42 



America (Case H), five in India, and one in Africa (Case S). 

 They are the pygmies of the family. The true Woodpeckers (sub- 

 family Ficinte) may be recognized by their stiffened tails, which 

 they use as a prop in climbing. They are found in all wooded 

 countries, except Madagascar, and Australia and its neighboring 

 islands. They number about three hundred and thirty species, 

 and vary greatly in size and style of coloration. They present 

 many striking forms, as seen in Cases, B, H, and S. 



The Wrynecks (subfamily Jyngince) are a small group of Old 

 World birds, of only about half-a-dozen species, closely allied to 

 the Woodpeckers in general structure and habits, but having a 

 soft instead of a stiff tail. The common Wryneck of Europe 

 (Case S) well illustrates the group. 



The Trogons ( Trogonidce) form a well-marked family of about 

 fifty species, inhabiting the tropical regions of both the Old 

 World and the New, the greater number, however, being found 

 in the American tropics. They are structurally quite different 

 from any other group of the Picariae. They are all birds of gor- 

 geous coloring, but the most striking of all is the Paradise Trogon 

 or Quetzal of Central America (Case H), which in addition to its 

 brilliant colors is crested and has its wing-coverts and upper tail- 

 coverts enormously lengthened into gracefully drooping brilliant 

 green plumes. (The Old World species are in Case S.) 



The Swifts and Hummingbirds form the suborder Macrochires, 

 a group considered by some systematists to be entitled to ordinal 

 rank. The Swifts (family JZ/Vr^c'^/V^, formerly called Cypselida;), 

 numbering about fifty species, are found nearly all over the world, 

 but are most numerous in the tropical regions. The ordinary 

 Swifts, with stiff, spiny tails, are well exemplified by our Chimney 

 Swift (Case-B), but the Tree-Swifts of India and the Malay Archi- 

 pelago (Case S) more resemble Swallows, with which in fact the 

 whole family of Swifts is often popularly confounded, although in 

 reality the two groups are only superficially allied. The Swiftlets 

 of the Polynesian Islands and Madagascar (Case S), which make the 

 " edible bird's-nests " of commerce, are diminutive members of the 

 family, in comparison with the Alpine Swift of Europe. They 

 breed in deep caves, in large colonies, where they attach their 

 gelatinous nests to the walls. These nests are the product of the 



