6() SCANSORES. CLIMBERS. 



in strictness it does not apply to all, and although several 

 birds truly climb without belonging to this order by the dis- 

 position of their toes." Mr Svvainson however adds these 

 birds to the Scansores, from which on the other hand he ejects 

 many which, although zygodactylous, do not climb or even 

 walk, although he retains a very great number of species which 

 no person has ever seen climbing. His Climbers are not an 

 order, but a tribe of the Perchers, and are composed of Toucans, 

 Parrots, Woodpeckers, Creepers, and Cuckoos, " the junction of 

 the last with the first being effected by the great hollow-billed 

 genus Phoenicophseus, and by Scythrops, the Australian genus 

 of Toucans ; " but he wisely refrains from attempting to give 

 any general character of the group. INI. Temminck defines his 

 Zygodactyli thus: " Bill of varied form, more or less arched, or 

 much hooked, often straight and angular. Feet always with two 

 toes before and two behind, the outer hind toe often reversible." 

 M. Lesson observes : " Every bird of which the toes are dis- 

 posed two before and two behind, is of the order of Climbers. 

 The manners of most of the species which belong to it are not 

 known ; besides they vary in almost every genus. This is also 

 the case with their food, their habits, and the climates in 

 which they live. Nothing general can be said with respect to 

 them." It is quite unnecessary to oiFer any remarks on state- 

 ments like these, for the folly of forming such heterogeneous 

 associations must be apparent to all. 



The Parrots differ from the other birds of this artificial group 

 in many essential respects. Their tongue is short, tliick, fleshy, 

 and rounded, or emarginate ; their oesophagus is enlarged to 

 form a crop similar to that of the gallinaceous birds ; their pro- 

 ventriculus is very large ; their stomach very small, but mus- 

 cular ; their intestines of moderate length and width. Their 

 mode of climbing is by grasping the branches, and they aid 

 their ascent with their bill. From these and other circum- 

 stances I should conceive that they form a very distinct order. 



The digestive organs of the Woodpeckers differ from those 

 of the Parrots, as will presently be seen, and those of the 

 Cuckoos differ as much from both. With the internal struc- 

 ture of the other groups I am not sufficiently acquainted to be 



