242 FEET OF BIRDS OF PUEY. 



prey more easily out of the water than if they had 

 the common position. When the toe is reversible it 

 is generally the largest in the foot, and the claws 

 upon these feet have their under sides smooth and 

 rounded as well as the upper ones ; whereas those 

 birds which use the feet only in killing, have the under 

 sides of the claws grooved, or with two cutting edges, 

 by which means they inflict much more lacerated and 

 mortal wounds. 



The claws of the more typical birds of prey (which 

 are the only ones which get the name of talons) are 

 used only in killing the prey, or in holding it while 

 depluming, skinning, or tearing asunder, by the beak ; 

 but the vultures and other less typical species which 

 eat carrion, and rarely kill living prey, use the claws 

 more for retaining their hold, while they stand on the 

 bodies of dead animals. 



Size is not so much an indication of power in these 

 feet as compactness and symmetry ; the tarsi of the 

 more powerful ones are all short ; and in proportion 

 as the preying of the bird becomes what is called 

 more ignoble, the tarsi increase in length. Thus in 

 the secretary falcon (Serpentariiu} of Africa, which 



