3 8o 



The Bird 



ing the body down with one foot, proceeds to swallow it. 

 In case a snake proves unusually hard to manage on 

 the ground the dauntless bird watches his opportunity, 

 seizes his adversary close to the head, and, flying aloft 

 to a considerable height, lets it drop on the hard ground, 

 which is usually sufficient to prepare it for the final 

 ceremony of swallowing." 



FIG. 298. Feet of Ruffed Grouse, showing snowshoes of horn. 



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 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 very different. These birds are 



