292 HINTS TO ORNITHOLOGISTS. 



our informant, that one of the claws is serrated, to 

 give the bird a firmer grasp than it would other- 

 wise have. 



Now, this serrated part of the claw happens to 

 be so high upon the claw itself, that it cannot, by 

 any chance, come in contact with the branch to 

 which the bird has resorted ; and, as for this owl's 

 pre-eminent powers of grasping, I may remark, 

 that it is seldom or ever seen upon a small branch. 

 Nine times out of ten it will alight upon the thick 

 parts of the tree, where it remains in a standing 

 position ; and it will fall asleep in that position, if 

 not disturbed. 



We shall never know why some birds prefer to 

 sleep on the ground, and why others select the 

 branch of a tree whereon to take their repose for 

 the night. That the formation of the feet and toes 

 has nothing to do with their choice appears evident 

 from the different habits of the ring-dove and the 

 common pigeon, the partridge and the pheasant. 



By the way, though the pheasant will unite with 

 our barn-door fowl, and produce a progeny, still 

 there is a wonderful difference in the habits of 

 these two birds. The pheasant crows before it 

 shakes or claps its wings ; the barn-door fowl, after. 

 The pheasant never claps or shakes its wings ex- 

 cept in the breeding season, and when it is on the 

 ground ; but the barn-door fowl will clap its wings, 

 either on the ground or on the roost, at all times 

 of the year. 



Should our grave doctors of zoology decide that, 

 by the study of external anatomy alone, we can be 



