Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-03-13
THE FEET OF BIRDS.
How Their Characteristics are Devel.
oped by Their Use.

kind of occupation in which he is en-
gagged. The horny, thick-nailed fists
of the blacksmith, the knOoted fingers
OF the baseball player, the calloused
finger tips of the violinist, the intelli-
gent hand of the artist and the sensi-
tive thin skinned fingers of the profess
sional card shaper, each tells the story
of its daptation to a particular pur-
pose. So ii Is with the feet of birds,
only their characteristics have been de-
veloped, not in a lifetime, but during
thousands of years.
The moment we see bird with feet
which are webbed or partially webbed,
we shall be safe in coming to the con-
clusion that ne gets his living in Or
about the water. Grebes and looms,
gulls and terms, albatrosses and petres
gannets and pelicans, ducks, geese and
swans and many other birds which
have more or less swimming to do have
their toes we'll provided with lobes or
webs. The webbed foot is to these
birds what the oar is to the rover what
the paddlewheel or the screw is to the
steamship. When the foot moves for
ward through the water it is folded
up, thus Offering the least resistance,
but when the backward stroke is>made
the toes are separated, the web is ex-
tended like a section of an open UNI
brella and grips the water with force
which drives the feathcrcd bark along.
Some water birds can swim with great
speed. | have known wounded her
ring gull to distance two stout rowers
in a light boat and other species are
faster still. But these webbed feet are
of many patterns. The feet Of grcbes
fft1I rnbh n6
the ends of the toes being provided
with flaps or lobes. Looms, gulls ducks
geese and others have only the three
front toes fully webbed, while such
birds as gannets, cormorants and pei
leans have all four toes connected by
webs. Certain ships, sandpipers, plov-
ers and other birds which get a large
part of their food, in wet, muddy or
sandy places have their toes very
slightly lobed or webbed. Other birds
which frequent similar localities have
neither webs nor lobes, but are provid-
ed with very long toes, which keep
their feet from sinking too deeply into
the mud. Some of the herons and bit
terms are examples of this class.
TIE feet OF turkeys, grouse and quail,
like those of domestic hens, are stout
and strongly made, and the toes are
provided with strong, blunt claws.
These birds obtain much of their food
by scratching and their feet are fitted
for this rough work.
The foot of bird of prey (other than
Il vulture) may be recognized at once
by it's four muscular toes, each armed
with a sharp. curved claw or talon.
This Is the instrument of death with
which hawk or owl strikes down his
living prey and the wise in which he
holds 1t while he tears it to pieces with
his hooked bill. Such feet are rough,
like coarse sandpaper, beneath, that
they may not slip when once they have
seized a victim. 1t is difficult to be-
licve what effective weapons the talons
are unless one has actually seen them
in operation. l once saw a mans fin
ger cut open as with scalpel by u
single claw of a small but angry hawk
which he attempted to life from the
ground, and | know Il man who almost
lost his hand from a wound inflicted
by captive eagle, which put its talonS
right through his palm. The Vultures'
though birds of prey, live upon carbon,
and do not kill the animals they de-
YOUR Their feet. therefore, are far
less formidable than those of the
and the hind toe comparatively small.
The parrots have very interesting
feet. with two toes behind and two IN
front. This arrangement makes it easy
for the birds to climb and swing head
downward: it also enables them to use
their feet to hold food while they dis
sect 1t with their bills.
WoodpeCkcrs also have their toes ar
ranged two front and two back to en-
able them to climb trees and hang from
the branches. Unlike parrots, hoWeV-
or. they cannot use their feet to grasp
their food.
Such birds as niShthawks, swifts and
hunming birds have very small ana
feeble feet. and for the very good rea-
son that they have little use for any
limbs except their wings. They have
no large prey to strike down or hold,
and they feed while in the air. 1t was
once n common belief among ignorant
and unobscrvant people that swifts had
no feet ut all, since they were never
seen to alight as other birds do. The
less any limb or organ is used the
weaker it becomes: that is why people
who insist on taking the cars for all
distances over half block cannot
walk and run as the American Indians
used to do.
The feet of most of the rerchinS
birds, such as orioles. vircas and warb
lcrs. are slender, but much stronger
than they appear to be. They are fit
ted for grasping the twigs and branches
OF the trees and bushes where the birds
spend so much of their time. Crows,
JAYS and some others of this order also
use their feet to hold their food when
they cannot manage it with their bills
alone. Jays will thus hold nuts and
acorns while they hammer them to
pieces with their bills, and saw a crow
put a piece of bread into the water
and then hold it with one foot while he
devoured ii piecemeal
Every one knows how the domestic
rooster uses his feet when fighting, and
how terrible a weapon is the natural
spur with which he not infrequently
kills his antagonist. Peasants and
many other birds use their spurs in the
same way. particularly in the breeding
season. when the rival males are con-
tending for their mates.