192 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



Nerves of the finger. 



a firm and vigorous assemblage of cords, ready to 

 move the thumb in every useful direction. 



The wild fancy which was maintained by Lord 

 Monboddo, that man originated from a race of 

 orang-outangs, which had learned by accident to 

 bend the thumb in opposition to the fingers, is 

 refuted by the structure of the thumb in these 

 animals*. '* It must be observed," says Mr. Coul- 

 son, " that the fingers of their hands are opposed 

 with difficulty to the thumb, which is sometimes alto- 

 gether wanting ; besides, both the toes and fingers 

 are with difficulty separated from each other f.'* 

 Though Dr. Darwin, as we have already seen, attri- 

 butes superior sagacity to such birds as use their 

 claws for hands, facts do not by any means bear him 

 out in the example he adduces of the cuckoo, which 

 certainly exhibits no superiority of intelligence over 

 the goose or the buzzard, both proverbial for stu- 

 pidity. Birds indeed appear to be stupid rather in 

 proportion to their bulk, whatever may be the cause,, 



* Meckel, Anat. Comp. vi. 210. 

 f Blumenbach, Qorpp. Anat. 224, note. 



