100 CUCULlNiE. 



Jacamars, may be referred to the aerial birds, or those which 

 fly chiefly in procuring their food, but neither climb nor walk 

 niuch ; and the Cuckoos and An is may be considered as form- 

 ing an order, to which, however, I refrain from giving a name, 

 because I have not studied the manners of more than a single 

 species, nor read a good account of any other than the three 

 that occur in North America. The digestive organs of these 

 four species are very similar to those of the Owls, and their 

 ccEca are large, while those of the Woodpeckers and Toucans 

 are entirely wanting. 



The Cuculinre form a pretty extensive family of birds, gene- 

 rally inhabitants of the warmer regions of the globe, and of 

 which none permanently reside in countries subject to severe 

 winter cold. They feed on insects, worms, and soft fruits, in 

 procuring which they glide among the twigs and foliage, leap- 

 ing from branch to branch, but never climbing in the manner 

 of Woodpeckers or Creepers, nor even after the fashion of 

 Parrots, which ascend by grasping the branches and aiding 

 themselves with their bill. The general characters of the 

 Cuculinae are as follows. 



Bill of moderate size or rather large, wide at the base, much 

 compressed toward the end, somewhat arched and pointed ; 

 upper mandible with the ridge obtuse and arcuato-declinate, 

 the edges sharp and overlapping, the tip decurved, notchless, 

 acute ; lower mandible with the dorsal line straight or decur- 

 vate, the sides nearly erect, the edges thin and somewhat in- 

 volute, the tip narrow, but obtuse. Tongue of moderate size, 

 flattened, tapering. (Esophagus wide, without crop ; proven- 

 triculus large ; stomach very large, round, somewhat com- 

 pressed ; its muscular coat thin, the epithelium soft and rugous; 

 intestine of moderate length and width, with large oblong coeca. 

 PI. XV. Trachea wdth a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. 

 Nostrils linear, oblong, or circular, direct, in the short bare nasal 

 groove. Eyes of moderate size. Feet short, of moderate 

 strength ; tarsus short, with a few very large anterior scutella, 

 edged behind with two series of scales. Toes four, scutellate, 



