234 



8YNDACTYLIC FEET. 



These have all the three front toes united together. 

 They feed chiefly on the wing, use the perch only for 

 rest, and walk little on the ground, for which the form 

 of their feet very ill adapts them, though they usually 

 have their nests in holes, and often in holes excavated 



Kingfisher. 



by themselves, for the digging of which their united 

 and spade-like feet are by no means ill adapted. 

 The foot of the kingfisher will illustrate this structure. 



CRAB FEET. 



These are feet of a very peculiar structure, to 

 which writers on ornithology have given no name ; 

 and yet they are distinct from any other feet, 

 and their mode of action is very peculiar. They 

 belong to the Fissiroslres of Cuvier the Chclidoniun 

 birds, or swallow tribe, which are so well markeil, and 

 so distinct from all others, both in their structure and 

 their habits, that they ought not only to stand as a 

 separate family, but as a separate order ; and the three 

 genera, of which the group is composed, are so 

 different from each other, that each ought, in strict 

 propriety, to form a separate group, or even sub- 

 order. 



The birds to which they have the nearest resem- 

 blance are the fly-catchers, but the resemblance is 



