220 
VIOLET PLANTAIN-EATER. 
account and figure the Doctor subsequently became 
acquainted with, speaks of and represents the feet as 
insessorial, that is, formed after the manner of ordi- 
nary perching birds. Both these accounts, however, 
in different degrees, are incorrect. There are, in- 
deed, three anterior toes, all of which appear to he 
placed so directly forward as to be incapable of any 
turning ; and this conclusion would he arrived at, 
even by a professed ornithologist, who contented 
himself with examining the foot in a dried state ; 
but w T hen it is relaxed, so that all the joints be- 
come as flexible as in the living bird, the true 
nature of its structure becomes apparent. The an- 
terior outer toe is then seen to possess the power of 
being very slightly turned outwards, so as to de- 
scribe the eighth part of a circle, hut not more ; for 
it is kept within this range by a conspicuous mem- 
brane, which actually unites it to the base of the 
middle toe, and demonstrates the utter impossibi- 
lity of this toe being, as it is always described, ver- 
satile, any more than that of the falcon tribe, nearly 
all of which are constructed on the very same 
principle. 
This remarkable formation is evidently intended 
to confer superior powers of grasping; just as the 
lateral inclination of the human thumb enables a 
person to grasp an object much more firmly than if 
it was on the same level with the other four fingers. 
The ordinary position of the toes is that of all perch- 
ing birds ; hut when the bird is grasping a hough, 
