258. FACULTIES O BIRDS. 
Dr. Drummond well remarks, “there is no imper- 
fection in this, for the air and not the ground is the 
bird’s place of abode.”* The peculiar conformation 
of the foot distinguishes the swift from the swal- 
lows, and, indeed, from all other known birds; for 
though some species have the power of turning one 
of their toes either before or behind, none but the. 
swift can turn all the four toes of the foot forward. 
The least toe, also, which, following the analogy of 
other birds, should be the baek one, consists only 
of a single bone, while the other three toes have 
only two bones each; a structure adapted to the 
habit of the bird of clinging with ease to the per- 
pendicular face of walls, and roeks, and eaves of 
houses, aided by its strong, sharp, hooked elaws. 
Even when the swift is placed upon the ground it 
cannot walk, according to White, but only crawl.f 
The feet in swallows, though not quite so short 
as in the swift, are very small, because its pre- 
seribed habits do not require them to be large. In 
the capture of its prey, for example, it does not 
employ its feet, and, to use the words of Dr. Drum- 
mond, it does not require them to be in any partic- 
ular position, “as in water-birds, since it neither 
dives nor swims, it does not want long legs hike the 
heron, for it has not to obtain its food by wading 
and patiently watching for it; neither has it occa- 
sion for the strong and powerful feet and claws of 
the bird of prey, because it needs no instruments for 
grasping. In fact, the great requisite in the foot of 
the swallow is, that it shall be formed without those. 
qualifications which are such wise provisions in the 
feet of most other birds, for what is a perfection in 
them would be an imperfection init. Its legs are 
extremely short, and the whole foot disproportion- 
ately small and delicate: this forms the perfection 
of the swallow’s foot; and in it we may recognise 
* Letters to a Young Naturalist, p. 218. 
+ Selborne, Lett. 61. 
