GO 



NOTES TO THE 



cage. This shows fear ; the blackbird will do the same thing. 

 Every bird, old or young, can be tamed by kind treatment and 

 knick-knacks in the shape of tempting food. A knick-knack for 

 a soft-feeding bird would be maggots cleaned in sand, and meal- 

 worms, and any kind of small beetle ; knick-knacks for car- 

 nivorous birds would be live mice, small birds, &c. 



CLAWS OF HERON, p. 69. The feet of birds afford a field for very 

 great study. Along the sides of the toes of the capercaillie run 

 a series of hard, strong bristles, not at all unlike the teeth of an 

 ordinary comb. I believe the use of these is to act as a snow-shoe 

 to help to support the bird when walking on the snow. The reader 

 should observe for himself the curious serration on one side of 



NERRATKD CLAW OF THE HBROX. 



the middle toe of the common heron. The same structure is 

 also found in the bittern and cormorant. The use of it is cer- 

 tainly not for prehension, as was formerly supposed, but rather, 

 as its structure indicates, for a comb. Among the feathers of 

 the heron and bittern can always be found a considerable 

 quantity of powder. The bird probably uses this comb to koc]> 

 the powder and feathers in proper order. 



FERN-OWL, p. 70. The Fern-Owl, or Goat-sucker, arrives here 

 very late in May, the month of cockchafers ; the chafers come- 

 out with the leaves. The female makes no nest, but lays two 

 eggs on the bare ground. The churring noise is its song ; the 

 male bird does it mostly ; the male will " churr " when the 



