﻿130 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



toes diminished, and the inner one becomes propor- 

 tionally shortened. This we see in the jays (6), which 



seldom alight upon the 

 ground^ even in situa- 

 tions like this*; where 

 their wild and discor- 

 dant cries echo through 

 the coppices, and evince 

 that such wooded re- 

 treats are their proper 

 haunts. Another cha- 

 racter, indicative of 

 walking habits, will be 

 found in the claws ; 

 those of the crow (fig. 

 68. c) are always less 

 compressed and curved 

 than in the jay (a), and 

 other birds which live in trees. This structure is carried 

 to its extreme development in the larks (d), and the 



neighbouring genus An- 

 thus, where the claws 

 are unusually straight 

 and slender, while the 

 opposite extreme is seen 

 in the genus Buphaga 

 (b). We must, how- 

 ever, observe that there 

 are several excep- 

 tions to this rule ; for not only the typical shrikes 

 (Lanius) which never, or very rarely, alight upon the 

 ground, have the lateral toes equal, but this equality is 

 seen in several other groups which are arboreal ; but 

 which, as standing at the head of their tribe, or genus, 

 represent the crows ; and thus the character becomes 

 also analogical. The swallows very rarely alight upon 

 the ground, although their toes are equal ; yet, as they 

 represent the Corvidce, by being pre-eminently typical 

 * Tittenhanger Green, in the adjacent woods of lord Calledon. t 



