ANIMALS WITH AND WITHOUT COMBS 



serrated claw." Mr. E. B. Titchener 1 holds that this 

 explanation, cannot be right, first, because the serration 

 is small in extent ; and secondly, because 

 it is at the side and not on the under 

 surface of the claw. The Goatsucker is 

 said to clean its mouth-bristles with its 

 middle toe, but the mouth-bristles and 

 the comb do not always co-exist in the 

 same species. A young Heron was kept 

 under observation to see how it em- 

 ployed its claws. Its food, whether living 

 or dead, and whether taken from water 

 or from the ground, was never touched 

 at all by the feet. The only use to which 

 the serrated claw was put was that of 



scratching the cheeks and throat. In 

 this action, which occurred most fre- 

 quently after a meal, the other two 

 front toes were curved down, so as to 

 leave the middle claw free. Mr. H. R. 

 Davies 2 confirms Mr. Titchener's view 

 by some fresh observations. A Cor- 

 morant was found to have the fissures 

 between the teeth of its serrated claw 

 choked with fragments of down, cor- 

 responding with that on the body of 

 the same Bird. Minute fragments of 

 feather were afterwards found in the 

 claw of a Barn Owl. The comb is 

 sometimes replaced by a curved blade with teeth, 

 which runs al&ng the inner side of the claw. Such 

 1 Nature, Dec. 4, 1890. 2 Nature, Feb. 19, 1891. 



E 2 



