PICID^E. 123 



bird, and the interior is sometimes lined with feathers, but 

 not always. The eggs, usually seven or eight in number, 

 are white, more or less spotted with red. (PL VIII. fig. 46.) 



ORDER III. SCANSORES. CLIMBING BIRDS. 



This Order is not numerously represented in our British 

 list. The families comprised in it are the Woodpeckers, 

 Cuckoos, Toucans, and Parrots ; but we possess only a few 

 species belonging to the two former. The peculiar arrange- 

 ment of the toes in the birds of this Order, two being placed 

 behind, and all four arising nearly on the same level, while 

 it impedes their progress on the ground, greatly assists them 

 in ascending and traversing the ^trunks and branches of 

 trees. Some of the birds in this Order incubate in hollow 

 trees, and one family is remarkable for depositing its eggs 

 in the already occupied nests of other birds. Insects and 

 fruit constitute the food of the Order before us. 



PICID.E. WOODPECKERS. 



The bill of the Woodpecker is admirably adapted, by its 



