258 ORALLY. 



foot, by that very bending of the tarsal joint which, to us, 

 makes the leg appear so awkward. The bending of this joint, 

 without any muscular effort, pulls the tendons that compress 

 the toes, and slackens those that resist that compression, 

 because the former tendon passes over the outside of the 

 bend at the tarsal joint, and the latter along the inside. The 

 toes are very long, and the tendon pulls them to their extre- 

 mities, so that the centre of support in the foot is thrown far 

 before the articulation of the tarsus, and by the action of the 

 same spring the weight of the body is, at every step, dis- 

 charged from and received by the points of the toes, which 

 it could not be, if the tarsal joints were not bent. The toes 

 being free, too, and not joined by a continuous web, enables 

 the spring of each to act to the full range of its articulation, 

 and the foot to adapt itself to any form of surface upon 

 which the bird may have occasion to walk. Even the pro- 

 duced hind toe has its use, in throwing the foot upwards, and 

 also in walking upon grassy or other elastic surfaces. 



Farther, the same bending of the tarsal joint converts the 

 swimming foot of the coot into a perching one, because the 

 toes have the same tendency to clutch round a branch that 

 they have to press with their whole length against the 

 ground, and the divided web enables them to adapt their 

 clutch severally to the form of the branch, whatever that 

 form may be. When all these circumstances, even in the 

 imperfect view of them which has been given, are taken into 

 account, it will readily be perceived that the coot's foot is an 

 instrument of far more varied application than any of those 

 feet which we, in the simplicity of our. ignorance, are apt to 

 consider much more handsome and perfect.* 



* The nest of the coot consists of a large, compact mass of decayed 

 aquatic herbsi^e, sometimes placed upon a tuft of rushes, but more com- 

 monly among reeds ; and not unfrequently having its base at the bottom 

 of the wuter, from which it is raised up to the height of ten or twelve 



