that connect the Orders and Families of Birds. 479 



any constancy, in the air, indicates their station in nature to be 

 chiefly limited to the ground. And suitably to that wise and mer- 

 ciful disposition prevalent throughout the creation, which com- 

 pensates for every deficiency by some counterbalancing advan- 

 tage, those parts of the structure of the Gallinaceous Birds which 

 are more necessary to them in their peculiar station, and more 

 conducive to their support in life, are endowed with superior 

 strength and powers in proportion to the inferiority which may 

 exist in the organs of flight. Their legs and feet are strong, and 

 furnished with the most powerful muscles ; their nails are short, 

 blunt, and robust, for the purpose of scratching up their food ; and 

 a connecting membrane unites the base of the toes sufficiently 

 developed to strengthen their action, but not sufficiently extensive 

 to interfere with the freedom of the joints. The form and situa- 

 tion of the hind toe is especially suited to their station in nature. 

 In reference to its general use, this member seems chiefly calcu- 

 lated to aid the foot in grasping an object; and thus it is of im- 

 portant service to a bird in holding its prey or in perching. But 

 neither of these purposes is suited to the mode of life of the Ra- 

 sores ; and the perfect developement of the member in question 

 would proportionally diminish the strength of the fore toes, as well 

 as impede the progress of the bird upon the ground. The more, 

 therefore, that we perceive the strength of the hind toe to be trans- 

 ferred to those in front, the greater may we pronounce the powers 

 of the rasorial foot to be in its own peculiar region, and the closer 

 its adaptation to the habits of running that characterize these 

 groups. In fact, we may observe that the more typical Ra- 

 sores seldom walk, but are found almost invariably to run even 

 in their most ordinary movements. In this point of view the 

 hind toe, although an apparently trivial and unimportant mem- 

 ber, becomes of considerable consequence in affording a charac- 

 ter to judge of the relative situation of the different families in 



the 



