TROPICAL NATURE 



curious interactions of animals on each other, by which their 

 distribution, their habits, and even their colours, may have 

 been influenced, for the most conspicuous pigeons, whether by 

 colour or by their crests, are all found in countries where 

 they have the fewest enemies. 



Pwarice 



The extensive and heterogeneous series of bird till recently 

 comprised under this term includes most of the fissirostral 

 and scansorial groups of the older naturalists. They may be 

 described as, for the most part, arboreal birds, of a low grade 

 of organisation, with weak or abnormally developed feet, and 

 usually less active than the true Passeres or perching birds of 

 which our warblers, finches, and crows may be taken as the 

 types. The order Picarise comprises twenty-five families, some 

 of which are very extensive. All are either wholly or mainly 

 tropical, only two of the families the woodpeckers and the 

 kingfishers having a few representatives which are per- 

 manent residents in the temperate regions, while our summer 

 visitor, the cuckoo, is the sole example in Northern Europe 

 of one of the most abundant and widespread tropical families 

 of birds. Only four of the families have a general distribu- 

 tion over all the warmer countries of the globe the cuckoos, 

 the kingfishers, the swifts, and the goatsuckers; while two 

 others the trogons and the woodpeckers are only wanting 

 in the Australian region, ceasing suddenly at Borneo and 

 Celebes respectively. 



Cuckoos 



Whether we consider their wide range, their abundance in 

 genera and species, or the peculiarities of their organisation, 

 the cuckoos may be taken as the most typical examples of this 

 extensive order of birds ; and there is perhaps no part of the 

 tropics where they do not form a prominent feature in the 

 ornithology of the country. Their chief food consists of soft 

 insects, such as caterpillars, grasshoppers, and the defenceless 

 stick- and leaf-insects ; and in search after these they frequent 

 the bushes and lower parts of the forest, and the more open 

 tree-clad plains. They vary greatly in size and appearance, 

 from the small and beautifully metallic golden- cuckoos of 



