An old gentleman in New England told me of a case he once
observed. Noticing a little flock of chewinks or towhee buntings
who came about the house for food that was thrown out, he saw
that one was larger than the others and that they fed him. To
satisfy his curiosity, he threw a stone with such accuracy that
his victim fell, and on picking him up he was surprized to see
that the bird’s mandibles were crossed so that he could not
possibly feed himself. The inference was obvious; his comrades
had fed him, and so well that he had grown bigger than any of
them.--OLIVE THORNE MILLER, “The Bird Our Brother.”
(72)