“Have—have—you met with an accident?” he asked a bit hesitatingly.
Snipper looked surprised. “Are you talking to me?” he asked. “Whatever put such an idea into your head?”
“Your bill,” replied Peter promptly. “How did it get twisted like that?”
Snipper laughed. “It isn't twisted,” said he. “It is just the way Old Mother Nature made it, and I really don't know what I'd do if it were any different.”
Peter scratched one long ear, as is his way when he is puzzled. “I don't see,” said he, “how it is possible for you to pick up food with a bill like that.”
“And I don't see how I would get my food if I didn't have a bill like this,” retorted Snipper. Then, seeing how puzzled Peter really was, he went on to explain. “You see, I live very largely on the seeds that grow in pine cones and the cones of other trees. Of course I eat some other food, such as seeds and buds of trees. But what I love best of all are the seeds that grow in the cones of evergreen trees. If you've ever looked at one of those cones, you will understand that those seeds are not very easy to get at. But with this kind of a bill it is no trouble at all. I can snip them out just as easily as birds with straight bills can pick up seeds. You see my bill is very much like a pair of scissors.”
“It really is very wonderful,” confessed Peter. “Do you mind telling me, Snipper, why I never have seen you here in summer?”
“For the same reason that in summer you never see Snowflake and Wanderer the Horned Lark and some others I might name,” replied Snipper. “Give me the Far North every time. I would stay there the year through but that sometimes food gets scarce up there. That is why I am down here now. If you'll excuse me, I'll go finish my breakfast.”
Snipper flew up in the tree where the other Crossbills were at work and Peter and Jumper watched them.
“I suppose you know,” said Jumper, “that Snipper has a cousin who looks almost exactly like him with the exception of two white bars on each wing. He is called the White-winged Crossbill.”