DIVISIONS OF BIRDS. 273 



comprising the large South and Central American birds known 

 as Curassows and Guans. 



The Columbacei comprise the Pigeons and Doves (Fig. 134), 

 and they are separated from the typical Hasores by being 

 much more fully adapted for flight. They are furnished with 

 strong wings and are good flyers ; and, in place of being ground- 

 birds, their habits are to a great extent arboreal, in accordance 

 with which the feet are slender and are adapted for perching. 

 They are also not polygamous, and their voice is of a much 

 more gentle, soft, and melancholy character. (Hence the name 

 of Gemitores applied to this section, while the Gallinacei are 

 called the Clamatores.) Besides the true Pigeons and Doves, 

 this sub-order includes also the remarkable extinct bird, the 

 Dodo, which was of gigantic size, comparatively speaking, and 

 inhabited the island of Mauritius up to the commencement of 

 the seventeenth century. 



OKDEE Y. SCANSORES (Lat. scando, I climb). The order 

 of Scansores or Climbing Birds is very shortly and easily de- 

 fined, having no other distinctive and exclusive peculiarity 

 except the fact that the feet have four toes, of which two are 

 turned backward and two forward (Fig. 135). Of the two 

 toes which are turned backward, one is the proper hind-toe, 

 and the other is the outermost toe. This arrangement of 

 the toes enables the Scansorial birds to climb with great 

 ease and readiness. Their powers of flight are usually very 

 moderate, and below the general average, and their food con- 

 sists of insects and fruits of various kinds. Their nests are 

 usually made in the hollows of old trees, but some (Cuckoos) 

 have the remarkable habit of depositing their eggs in the 

 nests of other birds. They are never polygamous, and the 

 young are born in a naked and helpless condition. 



The following families have been established in the Scan- 

 sores : 1. The Cuculidce or Cuckoo family, comprising the true 

 Cuckoos and some allied birds. They are remarkable for the 

 fact that many of them are " parasitic," that is to say, they 

 lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The Yellow-billed 

 Cuckoo (C. Americanus), however, of the United States, 

 builds a nest for itself and brings up its own young. 2. The 

 Picidce or Woodpecker family, comprising many familiar 

 birds, all of which climb and run up trees with the greatest 

 facility. They live mostly on insects, which they catch by 

 darting out their long, worm-like, barbed tongue. 3. The 

 Psittacidce or Parrot family, comprising the true Parrots, the 



