384 



SCANSORES. BIRDS.- 



Gray and some other ornithologists place in this family 

 several species of birds which appear to have much in 

 common with the Puff birds and Barbacous wb ich we have 

 placed among the Kingfishers. They are distinguished, 

 however, by having two toes in front and two behind, 

 although the inner hind toe is short. They inhabit 

 the depths of the forests, where they reside in solitude 

 and seek their insect food. They nestle in the holes 

 of trees. The present species, which inhabits Guiana, 

 is about seven inches in length, and is black above, 

 and yellowish-white beneath, with the forehead and 

 chin red. 



THE GREEN INDIAN BARBET (Megalaima viridis), 

 a species allied to the preceding, is of a green colour, 

 with the head and neck grayish-brown, the wing pri- 

 maries brown, and the orbits white. It is six inches 

 and a half in length. This species dwells in the forests 

 of India, chiefly on the mountains, where it is seen 

 perching on the highest branches of trees. 



THE CEYLON BARBET (Megalaima zeilanica) is 

 green, with the head and neck pale-brown, and the 

 cheeks yellow; its bill is red. This bird, which is 

 about an inch shorter than the preceding, is an abun- 

 dant species in Ceylon, where it breeds in the holes of 

 trees, laying three or four pure white eggs. It feeds 

 upon fruits and berries of all kinds, and probably also 

 upon insects and small birds, as Mr. Layard found 

 that a specimen confined in an aviary destroyed and 

 swallowed whole the little Amadince which were placed 

 with it. When confined in a small cage this indivi- 

 dual set to work to dig his way through the wood, and 

 hammered upon it vigorously in the manner of a wood- 

 pecker. 



FAMILY IV. CUCULID.E. 



This last family of the Scansorial birds includes the 

 common Cuckoo of this country, together with a con- 

 siderable number of other species, which agree with it 

 more or less in structure and habits. These birds, 

 with but few exceptions, have a slender compressed 

 bill, of which the upper mandible is arched along the 

 ridge, and furnished with a notch on each margin near 

 the tip. The gape is generally very wide, extending 

 back nearly to the eyes, almost as in the Fissirostral 

 division of the Passeres, with which it must be con- 

 fessed that the Cuckoos have some affinity. The 

 nostrils are placed at the base of the upper mandible 

 in a membranous groove ; the tail is long and ample, 

 with the tips of its feathers rounded ; the tarsi are 

 rather short, and the toes long, but unequal in length. 



The birds of this family occur in both hemispheres, 

 and, indeed, in most parts of the world. They are 

 most abundant in warm climates, and those which are 

 met with in cold or temperate countries are generally 

 summer birds of passage. They all feed principally 

 upon insects. In their breeding they exhibit a remark- 

 able dissimilarity; for, whilst many species build a 

 nest and bring up their young in the manner of birds 

 in general, others, amongst which is our own Cuckoo, 

 make over all the labour of incubation and rearing the 

 young to other birds, in whose nests they deposit their 



THE COMMON CUCKOO (Cuculus canorus) Plate 17-, 

 fig. 60. This bird, whose note, at any rate, is well 

 known hi this country, although many are unacquainted 

 with him by sight, is about the size of a small pigeon, 

 but, from the elongation of his tail, he measures nearly 

 a foot in length. The whole of the upper parts of the 

 body are of a bluish-ash colour, and this tint also 

 extends over the throat and chest; the abdomen is 

 white,with numerous blackish-brown transverse streaks; 

 and the tail is black, with white spots at the extremity, 

 and along the shafts and margins of the feathers. It 

 is an inhabitant of the greater part of the eastern hemi- 

 sphere, occurring as a summer visitor in Europe, and 

 the other northern countries which it frequents, and 

 retiring for the winter into the warmer regions of Africa 

 and Southern Asia. In this country it arrives in April, 

 and takes its departure again in August; during the 

 intervening period its curious note, closely resembling 

 the word Cuckoo, may be constantly heard about woods, 

 orchards, and hedgerows. In the present day most 

 people hear this note with pleasure, from its association 

 with the commencement of fine weather, but formerly 

 it was frequently regarded as a sound of evil omen, and 

 no doubt some relics of this superstitious feeling may 

 still linger in agricultural districts. 



The food of the Cuckoo consists of insects and their 

 larvse, and amongst the latter he seems to prefer the 

 large hairy caterpillars of the tiger moth, commonly 

 known to country people under the name of woolly 

 bears. The hairs with which these caterpillars are 

 clothed, remain, with the legs of beetles and other indi- 

 gestible portions of the food, in the stomach, whence 

 they are no doubt ejected in the same way as the 

 feathers and bones of small birds by the birds of prey. 

 A considerable portion of the hairs, however, seem to 

 adhere to the walls of the stomach, which in this way are 

 frequently covered with a hairy coat. The Cuckoo is 

 usually seen perched upon the branch of a tree or bush, 

 the shortness of its tarsi rendering motion on the ground 

 awkward to it, although it frequently descends amongst 

 the herbage at the base of the hedges to search for its 

 favourite caterpillars. Its flight is tolerably swift, and 

 it glides with easy motion from tree to tree. 



We have now to speak of that singular and myste- 

 rious instinct which 'prompts the Cuckoo and many 

 other species of its family to deposit their eggs in the 

 nests of other birds, thus saving themselves all the 

 trouble of building a nest, hatching then* eggs, and 

 bringing up their young. Although it is impossible to 

 say for what purpose this curious instinct has been 

 implanted in these birds, it is, nevertheless, completely 

 in accordance with their peculiar structure and mode 

 of reproduction. They produce their eggs only at 

 intervals of several days, and as then 1 residence in our 

 temperate climate is but short, the young could hardly 

 be all brought to maturity by their own parents in time I 

 to take their departure with them. The egg of the 

 Cuckoo is of very small size in comparison with the 

 bird ; its weight does not exceed that of the skylark's 

 egg, although the comparative size of the two birds is 

 as four to one. Hence, the egg of the parasite is readily 

 introduced into the nest of its intended foster parent, and 

 the latter is not alarmed by the presence in its habitation 



