STRAIGHT SEEING AND THINKING 



I myseK was sure I had seen crows pick up food 

 from the water, as gulls do, with the bill. I had the 

 vision of that low stooping of the head while the bird 

 was in the act. I asked my son, who spends much 

 time on the river, and who is a keen observer. He 

 had often seen the thing done, but was not certain 

 whether it was with the beak or the feet. A few days 

 later he was on the river, and saw a crow that had 

 spied a fragment of a loaf of bread floating on the 

 water. Having the point in mind, he watched the 

 crow attentively. Down came old crow with ex- 

 tended legs, and my son said to himself, " Yes, he is 

 going to seize it with his feet." But he did not ; his 

 legs went down into the water, for what purpose I 

 cannot say, but he seized the bread with his beak, 

 rose up with it and then dropped it, then seized it 

 again in the same way and bore it toward a tree on 

 the shore. Not many days later I saw a crow pick 

 up something from the river in the same way : the 

 feet went into the water, but the object was seized 

 with the beak. The crow's feet are not talons, and 

 are adapted only to perching and walking. So far 

 as I know, all our birds, except birds of prey, carry 

 their food and their nesting-material in their beaks. 



One day I saw an eagle flying over with some- 

 thing like a rope dangling from its feet, probably 

 a black snake. A bird carries its capture with the 

 member by which it seizes it, which with birds of 

 prey is the foot, and vrith other birds the beak. The 

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