. The bird, its form and function. Birds. 394 The Bird When one trains in college for a long-distance race, one rule to observe is, never touch your heels to the ground; run wholly on the ball of the foot. Untold centuries ago, wise old Nature whispered the very same direction to those of her children who had most need to run for their lives in life's great race, and down through the ages some of them have never broken training. When an animal acquires great speed in running or leaping, there is a tendency for one toe to become greatly en- larged at the expense of the others, as is seen in the
. The bird, its form and function. Birds. 394 The Bird When one trains in college for a long-distance race, one rule to observe is, never touch your heels to the ground; run wholly on the ball of the foot. Untold centuries ago, wise old Nature whispered the very same direction to those of her children who had most need to run for their lives in life's great race, and down through the ages some of them have never broken training. When an animal acquires great speed in running or leaping, there is a tendency for one toe to become greatly en- larged at the expense of the others, as is seen in the case of the horse, the kangaroo, and the ostrich. In the horse only the middle toe is functional, the second and fourth having de- generated into the small splint-bones at the side of the leg. The kangaroo progresses upon the fourth and fifth toes, the second and third being small and skin-bound. The ostrich has but two toes, one of which, the third, as in the case of the horse, is very large and armed with a thick claw, which, hoof- like, grows close to the toe. This toe supports most of the bird's weight, while the fourth or outer toe is only. Fig. 308.—Feet and of Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Beebe, William, 1877-1962. New York, Holt
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1906
