HINTS TO ORNITHOLOGISTS. 499 



ought to be more than ordinary. We consequently find, continues 

 our informant, that one of the claws is serrated, to give the bird a 

 firmer grasp than it would otherwise have. Now, this serrated part 

 of the claw happens to be so high upon the claw itself, that it cannot, 

 by any chance, come in contact with the branch to which the bird 

 has resorted ; and, as for this owl's pre-eminent powers of grasping, 

 I may remark, that it is seldom or never seen upon a small branch. 

 Nine times out of ten, it will alight upon the thick parts of the tree, 

 where it remains in a standing position; and it will fall asleep in that 

 position, if not disturbed. We shall never know why some birds 

 prefer to sleep on the ground, and why others select the branch of a 

 tree whereon to take their repose for the night. That the formation 

 of the feet and toes has nothing to do with their choice appears 

 evident from the different habits of the ringdove and the common 

 pigeon, the partridge and the pheasant. 



By the way, though the pheasant will unite with our barn-door 

 fowl, and produce a progeny, still there is a wonderful difference in 

 the habits of these two birds. The pheasant crows before it shakes 

 or claps its wings, the barn-door fowl after. The pheasant never 

 claps or shakes its wings except in the breeding season, and when it 

 is on the ground ; but the barn-door fowl will clap its wings either 

 on the ground or on the roost, at all times of the year. 



Should our grave doctors of zoology decide, that, by the study of 

 external anatomy alone, we can be enabled to point out those birds 

 which are supposed to be pre-eminently gifted with the powers of 

 perching and of grasping, and should these our masters recommend 

 that this novel study be applied to quadrupeds and to bipeds, as well 

 as to birds, I respectfully beg leave to inform them that I have been 

 gifted by nature with vast powers of leg and toe : I can spread all my 

 five toes, and, when I am barefoot in the forest, I can make use of 

 them in picking up sundry small articles from the ground. Having 

 an uncommon liking for high situations, I often mount to the top of 

 a lofty tree, there to enjoy the surrounding scenery; nor can I be 

 persuaded that I risk " life and limb " in gaining the elevated situa- 

 tion. These, no doubt, are qualities and propensities aberrant from 

 the true human type, and, according to the new theory, will at once 

 account for my inordinate love of arboreal celsitude. 



