EXTERNAIi ANATOMY. FEET. 
127 
these same laws can be also traced in the class of 
quadrupeds. 
(115.) A RaptoriaIj foot has some striking pecu- 
liarities in the direction of the toes^ which have been 
passed over by all ornithological writers, who have 
described their members as having the same toes in the 
same positions as those of the perching order. On a 
superficial examination they seem, indeed, to be so ; but 
this is not strictly the fact. On examining the foot of 
a hawk, or more particularly that of an owl, it will be 
observed that the outer toe is placed more obliquely, 
than directly in front, so that it admits of grasping 
laterally, on the same principle, though much less de- 
veloped, as we have already explained in the instance 
of the cuckow. This inclination of the exterior fore toe 
towards assuming a versatile structure, can only be 
rightly seen in birds which are fresh ; for in dried spe- 
cimens the three anterior toes appear all on the same 
plane ; but even then the claw of this subversatile toe 
is always more inclined inwards than those of the two 
others ; a proof that they are not employed to grasp 
tlie same side of the surface of an object. An examin- 
ation of the American sparrow-hawk {Falco sparverins), 
(fiy.GG.a) a bird we have so often instanced, will show 
this fact. But it is among the owls that this peculiarity 
of structure is most apparent (J) : the three anterior toes 
in this family are more equal in length than in any of the 
Fulconidee, or in the perchers ; so that the foot bears a 
great resemblance to that of 
the swifts ; both being Fis- 
sirostral types. The foot of 
the owls, nevertheless, differ 
materially both from the 
swifts and the falcons ; for it 
maybe said that, of the three 
toes opposite to the hallux, 
only one, that in the middle, 
is directed forwards ; the 
other two being so inserted as to grasp in a lateral di- 
