194 Bird Comrades 



and hinder toes being wanting. However, this great fowl 

 does not experience any lack, for its feet are almost solid 

 like hoofs, and quite flat, and hence are especially adapted 

 for traveling across the sandy desert. 



No bird has ever been found with more than four toes ; 

 and four seem to be ample for all purposes. A fifth toe 

 for a bird would be as useless as a fifth wheel on a wagon. 

 Quite a number of species have only three toes, most of 

 them among the walkers and waders, and none, I believe, 

 among the true perchers. Take the plovers and sander- 

 lings, for example, which spend most of their time, when 

 not on the wing, in running about on the ground, espe- 

 cially along the seashore or the banks of streams and lakes, 

 and seldom, if ever, sit on a perch in their case a fourth 

 toe would be worse than a superfluous appendage; it 

 would be an encumbrance, dragging along in the mud 

 and mire. In these species it is the hind toe that is lack- 

 ing, their three digits all being in front, where they are of 

 the greatest service. There is another class of birds that 

 have hind toes, though very much reduced because their 

 owners do not perch, but scuttle about on the beach. This 

 class includes the little spotted sandpipers which you often 

 see running or flying along the shores of a river or lake. 



Curious to tell, several species of woodpeckers are tri- 

 dactyl that is, three-toed and still more curious is the 

 fact that in their case the true hind toe is lacking, while 

 the outer front toe is bent backward, or "reversed," as it 

 is called, and is thus made to do service for a hind toe. 

 The other species of woodpeckers have four toes, two in 



