Identifier: birditsformfunct07beeb (find matches)
Title: The bird, its form and function
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Beebe, William, 1877-1962
Subjects: Birds Birds
Publisher: New York : Henry Holt
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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Fig. 283.—Foot of Alligator. among the birds on the earth to-day. Indeed, in thevariety of uses which they subserve, the feet and legsof birds are second only to the bills. A classification of birds, generally accepted for manyyears, was based on the uses of the feet, or mode of loco-motion. In this scheme birds were divided into runners,scratchers, climbers, swimmers, perchers, etc. Although Feet and Legs 355 these, as exact divisions, have long since been abandoned,yet it is worthy of note that even in the most modernclassifications many of these groups hold good in themain, although based on other and more fundamental
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 284.—Foot of Brown Pelican. characters. Examples of these are the ostrich-like birds,or runners; the fowl-like birds, or scratchers; and thePasseres, or perching birds. But there is no doubt thatseveral unrelated groups have independently acquired the 356 The Bird specialized type of foot which is adapted to climbing orto swimming, so that any classification based on suchsimilarity of locomotion is obviously false. From the tiny limbs of a hummingbird to the giganticshanks of an ostrich, the legs of birds, with a very fewexceptions, are covered with scales, most emphatic re-minders of the reptilian ancestry of both these extremeforms of feathered life. The real foot of a bird, as theterm is used in speaking of other animals, extends to thebackward-bending joint, or heel. Part of the lower leg Fig. 285.—Foot of Raven. is thus concealed by the feathers and skin, while the upperleg, or thigh, is generally wholly within the body, as wesaw in the chapter treating of the framework.

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