By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



293 



grey twilight of morning, adopt a different course from their diurnal 

 brethren of prey ; stealing on noiseless wing, round the enclosures 

 and over the meadows, they drop suddenly and without warning 

 of their approach on the mouse or other victim, which they bear 

 away in their feet: their legs and toes are usually covered with 

 downy feathers up to the claws, assisting them in their silent 

 movements, and strong enough to carry off any victim which they 

 may seize. In all these carnivorous birds, can anything more 

 perfect be conceived than the feet with which they are provided, 

 more fitted to their respective requirements, more thoroughly 

 adapted to their wants ? 



The second order of birds, the "Perchers," brings before us quite 

 a different form of foot, but one no less applicable to the habits of 

 the species which compose it ; nay, by many the form of foot herein 

 displayed is considered the most perfect, and perhaps if any degrees 

 of excellence can exist, where all are exactly fitted to their respective 

 uses, the mechanism of the foot of the "Insessores" may strike us 

 with the greatest admiration. The tarsus of all these birds is 

 usually bare of feathers, and the general character of the leg and 

 foot is slight and slender; the number of toes is invariably four, 

 the hind toe being always present: in some species the claws are 

 very long, but in general they as well as the toes are short and 

 thus best formed for perching. JSTow when we look at these light 

 and delicate legs and feet, "the shin reduced," as Buffon well 

 describes it, "till it is nothing more than a bony needle," and then 

 observe the size and weight of the body they have to support, is it 

 not astonishing with what ease and steadiness a bird can perch 

 upon a bough, and balance and uphold itself in that position, even 

 in a high wind ? is it not marvellous how with the head reposing 

 under the wing, and one leg drawn up under the body, it is entirely 

 supported on the other; and resting on so slight a fulcrum falls 

 asleep, without the least danger of losing its balance ? It is the 

 admirable formation of these delicate members that enables the 

 feathered race to rest with ease in a position in which other animals 

 could not support themselves for a minute ; and of which formation 

 the true perchers afford so excellent an example. The natural 



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