

SCANSORES. 367 



and joining a patch of a reddish color on the front and part of 

 the breast. The European species is thirteen inches long; the 

 American eleven. The HAIRY WOODPECKER, P. villosus, (Lat. 

 hairy,) is a constant resident of New York during the whole 

 year. Length eight and a half inches. 



FOURTH FAMILY. CUCKOOS. 

 Cuculida, (Lat. Cuculus, a cuckoo.) 



This family of birds have a beak of a medium length, rather 

 deeply cleft; both mandibles compressed, and more or less 

 curved downward; the nostrils exposed ; the wings, for the most 

 part, short, but the tail lengthened. Their skin is remarkably 

 thin ; the plumage thick and compact, generally of subdued, but 

 chaste and pleasing hues, with more or less of reflected lustre ; the 

 long tail is often graduated, and handsomely barred with black 

 and white. 



"So faintly," says Swainson, "is the scansorial structure in- 

 dicated in these birds, that but for their natural habits, joined to 

 the position of their toes, we should not suspect they were so 

 intimately connected with the more typical groups of the tribe, 

 as they undoubtedly are. They decidedly climb, although in a 

 manner peculiar to themselves. Having frequently seen dif- 

 ferent species of the Brazilian Cuckoos in their native forests, 

 I may safely affirm, that they climb in all other directions than 

 that of the perpendicular. Their flight is so feeble, from the 

 extreme shortness of their wings, that it is evidently performed 

 with difficulty, and it is never exercised but to convey them from 

 one tree to another. All soft insects inhabiting such situations 

 lying in their route, become their prey, and the quantities that 

 are thus destroyed, must be very great." 



The Brazilian hunters give to their Cuckoos the general 

 name of Cat's-tail, their long hanging tails and mode of climbing 

 presenting some resemblance to that quadruped. Swainson 

 thinks the long tail is given to the Cuckoo as a sort of balance, 

 just as a rope-dancer, with a pole in his hands, preserves his 

 footing when otherwise he would fall. It is a peculiarity of the 

 Cuckoo, that the outer hind-toe can be made to form a right angle 

 with that which is next it in front, so that it is termed versatile, 

 a term not, however, strictly applicable, as the toe cannot be 

 brought more than half-way forward, although it can be placed 

 entirely backward. The Cuckoos are really half perching and 

 half climbing birds, not only in their feet, but in their manners. 

 They are divided into two sub- families; (1.) Cuculina, which 



