101 

 THE GAIT OF BIRDS. 



BY O. S. ROUND, ESQ. V</> • C"»--- ^> 



Having considered in former papers the sounds which birds are capaHe 

 of uttering, the food upon which the several kinds subsist, and their mode 

 of locomotion in the air, that medium for which, with only a very few 

 exceptions, they are peculiarly fitted by Nature, I shall now proceed to 

 discuss a faculty for which they are not so peculiar, but which they pos- 

 sess in common with all animals, namely, locomotion upon the earth's sur- 

 face. Man has a foot most exquisitely adapted for the preservation of his 

 erect position, notwithstanding any inequality of surface; and in a wild or 

 savage condition, his powers of leaping, running, or climbing, or of endu- 

 rance in all these, is little inferior to that of the majority of animals, 

 having regard to his bulk, and the formation of his limbs; hence his general 

 qualifications are not so remarkably developed as that of other creatures, 

 to which a particular mode of life is assigned, and which are proportionably 

 endowed for that one, and awkward when endeavouring to exercise any 

 other, for he can excel to a certain degree in all. 



Birds more resemble animals in this particular, for, whilst the greater 

 number are perchers, and peculiarly fitted for living in trees, sitting on the 

 twigs or branches; others are formed for swimming, others for wading, 

 which are partial swimmers; and others, which are by far the smallest 

 number, for exclusive movement upon the earth itself. Three of these 

 divisions are very familiar to us all; thus we all know the Sparrow or 

 the Redbreast, which are perchers, (although the latter has more of a run- 

 ning leg too;) we are equally familiar with barn-door fowls or the Lark 

 tribe, which are walkers or runners, (the latter, however, being scarcely 

 runners,) and have seen the common Goose or tame Duck perform the 

 action of swimming; but the waders, of which the Common Snipe is an 

 example, are not so well known, being wild birds, and seldom or never 

 the subjects of domestication. 



Among the first division of perchers are included all the Finches, the 

 Creepers, the Thrush kind, and all the birds of prey, although, strangely 

 enough, some of these build on the ground. The greater proportion of the 

 insectivorous birds are also perchers, indeed they all perch without excep- 

 tion; but there are a few which have the faculty of walking or running, 

 which is possessed by none of the others, for these others, when on an 

 even surface, hop and do not move one leg before the other; thus the 

 Wagtails walk and run, and are the smallest birds that do so. The 

 granivorous or seed-eating division are also capable of perching, and are 

 pure perchers, with the exception of the Gallinulce, which order includes 

 the domestic fowl and birds of game, (except the Wood Grouse,) and the 



VOL. VIII. p 



