Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1910 — CLAWS OF BIRDS. [ARTICLE]

CLAWS OF BIRDS.

The Toes of Those That Perch and ■of Those That Ran. Let us note that the art of standing began wth birda Frogs sit, and, as far as I know, every reptile, be it lizard, crocodile, alligator or lays its body on the ground when not actually carrying it. And these have each four fat legs. Contrast the flap mlngo, which, having only two, and those like willow wands, tucks up one of them and sleeps poised high on the other, like a tulip on its stem. Note also that one toe has been altogether discarded by birds as superfluous. The germ or bud must be there, for the Dorking fowl has produced a fifth toe under some Influence of the poultry yard, but no natural bird has more than four. Except in swifts, which never perch, but ding to rocks and walls, one is turned backward, and by a cunning contrivance the act of bending the leg draws them all automatically together. 80 a hen closes its toes at every step It takes, as If grasped something, and, of course, when it Betties down on Its roost they grasp that tight and hold it fast till morning. But to birds that do not perch rhie mechanism is only an Incumbrance, so many of them, like the plovers, abolish the hind toe entirely, and the prince of all two legged runners, the ostrich, has got rid of one of the front toes also, retaining only two. —London Strand Magazine. Billy young men get stuck on a pretty girl Just as silly flies get stuck on sticky flypaper. * °