360 



The Bird 



each foothold as secure as if its feet were vacuum- 

 cupped. 



In the swallows the feet are very small, having fallen 

 into disuse with the great increase of the power of flight. 

 Orioles and weaver-birds make occasional use of their 

 feet to hold a strand of grass or string which they are 

 weaving with their beaks into their elaborate nests, and 

 certain flycatchers pounce upon and hold their insect 



Fig. 288. — Swallow, showing small size of feet. 



prey as an owl grips a bird, or a jay clings to a nut; but 

 with the exception of a few such cases, the feet of perching 

 birds serve principally the function of locomotion. 



As variation in habitat or haunt depends so much upon 

 the power of locomotion, it will not be out of place to 

 mention here, in rather more detail than usual, a splendid 

 example of adaptive radiation which we can all verify for 

 ourselves. 



There is no more wonderful fact in Nature than the way 



