BONES OF THE FEET. 103 



perform violent motion, are connected with several 

 centres, and those centres all susceptible of yielding 

 to some extent or other, shows that the animal is 

 organised for a concert of the parts in its action. 



FEET. 



There is much firmness in the foot and leg of the 

 falcon, and the position in which the foot is carried 

 when hawking, stiffens the hind toe by pulling the 

 tendon, and that without any muscular exertion, to 

 the very angle at which the claw gives the stroke 

 with the greatest effect. It is an oblique thrust, 

 neither directly against the end of the last* phalanx 

 of the bone, nor across it, but in a tangent to the 

 curvature of the claw at its point ; and any one upon 

 examining the foot of a falcon, will find that this is the 

 very direction in which a shock can come so as to 

 jar or strain the least possible, and at the same time 

 to divide the pressure most equally among all the 

 joints of the member which acts. If the stroke were 

 given directly in the line of the axis of the toe and 

 claw, the crush or jar would be the greatest possible ; 

 and any one who unwittingly strikes the point of 

 the stiffly extended finger against an obstacle can 

 tell how much more painful it is than if the yielding 

 finger struck the same obstacle with double the force. 

 There is another very appropriate illustration : by 

 holding the joints of the legs and feet easy, one 

 can drop upon the feet from a considerable height, 

 not only without risk, but with little pain or shock 

 at the moment ; whereas if one were to drop 

 even two or three feet with all the joints of the legs 

 and feet kept purposely extended and rigid, the 

 pain from the jarring would be considerable, and 

 a tumble would be the probable, and broken bones 



