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ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



thrushes possess very little of the first of these indica- 

 tions, but the breadth of the claw is apparent in all their 

 minor groups. Nature advances another step in the genus 

 Parus, where, as we see in P. major, {fig. 70. a) the fore 



and they have consequently, in the greater deve- 

 lopment of the hind toe, one of the scansorial cha- 

 racters. Let us now see how the same structure is 

 developed, but under a totally different form, in a 

 genus which belongs to the very same family. We 

 allude to the Mniotilta varia, Vieillot, or black and 

 white creeper of Wilson : now this bird unquestionably 

 belongs to the warblers, and yet it runs up the trunk of 

 a tree almost with the same facility as a nuthatch ; the 

 hinder claw (b) is consequently much more lengthened 

 in proportion, than that of the titmouse, in order to 

 support and keep the body in equilibrium, whereas the 

 hind toe of the Parus is used for grasping, for the 

 bird itself never climbs perpendicularly like the Mnio- 

 tilta : it may, indeed, rather be said to hang than 

 climb; and as greater strength of muscle is requisite 

 for the first than for the last of these positions, we 

 consequently perceive that the foot of the titmouse 

 is much stronger than that of the Mniotilta, although 

 the latter bird makes the nearest approach to legitimate 

 climbing. 



(122.) Leaving these and similar representations of 



a 



toes are very unequal in length, 

 and the hinder, — as Linnaeus 

 well observes, — strong and 

 large ; equal, in fact, to the 

 middle toe. Now the Pari are 

 well known arboreal birds, not 

 only living among trees, where 

 alone they seek their food, but 

 exploring the most slender 

 branches and twigs in a man- 

 ner almost peculiar to them- 

 selves : these habits render 

 them in some degree, climbers, 



