174 Birds of British Guiana \ 



Cuckoos — (Colonial). Cuculidac. 



Black-billed Cuckoo. Coccyzits inclaiiDcorypIiKs. 



Grey-breasted Cuckoo. ,, ii)iicrici.iiius. 



(lesser) Cuckoo ,. minor. 



* Cnckf)o (Tuiler's) ,, ciilcri. 



Brown ,, I'uiya cayaint. 



Rcd-billcd Cuckoo (black-bollicd ) .. )ucJa}ioiHistra. 



Small Ijrown Cuckoo ., iiiiinila 



Red-winged ,, (scale-nosed) Keoniorf^lnis nifipcnuis. 

 Spotted Cuckoo (or wife-sick 



bird (large-winged) Piplof'tcnis mc'iiis. 

 Brown-Headed Cuckoo peacock- 

 like) nroiuococcyx pa^'oniinis. 

 t Keel-billed Purple-black (Gt. Old 



Witch Bird) Croiophaga major. 

 Keel-billed. Smaller-l)]ack (Old 



Witch-Bird) , , ani. 



|k'urrow-billed Cuckoo ., siilcirosfris. 



WOODPECKERS. 



These birds are found all over the world except in Aus- 

 tralia. Madagascar, and Egypt. They niay be recognised by 

 their large heads, often decorated with a scarlet tuft, their 

 wedge-shaped and powerful beaks, their necks, spiny tails and 

 zygodactyl feet. Browns, greens, yellows, with markings of 

 scarlet and spots or bars of Ijlack and white are the prevailing 

 colours. They are rightly called " scansorial " for they ascend 

 the trunks of trees with great agility either using their claws or. 

 if the trunk is slender clipping the trees, as it were, astride. 

 With their powerful beaks they can easily chisel a hole in the 

 hardest wood; and with their highly protrusible, worm-like 

 tongues, which are tipped with a barbed spine, they extract in- 

 sects and their iarvas from narrow holes or crannies. Their loud 

 and rapid. tapping may be heard for a mile. They make their 

 nests in dee|) holes of trees which they hollow out with great 

 precision and symmetry; here they lay white, glossy, oval eggs. 

 When at work, they rest back upon their hard, spiny tails, and 

 as easily descend as ascend, preserving their upright position. 

 They are shy birds and so not often seen ; but their loud note, or 

 derisive laugh, ringing through the forest, when once heard is 

 not easily forgotten. Their thght is swift and undulating. There 

 are fifty genera, including four hundred and forty species of 



