Feet and Legs 



359 



through each toe is sufficient to clasp and unclasp a thou- 

 sand times a day, and to hold and balance the bird on 

 whatever bending twigs or wind-blown foliage it chances 

 to alight. In this matter of perching the hind toe plays 

 an important part, so much so that when the necessity 

 for grasping ceases, this digit begins to wax flabby and 

 weak and often becomes reduced in size. 



Fig. 286.— Nuthatch on tree, 

 cHnging upside down. 



Fig. 287.— Nuthatch clinging to a gloved 

 hand. (Bowdish, photographer.) 



The creepers. Fig. 240, are passerine woodpeckers 

 in habit and forever wind their spiral paths about the 

 tree-trunks. But the nuthatch is the marvel of the 

 whole Class of birds in this climbing ability. With no 

 support whatever from the tail, and without special 

 adaptation of toes, it defies all laws of gravitation and 

 creeps up and down or around the vertical trunks, as if 

 on a level surface. Never a misstep, never a slip, but 



