Feet

Exept for a few awkward, shuffling sea birds, a bird does its walking on its toes - for the narrow, scaly ``leg" to the first joint above the toes is really foot, with the heel in the air.  The types of foot found among birds are as wonderfully varied as the habits that go with them: webbed or lobed toes, with swimming; long toes and stilt like feet, with wading or stalking about in deep grass; taloned feet, like grapnels, with the seizing of prey-and so on.

The foot of a coot or mud hen (1), toed for walking, yet lobed for swimming.  The old squaw ducks webbed foot (2) is ideal for a swimmer.  In winter the foot of the ruffled grouse (3) becomes a snow shoe.  The osprey grasps its prey in its powerful, rough talons (4) , which are ideal for holding slippery fish.  The feet of the robin (5) make it easy for him to perch on a branch or hop along the ground.  A woodpeckers ``climbing irons" (6).  The spidery foot (7) that enables the jacana, a South American bird, to walk on floating lily pads.  The feet of the Louisiana heron (8) enable it to wade into the water in search of food and to wait for long periods for fish to come along.

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