterof the Green Woodpecker. The woodpeckers have the stoutest bill and thebest fitted for hewing into timber. The wrynecksas frequently pick up saw-flies and other smallwinged insects, which alight on the bark for thepurpose of depositing their eggs ; and the extentand freedom of motion in the neck are both veryremarkable. The American jacamars, though theydo not peck, have the bill resembling that of thecommon kingfisher ; but their congeners of the Easthave it more slender, and a little arched, incliningto the form of that of the bee-eaters, and they arenot so much in the habit of climbing as the others. The cuckoos have the bill of moderate length, butditiering in form and structure in the difierent generaof which the group is made up, as these differ consi-derably in their feeding and other habits. They donot dig in the bark for insects ; and thev inhabit the BILLS OF THE TOUCANS. 207 copses and open forests rather than those which aredeep and tangled. Betwee
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