HINTS TO ORNITHOLOGISTS. 



313 



be exactly the same. Thus, we observe the ring- 

 dove sitting up aloft on the slender branches of 

 the towering elm ; but the dovecot pigeon is never 

 to be seen in so elevated a situation. Still, the 

 feet of these two birds are alike. Our pheasant 

 will sleep both upon the ground and upon the 

 branch of a tree. But the partridge of England 

 is never known to resort to the trees, although its 

 toes differ in nothing but in size from the toes of 

 the pheasant. It requires an effort in birds to keep 

 their toes straight and an effort in man to keep his 

 fingers closed. 



Thus, from the study of internal anatomy, we 

 learn that man can never be safe upon the branch 

 of a tree, except when he is awake ; and that a bird 

 is perfectly secure upon it, even in the profoundest 

 sleep. 



The barn owl has been singled out as a specimen 

 of pre-eminence in perching ; and we are informed 

 that, as it represents the insessorial or perching 

 order, its powers of grasping ought to be more 

 than ordinary. We consequently find, continues 

 our informant, that one of the claws is serrated, to 

 give the bird a firmer grasp than it would otherwise 

 have. 



Now, this serrated part of the claw happens to 

 be so high upon the claw itself, that it cannot, by 

 any chance, come in contact with the branch to 

 which the bird has resorted ; and, as for this owl's 

 pre-eminent powers of grasping, I may remark, that 

 it is seldom or ever seen upon a small branch. Nine 

 times out of ten it will alight upon the thick parts 



