CH. XXXI. TALONS OF HAWKS. 167 



I could give numberless instances of birds and 



O 



other animals performing actions and adopting 

 habits which to all appearance must be most diffi- 

 cult and most unsuited to them ; all these prove 

 that we are not to judge of nature by any fixed and 

 arbitrary rules, and still less should we attempt to 

 bring all the countless anomalies of animal life into 

 any system of probabilities of our own devising. 

 The more we investigate the capabilities of living 

 animals of every description, the more our powers 

 of belief extend. For my own part indeed, having 

 devoted many happy years to wandering in the 

 woods and fields at all hours and at all seasons, 

 I have seen so many strange and unaccountable 

 things connected with animal life, that now nothing 

 appears to me too wonderful to be believed. 



The feet and claws of different kinds of hawks 

 vary very much, being beautifully adapted to the 

 manner in which each bird strikes its prey. If we 

 examine the claws and feet of the peregrine falcon, 

 the merlin, or any of the other long- winged hawks' 

 including the varieties of those noble birds, all of 

 whom I believe were called in the age of falconry 

 " The Ger Falcon," such as the Iceland, the Green- 

 land, and the Norwegian falcon, we find that their 

 power consists rather in their strength of talon and 

 foot than in the sharp needle-like claws of the hen- 



