All birds are furnished with many claws, and all have the
toes separated more or less asunder; that is to say, in the greater
part the toes are clearly distinct from one another, for even the
swimming birds, although they are web-footed, have still their claws
fully articulated and distinctly differentiated from one another.
Birds that fly high in air are in all cases four-toed: that is, the
greater part have three toes in front and one behind in place of a
heel; some few have two in front and two behind, as the wryneck.
This latter bird is somewhat bigger than the chaffinch, and is
mottled in appearance. It is peculiar in the arrangement of its
toes, and resembles the snake in the structure of its tongue; for
the creature can protrude its tongue to the extent of four
finger-breadths, and then draw it back again. Moreover, it can twist
its head backwards while keeping all the rest of its body still,
like the serpent. It has big claws, somewhat resembling those of the
woodpecker. Its note is a shrill chirp.
Birds are furnished with a mouth, but with an exceptional one,
for they have neither lips nor teeth, but a beak. Neither have they
ears nor a nose, but only passages for the sensations connected with
these organs: that for the nostrils in the beak, and that for
hearing in the head.
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