WINGS AND FEET 
to be ready to seize their perch, and as far as 
I know this is always the case. The crow is our 
largest common perching bird, but its black 
colour of plumage and feet alike make it 
difficult to observe the point in question. A 
crow in rising on the wing often lets its feet 
hang at first, and then draws them up in front 
in an exceedingly leisurely manner. When 
well under way the feet are close against the 
breast, and are held there I am inclined to 
believe, even in long flights, for I have several 
times observed crows from a point on a sea 
beach where I could follow their flight for a 
long distance, and, as they passed me, their 
feet were always in front. The feet are some- 
times dropped slightly so that daylight can 
be seen between them and the breast, or held 
so closely to the breast that only the clenched 
toes can be seen, and these in some cases are 
entirely buried in the feathers. If the bird 
had only been so obliging as to have white 
feet, these observations would have been much 
easier. 
I have also seen the feet when the birds were 
in full flight in the case of swallows, blackbirds, 
robins, the familiar house sparrow of the 
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