﻿Legs and Feet of Birds 



55 



toes. The feet and toes of birds are, in zero weather, their most vulnerable 

 points, and they are most liable to be frozen. In the black wastes of the 

 frozen boreal regions, the Arctic Owl is able to defy the intense cold, by 

 means of a furry covering of hair-like feathers, which extends to the very 

 claws; even the soles of the feet being thickly covered, so that the skin of 

 the bird is never in contact with the snow and ice on which it roosts. 



The Osprey,* or Fish Hawk, can, like the Owls, reverse its outer toe; 

 but all typical Hawks and Eagles have the perching bird arrangement. The 

 talons of the Osprey are immensely strong, and the scales on the soles of its 

 feet and toes are hardened and roughened to such a degree that they are 

 almost spike-like. A more efficient fish -trap cannot be imagined. The 

 Golden Eagle has a splendid foot, with great curved talons, which, when 

 they have once clasped an object, never 

 let go. Besides capturing their food, 

 birds of prey carry the sticks for their 

 nests in their talons. 



When, instead of killing its prey, a 

 species of bird feeds upon carrion, the 

 change in its habits is reflected clearly 

 in the appearance of its feet. Compare 

 the feet of a Vulture with those of one 

 of the true birds of prey. The muscles 

 of the Vulture are weaker, the claws 

 shorter, more blunt, and, what is the 

 most important change of all, the toes 

 have lost their clasping power, while 

 the hind toe is higher, and so small 

 that it is of no use even in perching. foot of golden eagle, from life 



Such is the condition of the South American Condor. 



So exactly correlated are these changes of habit and of feet, that in the 

 Caracara, a Mexican bird of mixed habits, — partly rapacious and partly vul- 

 turine, — the toes and claws are correspondingly midway between the two 

 groups of birds. This bird lacks sufficient grasping power to enable it to 

 lift its prey from the ground after the manner of a true Hawk; but it will 

 overcome this difficulty by carrying up the object in its beak, and then 

 reaching forward with its feet, while in full flight, and taking a careful grip 

 with its talons. 



Quail, Grouse, Pheasants, Turkeys and all the fowl-like birds are 

 scratchers, according to the old classification, and they well deserve the 

 name ; for scratching, first with one foot and then with the other, among the 

 leaves and soft dirt for insects, is a very pronounced habit of them all. The 

 arrangement of toes is the same as in the perching birds, but the claws are 



* See cut in Educational Leaflet beyond. 



