﻿EXTERNAL ANATOMY. SYNDACTYLE FEET. 14$ 



the term Syndactyle. The habits of these two groups, 

 so far as concerns the use of their feet, are nearly the 

 same, for in neither are these members ever employed 

 but to rest the body. The kingfisher watches patiently 

 from a fixed station, — generally a naked twig, over- 

 hanging the water, — for such fish as come within its 

 reach, and then, after a time, flies to another station ; 

 where it alights, it remains. The feet (fig, 80. a), from 

 not being used for walking or standing, are consequently 

 very small, and the toes imperfectly developed ; there 

 are three in front, and one behind, but two of the 

 former might be almost reck- 

 oned as only one, since they 

 are united together even to the 

 commencement of their respec- 

 tive claws ; the inner toe is not 

 half the length of the others, 

 and seems rudimentary : it has 

 a claw, and is rather more de- 

 tached at its tip than the other 

 two: in some, as in the three 

 toed kingfishers, this inner toe 

 disappears. The hinder toe (b) 

 is very short, and scarcely longer than the inner one ; 

 the scales of the whole foot are so thin and transparent, 

 that they can scarcely be seen in the small species by the 

 naked eye. Those who have seen much of the true king- 

 fishers, so scarce in England, but so common in tropical 

 America, know that they never perch upon any other 

 than small or slender branches ; and this we might infer 

 from the shape of the foot. The two outer anterior 

 toes are very long, so that they would completely clasp 

 two thirds of the circumference of a small branch, the 

 other third being embraced by the hinder toe : this 

 fact is further confirmed by the unusual flatness of the 

 soles of all, and by the acuteness of the claws (c), which, 

 from being but slightly curved, would not, upon a 

 small branch, come into contact with the wood : the 

 l 3 



