WAR AND WEAPONS AMONG THE BIRDS. 63 
present the bird is apt to have wattles about the 
head. 
The only other special weapon in birds is the leg 
spur, confined almost exclusively to the fowl forms. 
The ostriches strike downward and forward with their 
feet, a habit which perhaps came about by the degen- 
eration of the wing and the great use of the leg in run- 
ning. This striking habit is shown in the fowl group, 
and the leg spur is probably developed in keeping 
with it. These spurs also show all degrees of devel- 
opment from mere knobs to the terrible stiletto of 
the game chicken. Some pheasants have more than 
one. 
Wing spurs seem to be a growth of or from the 
bone, but all leg spurs are likely of surface or skin 
origin, and only after considerable growth do they 
attach themselves to the bones and acquire a bony 
core. 
Sharp edges of wing bones may be noted as a 
modification looking weaponward, and in turkeys and 
others there is doubtless a hardening of the lower end 
of the breastbone. 
It is not denied that in Nature there are not spe- 
cial precautions and weapons against such enemies as 
might prey upon the owner. The skin secretions of 
toads and others, the spines of some lizards, the so- 
called quills of hedgehogs and poreupines, the shells 
of many creatures, are evidences of a protective ar- 
mor. The birds have very little, if any, of this. 
Whenever they do possess special capacities for being 
disagreeable, such as those, for instance, incidental to 
