. The story of the birds; . dscent, depending mostly upon the former two. Fromthese run all gradations to the true falcons which eatnothing that they slay not themselves, and rarelyattack a sitting object. In them is found not neces-sarily the highest form of flight, but its best form fordarting upon a victim. Perliaps in all Xature thereis nothing so fine as an exhibition of skill and daringas the swoop of a bird of prey, though there is nocomparison in bravery with the attacks of some mam-mals. The owls are usually night prowlers. They areendowed with large eyes and soft flight by means ofsp
. The story of the birds; . dscent, depending mostly upon the former two. Fromthese run all gradations to the true falcons which eatnothing that they slay not themselves, and rarelyattack a sitting object. In them is found not neces-sarily the highest form of flight, but its best form fordarting upon a victim. Perliaps in all Xature thereis nothing so fine as an exhibition of skill and daringas the swoop of a bird of prey, though there is nocomparison in bravery with the attacks of some mam-mals. The owls are usually night prowlers. They areendowed with large eyes and soft flight by means ofspecially shaped, recurved feather tips, so that they maynoiselessly steal upon their prey. The ear is also soshaped as to gather sounds from below. They are HOW SOME GROWN-UP BIRDS GET A LIVING. 143 not, as a rule, so cannibalistic as tlie hawks. Whilethe larger catch fowls, the smaller owls subsist mostlyupon small mammals. Of course, it is well know^n that the osprej takesfish exclusively, grabbing them with its feet. Both. Peregrine fiileon, tlie most skilled bird of prey. it and tlie owls have the outer toe w^ell spread back-ward to increase the certainty of grasp—a sort ofshotgunlike arrangement that a skilled marksman asan eagle or falcon would disdain. Kites are largeconsumers of snakes, eating them as they fly, and thesecretary bird makes war upon them also, strikingthem down with its sj)urred wings. CHAPTER XXIII. TOOLS AND TASKS AMONG THE BIRDS. We may look at tins question of a bird providingfor its comfort in a more philosophic and helpful waythan that of simply narrating the kind of food and thefeeding habits. We see in many groups a general typeof beaks all adapted to similar uses, as when all birdshad teeth; but when birds grew older they branchedinto some forms with tools very peculiarly shaped(specialized) for specific purposes. Thus the beak ofthe Apterijx^ already noted, is very different from thatof its fellow ostrich forms. IS^ow, we can never know whether
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1897
