Feet and Legs 381 
true horny-handed sons of the soil: their claws are stubpy, 
short, and blunt. Sharp edges would soon be dulled by 
scratching, and elongated ones would sliver and_ break. 
So, with his blunt claws, our chicken and his kind are 
well provided for. 
The most interesting feet among these birds are those 
of the grouse. The ruffed drummer of our woods walks 
about, in summer, on slender toes over moss and logs, but, 
when soft deep snows come, his weight would make it 
dificult to keep from being buried at each step. So 
Nature provides him with snowshoes. From each side of 
each toe a broad, horny comb-like fringe grows out; not 
a web of skin which might soon freeze, but rows of horny 
projections, as of a myriad extra claws. This distributes 
his weight so that he trots merrily over snow through which 
a fox sinks deep and flounders awkwardly at every step. 
But what of the ptarmigan, that snow-white grouse 
of the far North, whose home is amid those frigid barren 
regions? This bird is much more of a walker than the 
Snowy Owl, and its feet would surely freeze during 
the long winters if they were bare of feathers. So we 
find indeed that scarcely a claw is visible beyond the 
thick feathers which cover legs, toes, and soles. Such 
a provision against cold is evident and reasonable enough, 
but how are we to account for the feet and toes of the 
House Martin of Europe, which are densely feathered to 
the very claws? It breeds in Iceland and Lapland, but 
only in summer, when it would need no such protection 
against cold, and it is also true that it breeds upon the 
cliffs of Persia and southern India. 
