All the parts of animals are suited to their 

 mode of life ; and first, let us examine the feet 

 and claws of birds. Observe how well calculated 

 for securing and tearing their victims, are the 

 strong, and large, and crooked talons of birds of 

 prey ; but they are not all alike, for even among 

 the various eagles, intimately connected as they 

 are with each other, much difference of conform- 

 ation exists, according to the necessity of the 

 case. In the osprey, the principal food of which 

 is fish, we find the foot unlike that of other eagles, 

 for its outer toe turns easily backwards, and what 

 is remarkable, the claw belonging to it is larger 

 than that of the inner toe. Like other eagles, 

 the osprey has four toes, but nature, who never 

 acts without a purport and intent, has thus given 

 it the power to turn back at pleasure, one of its 

 toes in which position it would seem to have 

 two back and two front toes in order that it 

 may the more readily grasp arid secure its slip- 

 pery prey. 



The foot of the cuckoo exhibits the same pe- 

 culiarity, for which no cause has been yet disco- 

 vered. Perhaps it lays its egg upon the ground, 

 and then conveys it in its foot to the nest where 

 it is to be incubated. But why, it may be asked, 

 cannot the cuckoo at once lay its egg in this 

 nest ? why does it first lay it upon the ground, 

 and then, if indeed it does so, convey it to the 

 place it has selected ? But in reply to such que- 

 ries, it has been suggested, that eggs are not laid 

 in a moment, that some time is necessary for the 



