1.Although birds do not have hands，they have something that serves just as well.Their bills are as useful to them as our hands are to us.
2.Bills are not all alike，nor are they all used in the same way.The duck has a very queer bill.This bird finds its food under water.It cannot see what it gets when the water is muddy.But the inside of its bill is soft，so that it can feel the things that are in it just as we feel things with our fingers.Let us see how this helps the duck.
3.It thrusts pond when it is feeding，and brings it up full of mud.
But mixed with this mud are the small animals the duck lives upon.
4.All round the edge of its bill there are small points somewhat like teeth.The duck sends the mud out between these little points，but by means of them it keeps in all that it feels by its bill to be good for food.
5.You all know that birds build their nests with their bills；and what wonderful things these nests are.But there is a bird that knows so well how to sew with its bill that it is called the tailor bird.Look at this queer nest，which is hiddenin the leaves that are sewed together.Do you see the three little ones stretching out their mouths to be fed？
6.This bird makes its threads from the fine down of the cottonplant.When all is ready for sewing，it makes holes through the leaves with its small bill，and then stitches them nicely together.
7.Some birds，like the wood-pecker，use their bills for boring holes in the trees，to get at worms and insects，which they eat.You can hear the “tap-tap”of this little instrumenta good way off.
8.I must tell you of one other bird，and this is a very strange-looking one.It has a very long bill，which it uses，like other birds，for gathering its food-in-sectsand worms.But this bird has another use for its bill：it makes a caneof it.
9.It puts the tip of its bill on the ground and rests upon it，just as an old man does when he leans upon his staff.On account of this funny habit it is called the cane-bird.