THE GAIT OF BIHDS. 175 



The legs of the tenants of air are hardly understood by persons who 

 have not studied anatomy; what we call the leg answers to our foot, and 

 what we call the foot is nothing more than the mere toes; therefore what 

 we consider the thigh in birds is the true leg, although it is true that 

 from using the toes only as in contact with the ground they are furnished 

 with cushions — the attributes otherwise of a foot. The thigh is sometimes 

 covered with long feathers, particularly where it is thick and brawny, as 

 in birds of prey, such as Owls and Hawks; this, however, does not appear 

 to be the only case in which feathers are here present, for we find them 

 on the toes of those birds which have no extraordinary calls for pedal 

 exertion, except in running. Thus all the Grouse are feathered down to 

 the very nails, although this clothing rather partakes of the character of 

 down or hair. The Martin, a small, weak, little bird, has the most beau- 

 tiful covering of soft white feathers, which completely cover his legs and 

 feet, and his only exertion lies in clinging to the spherical sides of his 

 nest. The Bantam Fowls, which are foreign birds, have their feet covered 

 with true feathers, as have the Cochin China Fowls, now so common, and 

 these have such large and powerful legs as to be ungainly. The domes- 

 ticated Gallince have great powers of leg, and are good runners, which 

 power they exhibit particularly in their contests, which are often obstinate 

 enough to continue to the death. The male birds of all this class are 

 furnished with spurs, which are formidable enough, and made the vehicles 

 of much brutal amusement; and it is no small disgrace to some members 

 of our nobility that this inhuman practice has been upheld by their coun- 

 tenance and presence, until of late years; but I trust and believe that it 

 has fallen into considerable disuse, and now practised only by the lowest 

 and most degraded of the community. The Lark tribe are also furnished 

 with what are called spurs, but are in reality nothing but an elongation 

 of the nail of the hind toe, and they are not pugnacious birds. 



Having considered the motions of birds in walking, running, clinging, 

 and perching, with reference to each distinct peculiarity or modification of 

 those several habits, I shall, in conclusion of this branch, devote a few words 

 to the subject in general. Birds being biped, or two-legged animals, like 

 ourselves, have many more difficulties to overcome in the balance of their 

 bodies than quadrupeds, or those which have four supporters. It is true 

 that they are not exclusively confined to the earth, not even where they 

 cannot fly; but walking or standing is still but a secondary consideration with 

 most, and yet they exercise it in much more trying situations than we, 

 who are biped also, have to contend with, whether we reflect upon them 

 as poised on the giddy and slender top of the vast pine, or perched on 

 the dizzy peak of some naked rock of the tempestuous ocean; yet in what- 

 ever situation they are placed, the powers given to them by a bountiful 



