292 HINTS TO ORNITHOLOGISTS. 
our informant, that one of the claws is serrated, to 
give the bird a firmer grasp than it would other- 
wise 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 ever 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 ring-dove 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 ex- 
cept 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 
