SCANSORES. 301 



cult to them. As they pass most of their lives in trees, their 

 powers of flight are usually moderate. Their nests are ordina- 

 rily constructed with less skill than those of the Perchers, these 

 birds often employing for this purpose the hollows of decayed 

 trees, and ono family depositing their eggs in the nest of other 

 birds. They feed on insects and fruits, and the species feeding 

 upon each may be known by the greater or less robustness of 

 the beak. 



This order is divided into four families, viz. : (1.) Ramphasti- 

 da, (Toucans;) (2.) Picida, (Woodpeckers;) (3.) Psittacida, 

 (Parrots;) (4.) Cuculida, (Cuckoos.) 



(Swainson also includes in this order the Certhiadce, (Creepers,) 

 which have the rigid tail of the Woodpeckers, but the feet of the 

 Perchers, among whom they were placed by Prince Bonaparte.) 



FIRST FAMILY. TOUCANS. 

 Ramphastidcz, (Gr. 'Qapcpavr^g, ramphastes, a pike.) 



The Toucans are all natives of Tropical America. They are 

 large birds, clothed with brilliant plumage, and found in the 

 depths of magnificent forests. They associate together in small 

 companies, which are said sometimes to include even distinct 

 species. 



These birds are easily recognized by the extraordinary size 

 of the beak, which in the typical genus, Rqmphastos, is nearly 

 as large and as long as the body itself; it is rendered light in the 

 same way as that of the Horn-Bills, being permeated by a very thin 

 and fragile net work of bony fibres, of a honey-comb appear- 

 ance, and is said to be borne with so much of ease and grace as 

 entirely to remove the idea of uncouthness which its appearance 

 suggests to those who look at it only in figures and stuffed speci- 

 mens. 



The edges of the mandibles are both regularly notched at wide 

 intervals, and curved downwards to the tip ; the tongue is nar- 

 row, lengthened, and barbed on the sides like a feather ; the feet 

 are formed more for grasping than flying, having two toes before 

 and two behind, and accordingly these birds are seen on trees, 

 hopping from branch to branch. Their general movements are 

 light and elegant, but having short, rounded wings, their flight, 

 though rapid, is labored and in straight lines. 



Their powers of smell are exquisite ; the nerves of that sense 

 are so distributed in the beak as to enable them more readily to 

 discover their food. This is both animal and vegetable ; but 

 they prefer the eggs and young of other birds ; in obtaining these 



