. Bird lore . , while I stood near him. He did notalight on a wire, but made a short halt on the capital of a pillar,—not thecorner pillar. He entered the box through the hole in the bottom, insteadof through the opening at the side. He immediately took up a crouchingposition inside, without putting his tail and wings through the hole in thebottom. How late in the season he continued to roost here I cannot say, forabout this time my observations of his habits came to an end. When well filled, the Kirkwood harbors more than two hundred stands, with its outbuildings, in an enclosure o
. Bird lore . , while I stood near him. He did notalight on a wire, but made a short halt on the capital of a pillar,—not thecorner pillar. He entered the box through the hole in the bottom, insteadof through the opening at the side. He immediately took up a crouchingposition inside, without putting his tail and wings through the hole in thebottom. How late in the season he continued to roost here I cannot say, forabout this time my observations of his habits came to an end. When well filled, the Kirkwood harbors more than two hundred stands, with its outbuildings, in an enclosure of a few acres which supportsonly scattered trees and which is entirely surrounded by a golf links,a polo field and the grounds of a country club. The club-house is withina few yards of the corner of the piazza where the Hawk chose his firstroosting-place. It is a much frequented corner. The second corner isscarcely less so. Legs and Feet of Birds By C. WILLIAM BEEBE Curator of Birds, New York Zoological Park. c ,ARRIED far and wide by thepower of flight, no two speciesof birds have exactly similar en-vironments. Thus we realize the needfor many varied adaptations in the wayof feet and legs. When the wings ceasetheir labor and are folded close to theside, the bird must depend upon its feetto carry it to its food and to keep itout of danger,—whether its footing bein a tree-top or on a cliff; in shallowwater or on the deep; in mud, sand orsnow. Although birds are descended fromfive-toed ancestors, yet no living bird,and none of those which we know onlyas fossils, has more than four toes oneach foot. The disposition of thesetoes,—four, three or two, as the casemay be,—is always in accordance withthe habits of the bird. The most common type of avianfoot is that in which the arrangementis of three toes in front, with the fourth, corresponding to our great toe,pointing backward. This was the arrangement in the fossil Archaeopteryx,and for perching birds, as well as for many ot
Size: 1207px × 2071px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectorn
