280 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



seeds. This order is divided into several groups, each with marked ])cculiari- 

 tics of habits and form. Tliose represented in New Enghmd are the Cuculidce 

 (cuckoos) and Picidce, (woodpeckers,) both of which arc of importance to our 

 agricultural intei'ests. 



The cuckoos, of which we have but two species, the yellow-billed cuckoo, 

 Coccygiis awemrt^ms, (Bonap.,) and the black-billed cuckoo, Ccrythropthalmus, 

 (Bon.,) are eminently hcnciicial, notwithstanding their bad practice of sucking 

 the eggs of smaller birds when met with. Their food consists almost entirely 

 of noxious insects, chiefly the hairy caterpillars, which nearly all the other 

 birds refuse to eat. These caterpillars are the larva? of some of the most inju- 

 rious Lcpidoptcra, of which the well known apple-tree moth is a familiar type. 

 Ill destroying these larva; the cuckoo may be often seen standing on the branch 

 on which their tent-lUve nest is made, or upon the nest itself, tearing it with its 

 bill ; the swarming inhabitants arc exposed, when the bird, seizing by the head 

 insect after insect, gives them a shake, or beats them against the branch, and 

 swallows them. Thus a large nest is soon depopulated, the bird returning 

 several times a day until none of the pests are left. 



In the PicidcE are placed all our woodpeckers, all of which are among our 

 most beneficial birds. They may be distinguished from the other Scansores 

 by their sharp, wedge-shaped bill, which is strong and adapted to digging, 

 together with their iindulating flight, and habit of alighting on the trunk of a 

 tree and rapidly moving sideways or otherwise along the bark, supported by 

 the stiff feathers of the tail. These subsist almost entirely upon the larA^fe of 

 the injurious beetles, the Scarabacidce, Buprcstidcs, CeravihycidcB, and others 

 which live in the trunk and limbs of trees. In procuring these the woodpecker 

 is guided by its keen sense of hearing in detecting their presence, when a hole 

 is bored or dug by a succession of powerful blows of its beak ; the long barbed 

 tongue is introduced, and the grub withdrawn. The injury these insects do to 

 our fruit and forest trees may be safely estimated at millions of dollars annually 

 in the United States ; and as we know their ravages would be unchecked were 

 it not for the woodpeckers, who are their principal enemies, we should at least 

 extend our protection to these bu-ds, if not encourage their presence. It is 

 not necessary here to discuss the habits and characteristics of the various sub- 

 families of these birds. They are generally arboreal, and their nest is built in 

 holes and excavations in trees made by the birds for the purpose. The eggs 

 are pure white in color. 



Some of our species are migratory, but most are resident in the same locality 

 throughout the year. 



INCESSORES, (PERCIIERS.) 



Passin* from the Scansores, we come to the great order Incessorcs. or pcrchers, 

 from the Latin Avord signifying to perch. The birds in this order, although 

 possessing the greatest dissimilarity in character, have one peculiar charac- 

 teristic in common, viz : they have almost invariably three toes in front, and 

 one on the same level behind the foot, adapted to perching. These birds, 

 althougli possessing in common this feature, are so entirely different in form 

 and habits, that they have been divided into several great natural sub-orders, 

 and these into families. The characteristics of the sub-orders represented in 

 this country are given by Professor Baird as follows : 



"Strisores. — Toes, either three anterior and one behind, (or lateral,) or four anterior; 

 the hinder ones, however, usually versatile or capable of direction more or less laterally for- 

 ward. Tail feathers never more than ten, the first long " 



" Clamatores. — Toes, three anterior and one posterior, (not versatile.) Primaries always 

 ten, the first nearly as long as the second. Tail feathers usually twelve." 



"OsciNES. — Toes, three anterior, one posterior. Primaries, either nine only, or if ten, 

 the first usually short or spuiious." 



