82 ELEMENTS OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



like the toucans, have enormous bills, others have the beak 

 of moderate size. Here belong the cuckoos, with their 

 reprehensible egg-laying habits, and the well-known wood- 



FlQ. 34. Carolina Paroquet (Conurus carolinensis). After Wilson. 



peckers. The large group of parrots also belong to the 

 group of climbing birds. In these last the tongue is fleshy, 

 and the feet are very efficient organs of prehension. 



ORDER VIII. PASSERES (Perching Birds). 



In these the feet have three toes in front, one directed 

 backward and all on a level, and no naked skin on the 

 beak. They are usually subdivided into the Clamatores or 

 crying birds, and the Oscines or singing birds, the latter 

 having a complicated muscular apparatus in connection 

 with the vocal organs. To the Clamatores belong the 

 Asiatic hornbills, which recall the American toucans ; the 



