92 GRALL.E. 



feet are adapted to surfaces of all kinds, from the arid waste 

 to the softest mud that will support the weight of a bird. 

 Thus some resemble the feet of the running birds, in wanting 

 the hinder toe ; others have the hinder toe articulated on the 

 tarsus higher up than the other toes, as in the gallinae ; and 

 others again have the feet approaching to those of the wag- 

 tails, and other insectivorous birds that run on the margin of 

 the waters ; but there is not, in the whole order, anything 

 that can be considered as a prehensile or a perching foot ; for 

 though the heron roosts in trees, it stands rather than clings 

 as on a perch ; and though some of the order use the foot in 

 pressing their prey to the ground, and others (as is said) in 

 beating the ground to bring it out, none of them make use of 

 the foot in clutching. The bill, which is the only instrument 

 with which the food is taken, is adapted for capturing it in a 

 great variety of places : as on the bare dry ground, out of 

 holes in the earth, from under stones, from the leaves, stems, 

 and roots of plants, from sand, sludge, and shallow water. 

 Thus there are many forms of the bill ; and as the place on 

 which the bird stands does not always correspond with that 

 from which the food is taken, the feet and bill are sometimes 

 of different characters ; so that the feet are more indicative 

 of the general haunt, and the bill of the habit in feeding. 



The only subdivision of the order to which we shall 

 attend, is that of wanting or having the hinder toe, as the 

 total want of that member indicates a bird of dry and bare 

 places ; and the more that the hind toe is produced, and its 

 articulation on the same level with the other toes, the better 

 is the bird adapted for walking on soft surfaces, whether 

 these are formed of herbage or of mud. Btween these ex- 



o 



tremes there are many gradations ; and there are differences 

 in the form of the bill, with the same degree of production 

 in the hinder toe ; so that the distinction applies only to 

 the haunt, and not to the species of food. The genera, 



