..LAKE, SWAMP, AND REED BED. 121 



claws, Starlings, and Sparrows. We have carefully 

 watched these birds alight in the case of the 

 Rooks and Jackdaws, through a glass as well as 

 with the unassisted eye and we have repeatedly 

 assured ourselves that the legs were carried for- 

 ward, after seeing the birds alight and take wing. 

 Starlings and Sparrows, times without number, we 

 have watched bring down their legs and feet from 

 the plumage of the belly as the birds alighted on a 

 tall chimney, below which we could see everything 

 without being seen. Then we have seen such 

 species as Wagtails, Finches, and Thrushes under 

 circumstances that admitted of no doubt as to 

 the actual facts. The subject is by no means 

 exhausted yet, and is one, in the face of much 

 diversity of opinion, that offers a very interest- 

 ing opening for original research. It is one 

 which, we are sorry to say, receives but little 

 attention from the majority of our bird artists 

 and draughtsmen. Neither does the taxidermist 

 pay much attention to the matter. Birds are 

 either drawn or mounted with the legs depicted 

 or placed just as the whim of the artist or the 

 stuffer may dictate ; and yet it is this close 

 fidelity to detail that makes or mars a picture 



