A STUDY IN BIRDS' CLAWS, TALONS, AND FEET. 263 



FOOT OF MERGANSER. 



though the structure of it suggests that it is found extremely 

 useful in digging for 



'The worms that crawl on the lowly earth'. 



The Tree Pipit one of the charming Summer visitors to 



our shores which gladdens us with its trilling lays is a near 



relative of Shelley's favourite 



Lark, and it possesses a foot 



which is a fair illustration of 



the feet of the birds belonging 



to this order. It is a delightful 



songster, far out-shining its 



congener the Meadow Pipit, 



and is one of our most 



pleasing harbingers of Summer. 



Whether or not the curiously 



shaped foot of the Nightjar accounts for the bird's strange 



habit of sitting on the branch of a tree lengthwise I cannot say 



with certainty, but it is a fact 

 worth noticing. I have illustrated 

 the complete foot and also the 

 pectinated claw, which is but one 

 of the many peculiarities belonging 

 to this most useful member of the 



feathered race. It is persecuted because of the ridiculous name 



by which it is called in some localities Night Hawk but 



there is not a more beneficial 



bird which favours us with its 



welcome presence during the 



English Summer. One thing in 



the bird's favour is that it does 



not come out much until the 



blinking, snoozing Owls are just 



waking up, and the daytime of 



the Bat is just commencing. 



That fine and noble bird, the Ostrich, owns a foot which will 



be extremely interesting and instructive. Two toes only does 



it possess, but they are stout and strong; of these the innermost 



is much larger than the outer, and is furnished with a hoof-like 



FOOT OF EURYLAIMUS. 



FOOT OF TREE PIPIT. 



