OH. XXXI. TALONS OP HAWKS. 167 



I could give numberless instances of birds and 

 other animals performing actions and adopting 

 habits which to all appearance must be most difficult 

 and most unsuited ta them ; all these prove that we 

 are not to judge of nature by any fixed and arbi- 

 trary rules, and still less should we attempt to bring 

 all the countless anomalies of animal life into any 

 system of probabilities of our own devising. The 

 more we investigate the capabilities of living animals 

 of every description, the more our powers of belief 

 extend. For my own part indeed, having devoted 

 many happy years to wandering in the woods and 

 fields, at all hours and at all seasons, I have seen so 

 many strange and unaccountable things connected 

 with animal life, that now nothing appears to me 

 too wonderful to be believed. 



The feet and claws of different kinds of hawks 

 vary very much, being beautifully adapted to the 

 manner in which each bird strikes its prey. If we 

 examine the claws and feet of the peregrine falcon, 

 the merlin, or any of the other long-winged hawks, 

 including the varieties of those noble birds, all of 

 whom I believe were called in the age of falconry 

 " The Ger Falcon," such as the Iceland, the Green- 

 land, and the Norwegian falcon, we find that their 

 power consists rather in their strength of talon and 

 foot than in the sharp needle-like claws of the hen 



