CUCKOOS. 



in their manners. No one, from seeing them 

 alive, would suppose they were truly scansorial 

 birds ; and yet it is highly probable that this 

 singular power of varying the position of one of 

 their toes, gives them that quickness of motion 

 and firmness of holding, which accompanies the 

 habit just mentioned."* 



The technical characters of the Family, besides 

 those already spoken of, are a beak of medium 

 length, rather deeply cleft, both mandibles com- 

 pressed and more or less curved downward ; the 

 nostrils exposed ; wings for the most part short, 

 but the tail lengthened. Their skin is remark- 

 ably thin, but the plumage, especially on the back 

 and rump, thick and compact. 



The intertropical regfbns, both of the Old and 

 the New World, afford the greatest number of 

 species to this Family; many, indeed, penetrate 

 into the temperate zones, but it is only as sum- 

 mer visitants, the greater number retiring almost 

 before the heat of the season has sensibly abated. 

 Their food 'consists largely of insects, principally 

 those which are soft-bodied, as spiders, moths, 

 and caterpillars, varied in many cases with berries 

 and other fruits; and some of the large species 

 will occasionally prey on mice, reptiles, and the 

 eggs and young of birds. Their voices are gene- 

 rally loud and croaking ; often consisting of a re- 

 petition of a single note in long succession. Their 

 plumage is 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. Africa and the 

 islands of the Indian Ocean produce some small 



* Mag. of Zool. and Bot. 1837. 



