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 uf)on 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 i 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 
