HIS FEET AND LEGS 107 
ber. When a bird bends his leg, the toes are 
drawn up and held so. When he is sitting on a 
perch, he could not fall off if he wanted to. 
Birds who have the “scratching foot,’ the 
second kind, mostly go about on the ground, or 
wade in the water. They do not usually sleep 
on perches, but sleep standing, or crouch on the 
ground. In the arctic regions, where there is a 
great deal of snow, some birds with scratching 
feet, who have to go about in it, have in winter 
what has been called “ snowshoes,” because it 
enables them to walk on the snow with ease. 
It is a web-like growth on the side of each toe, 
which serves the same purpose with birds that 
snowshoes do with men, keeps them from sink- 
ing into the snow. 
Birds who have the “swimming foot,” the 
third kind, have the toes made into a paddle 
by webs stretched between them. They are the 
water birds, — ducks, geese, gulls, and others. 
The toes of all birds have long, sharp claws, 
not at all lke our toe-nails. In the whip-poor- 
will and the nighthawk, one edge of the middle 
claw has teeth like a comb. 
The long slim part above the toes, what we 
call the leg, is named in the books the “ tarsus.” 
The tarsus is generally bare, with a leathery 
skin; but in some hawks and owls it is covered 
