Page:St. Nicholas, vol. 40.1 (1912-1913).djvu/533

Rh nails there is a pad covered with horny spikes on the inner surface of the claws, that undoubtedly adds much to the ease with which the flying bird can hold the fish.

Remarkably different from this is the, a bird found in Asia, Africa, and South America, whose long, slender toes and nails enable it to pass over the water on the leaves of aquatic plants. The weight of the bird depresses these leaves slightly beneath the surface, but not enough to lessen the impression that the jacana is walking on the water. When these birds go on land, as they occasionally do, they are able to run at great speed, but have a peculiar rocking motion from side to side, like a top-heavy omnibus, because, when each foot is lifted, it must be raised high in order to clear the ground. Though it has great speed on land, its movements are awkward, because it spends most of its time on the water-plants to which its foot is especially adapted.

Birds like the, which seize their victims, have long legs and claws, while those like falcons, which strike the flying bird in mid-air, have short stout feet with a powerful hind claw. The old falconers were accustomed to refer to the deadly “heel” because the bird, dropping suddenly past its victim and striking it with the curved hind claw, cut through skin and muscle like a razor. In marked contrast to this is the foot of the owl, as, for example, that of the, which has a dense coat of feathers on the legs that protects them from the teeth of the mice upon which the owl preys. When the owl springs on the little animal and clinches with its sharp claws, the mouse turns to bite, but bites only this tuft of feathers.

With its strong, curved nails, the horny spikes covering the inner surface of the toes, and the partly reversible outer toe, the fish-hawk can grasp his slippery prey at four different points.

But such a feathery tuft would be a disadvantage to a bird like the fish-hawk. As its food is seized in the water, the feathers would become