The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1894-04-13
SPURS ON THEIR WINGS.
CURIOUS WEAPONS WITH WHICH
SOME BIRDS ARE ARMED.
Fowls That Are Born Fighters -
South American Screamers Armed
With hStilettos-Earliest of Birds.

n
Smithsonian Institution, to
n Washington Star writer. "They
not only fight tooth and claw but
with their wings buffet the adversary
about the head. The swan is famous
fighter and can deliver a tremendous
wing blow. The common pigeon,
though held up as n type of gentle.
ness, Uses its wings in conflict with
much effect. In fact, there are few
birds of moro quarrelsome disposition
or more given to picking upon their
weaker neighborA
'The pigeon is a skillful boxer,
with the other. 1t strikes its adver-
sary about the head with its wrist
that is, the part which people who
are not anatomists call the shoulder.
If you will carefully part the feathers
on the outer edge OF pigeons wing,
near the bend, you will find small
bare spot aud q blunt, well-marked
horny prominence. 1t is with this
that the blow is inflicted.
"There are some geese in Africa
which have pinions peculiarly armed.
One of the wrist bones projects con.
siderably beyond tho other and is
capped with sharp spur. Plovers
are particularly remarkable for the
spurs on their wings. In some species,
which have small spurs, the weapon
increases in size at the breeding sen.
son, SO as TO become available for
fighting. A small and quarrelsone
kind of plovrr is very abundant in
northeast Africa. Its restless habits
for night and day it is perpetually on
the move explained by an Arab
tradition to the effect that on account
OF former lazincss it, has been con.
demncd to live in II state of perpetual
unrest.
'..The largest Of the South American
spurrcd plovers ranges southward to
Patagonia, and is armed with long,
ricious-lookin2 spur just at the base
OF the mctatnrsus. | was about to say
thumb but it seems probable, rs |
shall presently explain to you, that
birds long ago lost their thumbs, and
that the middle finger has come to do
duty i'll its place.
"The South American screamers are
the most formidable of spur wingnI
birds. They are related to the ducks,
though they don't look it. They have
two spurs on each wing one short
affair, the other an ugly, three sided,
stiletto-likc blade, almost as sharp as
n needle. In fact, it is not unlike
part Of one Of those large needles used
by saIlmakers and known as 'roping
needless 1t could doubtless be driven
clear through q mans hand by n stroke
Of the birds powerful wing. Yet the
scrcamers are peaceable birds, associG-
ting amicably i'll large hocks, SO that
this equipment of spurs, like our
modern ironclads, may be strictly in
the interest OF peace.
wings. These appendages serve no
purpose rs weapons and apparently
are of no use nt nll to the grown-up
bigds, but merely to the young. You
may, perhaps, have seen the Florida
gallinule pulling itself up some little
incline by it's wings, somewhat as
hat hooks itself along. The claws on
the wings which thus serve rs hooks
are frequent among water birds.
without knowledge of fossil
birds, through which we are able to
trace the history and development of
feathcred creatures, it might be hard
to explain the presence of these claws.
But, If we regard rudimentary organs
in existing forms as shadows OF the
past and vcstiges of comnlcta useful
parts, the reason for the claws is clear.
"Tae earliest bird of which we know
anything was the archaeopteryx. A
single fossil specimen has been dug out
from the photographic slate beds of
Bavaria. This creature seems not only
to have M,l wings for flying, but
hands for climbing. In the wing are
three well-formed clawci fingers, by
means Of which the bird could I'M
douhtedly climb about very rapidly.
1t is long jump from the archaeop
teryx to the next most ancient type Of
bird known, But, fortunately, there
IL bird still living, and not uncom-
mon in parts OF South America, which
goes some distance toward bridging
over the gap between this biped with
claws and the gallinnle. The bird of
which l speak, on account Of its many
pcculiarities, stands quite alone among
modern birds 1T is looked upon as p
survivor of a great group OF birds
which has become extinct. 1t is
called the hoatzln.
"Now, the adult hoatzin not only
has no claws on its wings, but it's
thumbs nre so poorly developed that
one would hardly suspect that in the
nestlings we have the nearest approach
TO n quadruped found among existing
birds. Soon after the Matching of the
eggs the young ones begin to crawl
about by means of their wings and
legs, the well-developed claws on the
thumb and index being constantly in
use for holding and hooking on to
surrounding objects. If they are
drawn from the nest by their legs.
they cling firmly TO the twigs with
h'll and wings. The nestlings, even
while small, are frequently found far
away from the nest, climbing by the
help Of their claws after the parent
birds. If any enemy approaches, they
"rawl out of the nest and hide in the
thicker bush close by.
"Not the least Of the many interest
;no, faatures of the hootZin is the raOil