2 5 8 



A YEAR WITH NATURE. 



FOOT OF GOLDEN EAGLE. 



aggerated drawings which adorn their picture-books but their 

 fears are not altogether groundless, for, like the Peregrine 



Falcon, the Golden Eagle is 

 a regular Bull-Dog, and does 

 not stop at trifles. Marvellous 

 indeed are their visionary 

 powers, wonderful the age they 

 attain, and the formidable 

 talons which bear the place 

 of honour here are a study in 

 themselves. 



From the Eagle to the useful 

 little Swift one of the latest of 

 our Summer Visitors and one 

 of the earliest to depart is a 



long journey in the Scientific world, and shews a truly wonderful 

 variance. A glance at my drawing shows that all the four toes 

 are directed forwards, whilst the two middle ones are equal. 

 This is one of our most useful insectivorous 

 birds, the countless myriads of insects 

 which it destroys during its too short 

 sojourn amongst us being simply amazing. 

 The Summer evening when the last red 

 rays of the setting sun are sinking in 



the West, with the ' Screecher' as the bird is sometimes called, 

 wheeling round and uttering its well known cry and then in 



under the eaves of the Village 

 School would lose much of 

 its charm without these birds. 

 A peculiarity in regard to it is 

 that owing to the shortness of 

 the tarsi, the bird finds it difficult 

 to get up when once it has 

 alighted on the ground. 



Very correctly named is 

 the Black- Winged StiH, for its 

 long thin legs certainly do not 



misrepresent the stilts we were prone to amuse ourselves with 

 in school days. 



FOOT OF SWIFT. 



LEGS AND FEET OF BLACK-WINGED 

 STILT. 



