PARTS OF ANIMALS, IV. xii. 



feet though divided into toes yet are fashioned hke 

 a snub-nose" — these have long necks, because a long 

 neck is useful to them for getting food out of the 

 water. Their feet, on the contrary, are short so that 

 they can swim. 



Birds' beaks also differ according to their different 

 habits of life. Some beaks are straight, some curved ; 

 straight if they are used simply for feeding, curved if 

 the bird eats raw meat, because a curved beak is 

 useful for overpowering their prey, and such birds 

 have to get their food from animals, most often by 

 force. Those whose life is spent in swamps and are 

 herbivorous have broad beaks, which are useful for 

 digging and pulling up their food and for cropping 

 plants. Some of them, however, have a long beak and 

 a long neck as well, because they get their food from 

 some depth. Practically all these birds and the com- 

 pletely or partially web-footed ones live by preying 

 upon certain of the tiny water-animals, and their 

 neck is to these birds what his fishing-rod is to an 

 angler, while their beak is like a line and hook. 



The under and the upper sides of the body (i.e. of 

 what is called the trunk in quadrupeds) are in birds 

 one uninterrupted whole. Instead of arms and fore- 

 legs they have wings attached to this part (wings are 

 another peculiarity), and hence, instead of having the 

 shoulder-blade on their back they have the ends of 

 the wings there. 



Birds, like men, have two legs, which are bent in- 



" According to Ogle, this means that the main stem of the 

 toe corresponds to the ridge of the nose, and the lobes on 

 either side of it to the flattened nostrils. 



* dAteuTat? o PQSU : aXievriKos 6 Y6 : clXuvtikos Z, vulg. 

 ^ 7) Yb : om. vulg. 



* sic Y6, Ogle : aTrqpr. yap avrl et mox exovai post vpoadLcov 

 vulg. 



405 



