HINTS TO ORNITHOLOGISTS. 291 



to judge of a bird's powers of perching by an ex- 

 ternal admeasurement of its feet and claAvs. Our 

 speculation is unprofitable, and our judgment is of 

 no avail whatever ; for, after we have laid our rule 

 and compasses down upon the table, and have left 

 the house to take a walk into the fields, with a full 

 conviction that we have learned our lesson from 

 the dried skin of a bird, we find that the habits of 

 one bird are utterly at variance with those of 

 another, although the proportional anatomy of 

 their feet and claws be exactly the same. Thus, 

 we observe the ring-dove sitting up aloft on the 

 slender branches of the towering elm : but the dove- 

 cot pigeon is never to be seen in so elevated a situ- 

 ation. Still, the feet of these two birds are alike. 

 Our pheasant will sleep both upon the ground, and 

 upon the branch of a tree. But the partridge of 

 England is never known to resort to the trees, 

 although its toes differ in nothing but in size from 

 the toes of the pheasant. It requires an effort in 

 birds to keep their toes straight; and an effort in 

 man to keep his fingers closed. 



Thus, from the study of internal anatomy, we 

 learn that man can never be safe upon the branch of 

 a tree, except when he is awake ; and that a bird 

 is perfectly secure upon it, even in the profoundest 

 sleep. 



The barn owl has been singled out as a specimen 

 of pre-eminence in perching ; and we are informed 

 that, as it represents the insessorial or perching 

 order, its powers of grasping ought to be more 

 thau ordinary. We consequently find, continues 

 u 2 



