420 



PICARIAN' BIRDS 



As albino owls are rare, it is interesting to note that one white 

 specimen of the present species was obtained at Cremona about the 

 year 1900, while a second example, which was white with buff 

 markings, was seen in North Holland in 1905. 



Cuckoo (Cuculus ^^"'^ cuckoo, wryneck, nightjar, hoopoe, bee-eater, 

 eanorus) kingfisher, woodpecker, and swift, collectively con- 



stitute a group of birds in regard to whose true 

 affinities and proper classification there is still some difference of 

 opinion among ornithologists. While it is certain that none of them 



can be included in any of the 

 foregoing groups, it is equally 

 clear that they cannot be 

 classed among the true perch- 

 ing-birds, or Passeres. B}' the 

 older writers on ornithology 

 the great majority of them 

 were included in a group typi- 

 fied by the woodpeckers, and 

 hence termed Ticaria; ; but 

 anatomical investigations have 

 demonstrated the existence of 

 so many important structural 

 differences between them that 

 the tendenc}' of late \-ears has 

 been to divide them into quite 

 a number of separate orders, 

 some of which are represented 

 respectively only by a single 

 family. Without for a moment 

 denying that this may be the 

 best workable arrangement, it 

 will be more convenient in the 

 cLCKoo. present volume to regard them 



as forming a single ill-defined 

 group under the collective name of picarian birds. To define this ill- 

 assorted group will, however, be unnecessar)- (even if it were possible), 

 as its various British representatives are perfectly easy of recognition by 

 their own intrinsic characteristics. We may therefore proceed to thfr 

 consideration of the various species without further introduction. 



As regards the cuckoo, it is difficult to say whether this wcll- 



MOUNTEO IN THE ROWLAND WARD STUDiOS 



