JiXXVl 
INTRODUCTION. 
which compose the tail are nearly of equal length, as in the Kingfisher and 
AVaterouzel. In others they are forked, either greatly, as in the Swallow, 
or slightly, as in the Goldencrest, and the Titmice; in others, they are 
rounded, as in the Lapwing, the Redstart, and the Cuckoo, or wedge- 
shaped, as in the Magpie. Some have the two interior feathers covering 
the whole of their tails, when closed, as the Titlark, but most have but one. 
In many of the feathered race, these tail-feathers are weak and slender ; 
but in the Woodpeckers and Creepers, they are firm, strong, and sharp - 
pointed. The thigh of land birds is commonly fleshy, and covered with 
feathers ; but in the Waders, and many water fowl, it is partly naked. — 
In the males of the Coot and Waterhen, it is marked with a red circle, 
called the bracelet, which grows of a deeper red with the age of the bird. 
It glows more in spring, than in any other season of the year ; though the 
bracelet of the male, after it has attained its second year, is always of a 
bright red. In the hens of these birds, it is generally of a greenish yellow 
hue. The legs of birds in general are bare of feathers, and unarmed, but those 
of the gallinaceous kinds have a sharp spur ; and Owls, Eagles, Grouse, 
Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, and Martins, are booted, or feathered, nearly down 
to the toes. The external coverings of the legs of many birds are divided 
into scale-like plates, as in the Crow and Waterhen ; plain, as in the Bram- 
bling and Fieldfare ; and reticulated, as in the Snipe. The feet of birds in 
general are formed with four toes ; three anterior, and one posterior ; the 
exterior of which, in the Owl kinds and Osprey, may be occasionally turned 
behind : but many birds, such as the Plovers, the Bustards, and the Emeu, 
have but three ; some have merely the appearance of the fourth, or ex- 
tremely short, and apparently useless, as in the Snipe, the Gull, and the 
Rail. Others have four, as the Woodpecker and the Cuckoo, two placed 
its wings, than from the assistance of the tail. Borelli errs, notwithstanding all his experiments) 
for every ornithologist knows, that birds with long tails perform, with ease, various evolutions in 
flight ; but short-tailed birds, except the Snipe genus, turn with more difficulty, and generally 
fly in a straight line. 
