XXIV 
HIS FEET AND LEGS 
A BIRD always stands on his toes, not on his 
whole foot, as we do. The long slim part that 
we call the leg is really the foot, and the joint 
we see nearly up to the bird’s body is the bird’s 
heel. But in this book we will 
speak of it in the common way, 
calling the toes the foot, and the 
part up to the joint the leg. 
People all over the world have 
the same kind of feet 
and the same number 
of toes ; but with birds 
it is not so. Most of 
them have four toes 
(Fig. 8), but some 
have only three, and a few have no more than 
two. 
In the use of the feet there is still more 
variety. There are, as Dr. Coues divides them, 
three kinds of feet among birds : — 




Fia. 8. 
Foot of Blackbird. 
