Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/279

266 death of a cow or a sheep gave completion to the prophecy."

A wounded Bittern fights with desperation, lying on its back and endeavouring to clutch its adversary with its claws, as well as striking vigorously with its sharp, formidable beak. Hence, in the days of falconry, when this bird, which was favourite game, was brought down, it was the duty of the falconer to run in quickly, and seizing the beak of the Bittern, to plunge it into the firm ground, to prevent injury to the Falcon; an operation not without danger, as the Bittern generally aims to strike the eyes.



The comb-like divisions of the inner edge of the middle claw, which we find in all the Herons, have given rise to no little difference of opinion on the subject of their intended purpose. The structure is found in widely different birds, such as the Nightjar among the Fissirostral Passeres, and the Frigate-bird among the Pelecanidæ. From our own observation, we have no doubt of its object being the freeing of the plumage from insect—parasites. A glance at its structure will shew that no greater power of grasping or of holding a branch is, or can be possessed by a claw having these narrow parallel slits in its edge (for they are not serratures) than by one of the ordinary structure.