. The bird, its form and function . ed to beever on the alert. The talons of owls are curved andunder the control of tendons of great strength. Theirchief use is to capture living prey and then to hold it firmlywhile it is torn to pieces by the beak. The deserts and plains where the Road-runner dwellsare also the home of the Burrowing Owl, Fig. 351, whichfinds in its sharp little talons admirable picks and shovels,certainly a novel use for yoked toes. The feet and toesof birds are, in zero weather, their most vulnerable points(except their eyes), and they are most liable to be the bl
. The bird, its form and function . ed to beever on the alert. The talons of owls are curved andunder the control of tendons of great strength. Theirchief use is to capture living prey and then to hold it firmlywhile it is torn to pieces by the beak. The deserts and plains where the Road-runner dwellsare also the home of the Burrowing Owl, Fig. 351, whichfinds in its sharp little talons admirable picks and shovels,certainly a novel use for yoked toes. The feet and toesof birds are, in zero weather, their most vulnerable points(except their eyes), and they are most liable to be the black wastes of the frozen boreal regions, the ArcticOwl is able to defy the intense cold, by means of a furrycovering of hair-like feathers, which extends to the very 374 The Bird claws, and even the soles of the feet are thickly covered,so that the skin of the bird is never in contact with thesnow and ice on which it roosts. The osprey, or fish-hawk, can, Uke the owls, reverseits outer toe, but all typical hawks and eagles have the. Fig. 293.—Owl gripping a piece of meat. perching-bird arrangement. The talons of the ospreyare immensely strong, and the scales on the soles of itsfeet and toes are hardened and roughened to such a degreethat they are almost spike-like. A more efficient fish-trap cannot be imagined. The Golden Eagle has a splendidfoot, with great curved talons, which, when they have Feet and Legs 375 once clasped an object, never let go. It required twomen and two pairs of the thickest buckskin gloves toobtain Fig. 295, and even then the foot could be heldstill for only a moment. As the photograph shows, the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1906
