BIRD. 



411 



The Syndnctyli form the only division of the order 

 Pasxeres, which Cuvier classes from the structure of 

 the toes ; but if the leading character is, as it unques- 

 tionably ought to be, taken from the most efficient 

 part of the organisation, then this is the very last class 

 of birds which should have been characterised by the 

 feet. All the division are energetic and active birds ; 

 but their feet are not only the least efficient parts of 

 their own organisation, but they are among the least 

 efficient for any active purpose, that are, to be found 

 in the whole class. There are birds which are worse 

 walkers, though these arc but lame at that kind of 

 motion, and not much in the habit of using it; but 

 then in most, if not all, other birds, which have the 

 feet badly adapted for walking, they are on that ac- 

 count better adapted for some other purpose. They 

 are climbing or swimming feet in proportion as they 

 are ill adapted for walking ; and even in the case of 

 the swifts, (though the common swift has got the name 

 of apes, or " footless,") the foot, short and weak as it 

 is, is well adapted for taking hold on an upright wall, 

 or the face of a rock ; and the toes and claws have 

 the form which is the very best adapted for these 

 purposes. But though the feet of the birds of this 

 division are, of course, as well adapted to the purposes 

 which they are intended to answer, as the feet of any 

 other birds, yet those purposes are not very import- 

 ant, nor very constantly 7 required in the general eco- 

 nomv of the birds. Such of those birds as nestle in 

 holes in the earth, which is a habit with many of 

 them, use their feet adroitly in the digging of those 

 holes ; and they can also perch upon bushes or trees ; 

 but they generally feed upon the wing, and never 

 use the feet for any purposes, save those; of digging 

 and repose. Some notice of the structure of these 

 feet will be found in the article BKK-EATER. 



The birds of this division have some resemblance 

 to each other besides the mere shape of the feet; al- 

 though none of the names by which they have, either 

 in whole or in part, been railed as a group, is very 

 Those which have been s ' 



after the kingfisher, have neither the form nor the 

 habits of that genus, as it lives in great part upon 

 small fishes, while those other genera which are 

 classed with it live much upon insects. The horn- 

 bills, or rhinoceros birds, which, along with the same 

 description of feet, have many of the habits of omni- 

 vorous birds, could not be brought within any group, 

 the character of which were to be taken from the bill. 

 Indeed the bringing together of the birds which are 

 included in this division, appears to be rather in order 

 to prevent them standing alone, than because of any 

 well marked general affinity between them. 



Cuvier's third order SCANMHIKS, or climbers, 

 though named from the habit, is in reality, like the last 

 division of the second order, founded upon the 

 structure of the feet, and therefore the name of 

 ZYGODACTYLI, or "yoke-toes," which has also been 

 given to them, is fully the more accurate of the two. 

 A style of motion, or any other habit, taken singly, is 

 rather a loose ground of classification. It is so with 

 (limbing in the case of birds of this order. It is not 

 climbing generally, but climbing in a particular way, 

 which is descriptive of them ; and then that does not 

 apply to them all. They are not the only climbers 

 iMiionu: birds ; for the nut hatches, and especially the 

 creepers, which are, in the same system, classed with 

 the slender-bills, and others of the anisodactylic birds, 

 are much more adroit and graceful climbers than these. 



Birds of this order are all, almost w ithout exception, 

 tree or forest birds : the greater number of them ai^ 

 inhabitants of the rich forests of tropical countries ; 

 and these are generally gay in their plumage. Indeed, 

 the woodpecker and wryneck of our own country are 

 showy birds ; and perhaps the one? of most sober 

 plumage, though peculiar from its habits, and inter- 

 esting from the time of the year at which its note is 

 heard, is the common cuckoo. 



The feet of these birds are grasping rather than 

 climbing feet. The exterior front toe is reversed, so 

 that the toes act two against two, which is the reason 

 why the birds are called v.ygodactylic, or yoke-toed. 

 In some of the species the feet are used in the same 

 manner as the grasping feet or hands of the tree 

 mammalia ; and as some of these climbing mammalia 

 nst> the prehensile tail as a fifth hand, some of the 

 climbing birds use the bill or beak as a third one, 

 Those which have that habit, have the upper mandi- 

 ble hooked at the tip ; and the acting parts of both 

 mandibles are short, but very strong, and act with 

 much force like nutcrackers. The muscles which 

 move these powerful mandible?, give considerable 

 enlargement to the sides of the head. Those which 

 have this habit are mostly vegetable feeders, and live 

 among the twigs, nestling in the holes of old tree*. 



Taking the whole together, they are not a very 

 natural order, even in the use of that part of their 

 organisation after which they are named ; for whe- 

 ther, with Cuvier, we call them "climbers,'' after the 

 habit, which is not general, or with others " yoke- 

 toed," after the structure, which is general, though 

 much modified in the different genera, their feeding, 

 the structure of their bills, and many of their modes 

 of life differ greatly from each other. 



In their feeding several of the genera of this order 

 bear a considerable resemblance to the Gallinidae, or 

 poultry birds, at least to those species of them which 

 are natives of the forests of warm countries ; and 

 there are two genera, if not more, natives of Africa, 

 which appear, as it is usually expressed, to " connect" 

 the two, that is, which partake of the characters and 

 display the habits of both. These are the genus 

 Corytliaix and the genus MmopJiaga, the former inha- 

 biting southern Africa and the latter the more tropical 

 parts of that continent. They have partially the 

 bills and wings of the poultry tribes, though from the 

 forks in the sternum being less deep, and that bone 

 in consequence stiffer, they are birds of more conti- 

 nued flight. Their chief relation to the climbing 

 birds consists in the structure of the feet, which have 

 not, however, the toes acting so generally two against 

 two, as in the birds which properly belong to the 

 order, though the exterior so readily admits of a re- 

 versed position. They are tree birds nestling in holes ; 

 and the one which is known in southern Africa is 

 chiefly a vegetable feeder, feeding upon wild fruits. 

 It is a bird of beautiful plumage, bright green, with 

 some of the quills crimson, and an elegant crest on 

 the head. It has sometimes been classed with the 

 cuckoos, apparently from the structure of the feet ; 

 but there appear to be but slight grounds for war- 

 ranting such a conclusion. 



Great allowances must, be made for mistakes and 

 errors in the classification, and even in much of the 

 description, of the birds which Cuvier has brought 

 together in this order. With many of them we are 

 abundantly familiar, but there are many others which 

 inhabit only the depths of the tangled and almost 



