PICARIAN BIRDS AND PARROTS OF CEYLON. 247 
Order COCCYGES. 
Family CucuLip. 
The Cuckoos, Koels, Malkohas, and Coucals are comprised 
in one family—Cuculide—which is united with an African 
group, the Plantain-eaters—Musophagide, to form the 
Order Coccyges. 
The birds of this order show some affinities in their anatomy 
with the Parrots and also with the Game birds. The Cuculide 
are found almost all over the world, but are most humerous in 
the tropics. The feet are zygodactylic, the first and fourth 
toes being directed backwards. The young are hatched 
naked, and acquire their feathers without passing through a 
downy stage. The family is divided by Blanford into two 
sub-families : the Cuculine, or true Cuckoos, which have the 
tarsus feathered in front, and the Phenicophaine, in which 
the tarsus is naked. 
Sub-family Cuculine. 
Cuckoos. 
The true Cuckoos are a curious group of birds with parasitic 
breeding habits. Nearly all the species, instead of pairing, 
indulge in promiscuous intercourse, while the eggs are placed 
in the nests of other birds. In most cases the females appear 
to lay their eggs on the ground, and convey them in their bills 
to the chosen nest. As soon as the young cuckoos grow large 
enough, they eject the young of their foster parents from the 
nest. 
Cuckoos are found nearly all over the world ; most species 
are migratory, or partially so. They are wholly or mainly 
insectivorous. The bill is of moderate size, slightly curved 
towards the tip, and pointed ; the wing is more or less pointed, 
and the tarsus more or less feathered in front. In most 
genera the measurement of the tail is equal, or nearly equal 
to that of the closed wing. Im one genus, Coccystes, it is 
much longer. The last-named genus is also differentiated by 
a pointed crest and rather rounded wings, and forms a connect- 
ing link between the typical forms of the present sub-family 
