Proceedings I! 
ing on land and for steering, not paddling, in the water, it has 
changed very little in appearance from that of its progenitor. 
The Golden Eagle, which is said occasionally to kill wolves, 
has a heel-claw three inches in length, which is driven into the 
brain of the victim; so with the Falcon, which is known to rip 
up other birds from the tail to the back of the head, the head 
being sometimes completely severed from the body. 
Owls have what may be termed a ‘reversible’ foot, i.e.: they 
may at will shift the position of one toe, so as to have two in 
front and two behind, instead of the usual arrangement of three 
in front and one behind. The Osprey’s foot is formed on a sim- 
ilar principle. 
The Ostrich’s foot, used solely for purposes of running, has 
two toes only, although its near relative, the Emu, has the full 
number of four. 
Swifts never perch, and consequently have very small feet, 
the toes of which all project in the same direction. 
The foot of the Ptarmigan, a bird fond of very high altitudes, 
is covered with woolly feathers, resembling fur. 
Owing to the discovery on a recent Antarctic expedition, it is 
now known that Terns spend the summer in the Antarctic re- 
gions,while they pass the winter in the Arctic. Their wings are 
developing, but as these birds are coming to swim less and less, 
their feet are getting smaller and the webs are retreating. 
Another bird, the web of whose feet has greatly diminished, 
is the Frigate-bird. This lives almost entirely on the wing, and 
has only once been reported as having been seen floating on the 
_ water—floating,for the very minute web precludes,save in a very 
small way, the possibility of swimming. Contrast this with the 
foot of the Wild-duck, which is very fully webbed, though in 
this bird the heel-claw still remains free. An even better example 
is the Pelican, to which the heel-claw is joined to the first toe. 
The Moor-hen has the beginnings of webs only, hence its 
difficulty in swimming, but these (or more probably lobes, as in 
Coots) would come were the Moor-hen family hard pressed. 
The Moor-hen’s foot at present is more adapted to walking on 
water-lilies, etc. Still more is this the case with the Chinese 
Jacana. 
