164



Mr. P. W. Pycraft,



four toes are present, three of which are turned forwards, and

one, the hallux, or great toe, backwards. When all the toes are

free the foot is said to be eleutherodactyle. Sometimes, as in

Coots, and Waterhens, and Grebes, the sides of the toes are

fringed with a series of folds or lobes, when they are said to be

lobed. The Ducks, Gulls, and Petrels have a palmated or

webbed foot, that is to say, the front toes are connected by a

web. In the Gannets and Cormorants and their allies, all the

toes are thus connected, hence the foot is totipalmate. In some

birds the front toes are half-webbed, or semi-palmate, e.g.

Anseranas. The foot is said to be pamprodactyle when all the

toes are turned forwards, as in the Swifts ; zygodactyle when the

first and fourth are turned backwards, as in Parrots and Wood¬

peckers and Cuckoos ; heterodactyle when the outer or fourth toe

is reversible, as in the Owls, Osprey, and some diurnal birds of

prey. The Kingfisher, Bee-eaters and some others have a syn-

dactyle foot, that is to say, the three front toes are closely

bound together throughout the greater part of their length.


In conclusion, I would remark that the technical terms

cannot be too emphatically condemned in the descriptions in¬

tended for the perusal of the general reader ; on the other hand,

their adoption in purely scientific treatises is not only thoroughly

justified but absolutely necessary. By their means we are

enabled, without circumlocution, to state tersely and precisely

what are the distinguishing characteristics of the bird we are

describing.



Abdomen


Acrodactylum


Acropodiutn


Acrotarsium


Alar-bar


Ala-spuria


Alula


Anus


Axillary feathers



GLOSSARY.


the belly, from the end of the sternum to the under

tail coverts.


the upper surface of the toes.


the anterior surface of the tarso-metatarsus.

a bar across the wing.


the bastard-wing, or qnills borne by the thumb,

see ala-spuria.


the external aperture of the cloaca, or gut.

the long feathers of the under surface of the wing in

the region of the axillar.



