Orders. SCANSORES. 209 



The Buceroides are distinguished by a very short and heart-shaped tongue, a singly-emar- 

 ginated sternum, and ten tail-feathers only ; intestines short, and we believe always without 

 cceca ; plumage never vividly eoloiu-ed. In order to mark the degree of value of the two 

 verv distinct genera included, we conceive it necessary to indicate the Ilornbills by the term 

 Appendirostres, and the Hoopoes by that of Arculirostres. Both are pecuUar to the eastern 

 hemisphere. 



The Halcyoides have a doubly-emarginated sternum, twelve tail-feathers, and, with the 

 sole exception of one group of Kingfishers, splendidly coloured plumage. They fall into three 

 tribes, viz., Cylindirostres, comprising the Rollers, Bee-eaters, and Kingfishers, which have 

 tongues similar to the foregoing, membranaceous stomachs, and no cceca ; a thick skin, firm 

 plumage (not moulted the first year), and great power of wing ; nidificating in holes, and pro- 

 ducing numerous shining white eggs, &c. ; — Angulirostres, composed of the Jacamars and 

 Todies, which have thin, lengthened, lamina-like tongues, muscular gizzards, and great cceca, 

 resembling those of the Owls ; thin skin, soft plumage, feeble powers of flight, and which 

 produce coloured or speckled eggs, also in holes ; — and Serratirostres, or the Motmots, which 

 are intermediate to the CyUndirostres and the Toucans, (which commence the next series). 

 The Angulirostres and Serratirostres are confined in their distribution to America ; while the 

 Cylindirostres, with the exception of a single subdivision of Kingfishers partly, are found only 

 in the old world. 



2. Zygodactyli. — The members of this division likewise fall into two principal minor 

 groups, which may be termed Picoides and Cuculoides. The greater number subsist on mixed 

 diet, and a marked predatory propensity is retained by some. 



The Picoides have always (at least in every knoT;\'n instance) a doubly-emarginated sternum, 

 comparatively muscular gizzard, and no cceca to the intestine. They all produce white eggs, 

 less spherical than those of the Sy7idactyli, (in which respect the latter approximate the 

 Raptores, which precede them) ; and have an accessor)^ plume to their feathers, more or less 

 developed; their plumage being almost always adorned with vivid colours. It is in this 

 group that the tongue is so variously modified, in the Toucans, Woodpeckers, &c. To bring 

 the species as near as possible together, they may be arranged into two tribes, viz., Leviros- 

 tres, consisting of two very distinct families, — that of the Toucans, and that of the Touracos 

 and Colics ; and Cuneirostres, comprehending the Woodpecker family (which includes the 

 Honeyguides), and that of the Barbets. The Toucan and Touraco families are respectively 

 peculiar to the old and new worlds, the latter, with the sole exception of two or three Colics, 

 to Africa ; the Woodpeckers are generally difi"used, excepting in Australia ; and members of 

 the Barbet family are found in the warm regions of both hemispheres. 



The Cuculoides have a comparatively lax stomach, and invariably great cceca, which when- 

 ever they occur throughout the Strepitores are always of the same proportional dimensions 

 and form as those of the nocturnal Birds of Prey : their colours, excepting in one group of 

 Cuckoos, are never bright ; and they have no trace of an accessory plume to the feathers : 

 the greater number lay coloured or speckled eggs, and many construct inartificial nests in 

 bushes, (all the preceding genera, save the Colics only, resorting to holes for that purpose), 

 A great proportion of them have the outer and middle toes more or less directed laterally. 

 They fall under two families only, that of the Courols, Barbacous, and Puif-birds, which have 

 twelve tail-feathers, and that of the Cuckoos, which have only ten or fewer, and which might 

 be again naturally distributed into several supergeneric divisions, or subfamilies. Of these, 

 we can only remark, that that which comprises the parasitic species is peculiar to the 

 old world. 



3. Heterodactyli. — This group consists of Birds the great majority of which are mainly 

 insectivorous, and take their food on the wing. They are generally endowed, therefore, with 

 considerable power of flight, have a wide gape, and short feet, rarely adapted for progression. 

 The only zygodactyle family of them has the toes dififerently disposed from those of all other 



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