173 

 THE GAIT OF BIRDS. 



BY 0. S. ROUND, ESQ. 

 {Concluded from page 124.) ^^'^AT'vitS^' 



I do not profess to give any account of foreign birds, except incidentally, 

 but I may mention in passing that I believe we have, in this little island, 

 almost every species of birds known to the ornithologist, with only one or 

 two exceptions, that is the foreign kinds, are only other varieties of the 

 genera which are found with us. If this is admitted, the habits of feeding, 

 flight, song, and movement upon the legs, which I have endeavoured to 

 illustrate and describe, will be generally applicable, and open the mind of 

 the young naturalist to other and deeper speculations. Flight, it is true, 

 is one of the most distinguishing attributes of the feathered tribes, and 

 whether we think of it generally or scientifically, is a most beautiful and 

 graceful movement; but these interesting works of Nature are so far removed 

 from us when on the wing, or if near are so rapid, and consequently so 

 transient in their movements, that our ideas of them, only thus collected, 

 would probably convey a very imperfect impression of their true characters 

 and appearance to our minds, and therefore their gait it is which renders 

 them most familiar to us; this I have attempted in the foregoing pages to 

 describe, and distinguish that which properly belongs to each tribe or order, 

 but to shew how much it conduces to set off and render still more attrac- 

 tive by its singular fitness to their several bodily conformations, would be 

 far beyond my skill to describe. 



I suppose the shape and mechanism of a bird's leg and foot, is at once 

 one of the most elegant and finished works that can be imagined. We 

 talk of a Duck's splay foot, but see him gliding placidly over the bosom 

 of the clear stream, and see that very foot in its pellucid situation, its 

 yellow hue, shewing still more clearly its elegant movement, and then see 

 if we shall ever again so speak of it. Look at the exquisitely-slender legs 

 of any of our small birds, and only examine the little suit of horny armour 

 in which they are enveloped, the Indian-rubber-like substance which protects 

 the seemingly fragile toes, and I am persuaded you will feel a pleasing 

 and wondering admiration. Turn, then, to the birds of prey, and see the 

 mighty and formidable claws with which they arc provided, albeit it may 

 be for a cruel purpose; — it is their nature, and we must not inquire fur- 

 ther, for those portions of the boundless scheme of nature, which we do 

 faintly comprehend, display to us such wonderful fitnesses to their purposed 

 ends, that we cannot doubt of a like wisdom (although inscrutable to our 

 limited faculties) being displayed in all. Look at the web-footed which 

 swim, and the superior mechanism — we may almost call it — of those that 

 dive, the partial elongation or extension of the membranes of the toes of 



VOL. VIII. 2 A 



