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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Text Appearing Before Image:
Fig. 293.—Owl gripping a piece of meat. perching-bird arrangement. The talons of the ospreyare immensely strong, and the scales on the soles of itsfeet and toes are hardened and roughened to such a degreethat they are almost spike-like. A more efficient fish-trap cannot be imagined. The Golden Eagle has a splendidfoot, with great curved talons, which, when they have Feet and Legs 375 once clasped an object, never let go. It required twomen and two pairs of the thickest buckskin gloves toobtain Fig. 295, and even then the foot could be heldstill for only a moment. As the photograph shows, the
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 294.—Foot of Snowy Owl. leg is feathered all the way down to the toes in this eagle,for some unexplained reason, while in almost all its rela-tives, as in the Bald Eagle, the legs are covered withscales. The feet and toes of the Harpy Eagle, Fig. 204,are probably the most terrible of their kind in the world: 376 The Bird certainly they are the strongest. When once they haveclosed on an object, and remain clutched, nothing shortof severing the birds leg will avail to loosen the fearful

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