318 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



and yellow ( Trachyphomis and its allies), variously spotted and 

 varieo-ated ; other species Pogonias, are black, with red heads. 

 Not a few true Barbets are found in S. America, Eubucco, Bonap ; 

 so that even geographical distribution affords no sufficient reason 

 for placing these birds in a different family group from that of 

 the genuine Toucas. The very remarkable immediately connec- 

 ting genus, Tetragonops, is South American. 



Fam. CucuLiD^, Cuckoos. 



Bill of moderate size, usually slender, moderately curved and 

 compressed ; nostrils exposed ; gape wide ; toes long, unequal ; 

 the outer toe versatile, usually turned back ; tail long and broad, 

 with ten feathers, eight only in one group. 



The Cuckoos constitute a very remarkable group of birds, of 

 moderate or small size, spread over all the globe, but most abun- 

 dant in tropical regions. They vary a good deal in the form of the 

 bill, length of wing, and strength of the feet. They mostly live 

 on insects ; a few on fruit. Some hatch their own eggs (which are 

 usually bluish, or greenish, more or less spotted in the true Cuckoos, 

 and white in the non-parasitic, ) in nests constructed by themselves ; 

 others deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds. Some of the 

 species, that are not parasitic, rear successive broods, a fresh egg 

 and a full-grown young one having been found in the same nest. 



In their general anatomy they resemble the Caprimulgidce, but 

 there is a single moderately large notch on each side of the 

 sternum, which is short and broad ; in some few divided into a 

 double one ; the stomach is membranous, the intestines long, 

 they possess pedicellate cceca, and, except in one genus, have no 

 gall-bladder. The brain of most of them is remarkably small. 

 The body-feathers want the supplementary plume. 



Most of the non-parasitic Cuckoos are provided with eye-lashes, 

 like the Hornbills. The Cuckoos may be said to be related on one 

 side to the Toucans, and on the other to the Woodpeckers through 

 Indicator. " Notwithstanding," says Wallace, " the difference of 

 their food, the Cuckoos approach the Toucans more closely than 

 any other tribes of Scansores. Their bills are similar in form, and 

 their plumage is also alike, more or less," &c. 



