FAMILY ZYGOD ACT YL A. YOKE-TIED. 



75 



which, indeed, the weakness of its feathers is not suited ; it does not, there- 

 fore, run up trees with the same facility, but clings only to the tree whilst 

 it searches in the fissures of the bark for the insects on which it feeds. 

 Very commonly they are seen on the tops of ants' nests, the inhabitants of 

 which are their favourite food. Their tongue is long, with a horny tip, 

 but not armed with recurved spines as in the Woodpeckers, and is furnished 

 with a glutinous secretion from a pair of glands beneath the lower jaw, with 

 which they entangle their prey. The quickness with which the tongue is 

 projected and retracted is so great that the eye is unable to follow it ; and 

 Montague observes that when the bird is feeding, an ant's egg, which is of 

 a light colour and more conspicuous than the tongue, has somewhat the 

 appearance of moving to the mouth by attraction, as a needle flies to the 

 magnet. 



The Common Wryneck (Y. Torquilla) is six inches and a half in length ; 

 its general colour is brown with black rays or speckles. The Wryneck is 

 very common during summer in the south-eastern counties of England ; is 

 rare in Cornwall, and not known in Ireland. It is very rare in the north 

 of England. In spring the male attracts the female by his full-toned call 

 gui! gui! gui! gui! not much unlike the whistle of the Kestrel. It is not 

 unfrequently called the Cuckoo's Mate or Maid, from arriving about the 

 same time as the Cuckoo, in the first or second week of April, and leaves 

 us at the end of August or beginning of September. Its name, Wryneck, 

 has arisen from the odd movements of its head and neck, sometimes de- 

 scribing parts of circles, at others from side to side with an undulating 

 snake-like motion, whence, in some parts of England, it is called the 

 Snake-bird. 



PICUMNUS. This genus was formed by Temminck on the Picus Minutus 

 of Latham, which differs from the Woodpeckers in having the tail rounded, 

 and the webs of its caudal quills not coarse nor worn away. Their habits 

 rather resemble those of the Creepers. The species are four Minutissimus, 

 Cirrhatus, Emlis, and Abnormis. 



The Picumna Minutissima (Plate 7) is about the size of our Wren ; 

 head golden, neck and chest marked with black and white zones; back 

 brown, marked with white spots ; the white part of the plumage tinged 

 with yellowish. It is found in Cayenne in company with the Creepers, 

 and, like them, runs up the trunks of trees, and suspends itself to their 

 branches. 



Bucco (Lat. bucca, the cheek). These birds have derived their generic 

 name from the prominence of their bills at the base, which Brisson thought 

 had some resemblance to the cheek. The head is ornamented by five 

 bundles of stiff hairs or bristles facing forwards ; one on each side of the 

 nostrils and the base of the lower jaw, and the fifth under the chin. They 

 are found in Africa and the warmer parts of Asia and America, and are 

 very dull heavy birds. Cuvier has thought proper to subdivide them into 

 three: 1, the Barbicans; 2, the Barbets Proper; and 3, the Tamatias. 



CROTOPHAGA (Gr. xporiav, a tike, and c/>ayw, / eat). The birds which 

 compose this genus are natives of the hot and damp parts of America ; their 

 legs are long ; they live on insects and grain ; congregate, and many pairs 

 lay their eggs in the same nest, upon which they sit close to each other in 

 order to hatch them. They are easily caught, and may be taught to speak. 

 The flesh is very rank. 



CUCTJLUS Cuckoo. Of this genus there is but one species found in 

 Europe, and from this the facts concerning the true Cuckoos have been 

 collected ; the others being natives of Africa and America. Some of them 

 neither build nests nor tend their own eggs, but deposit them in the nests 

 of other birds, and leave them to be hatched by their foster parent; whilst 

 others build nests, and sit on their own eggs, according to the usual habits 

 of birds. Cuvier has divided them into six subgenera, of which the first 

 alone can be considered as belonging to the true Cuckoos, or those which do 

 not hatch their own eggs. They are insectivorous. 



1. Cuckoo Proper ; thirteen species. 2. Couas, which differ only from 

 the true Cuckoos in having the legs longer, but they are remarkable for not 

 laying their eggs in other nests than their own ; seven species. 3. Coucals, 

 the claw of whose outer toe is very long, and their outer hind toe capable 



of great motion ; nine species. 4. Courols, beak large, pointed, straight, 

 compressed, and the upper mandible slightly curved at the tip; a single 

 species, which Temminck has converted into a genus. 5. Homy Guides, 

 beak short, thick, and conical, like that of the Sparrow ; tail cuneiform, 

 and slightly forked ; skin very tough ; three or four species. 6. Barbacous, 

 beak conical, long, slightly compressed, curved at the tip, and furnished at 

 the base either with silky feathers or rough hairs ; two species, which bear 

 a close resemblance to the Barbel. 



The Common Cuckoo (C. Canorus) is the only one of the Cuckoo genus 

 which is met with in England, or indeed in Europe, and is but a bird of 

 passage ; it makes its appearance early in the spring, and leaves us about 

 the middle of July. To what countries they go to on leaving us is not 

 well ascertained, but it is certain that part of them visit Africa, as they are 

 met with twice in the year at Malta, in their journey backwards and for- 

 wards. They are rare in Italy, but common at Aleppo, and even in India. 

 The note of the Cuckoo is a call to love ; and he sits on the bare bough of 

 a tree, repeating his song, which he loses when the amorous season is over. 

 This note is so uniform, that the name seems to have been derived from it; 

 and thus we have in the English cuckoo, in the French cou-cou, in the Italian 

 cuculo, in the German kuckuk, the Latin cuculus, and the Greek KOKKV^. 



That the Cuckoo does not hatch its own eggs, but deposits them in the 

 nests of other birds is well known ; and various reasons, depending on the 

 structure of the animal, have been assigned for this peculiarity, but all of 

 them without warrant ; as other birds which are formed nearly in the same 

 manner, tend their own eggs during the process of incubation. The egg 

 is seldom met with in any nest till the beginning of May, and then usually 

 in that of the Hedge Sparrow : it is also found in those of the Wagtail, 

 Titlark, Yellow Hammer, Greenfinch, and Whinchat. Dr. Jenner observed 

 that during the time the Hedge Sparrow was laying her eggs, which 

 took up three or four days, the Cuckoo continued to deposit one of hers 

 among them, and left it to the care of the Sparrow. This addition to 

 her charge rather disturbs the Sparrow's arrangements, and during the time 

 of incubation she occasionally either throws out her own eggs, to make room 

 for that of the Cuckoo, or she so injures, as to addle them ; but it is a 

 curious circumstance that she never throws out or injures the egg of the 

 Cuckoo. After the usual time of sitting, when some of her own eggs and 

 that of the Cuckoo are hatched, the young Cuckoo manages to turn out both 

 the young Sparrows and the remaining eggs, and gets the whole nest to 

 itself. 



MUSOPHAGA Banana-eater. All the Banana eaters, which have in 

 one instance been improperly called Plantain-eaters, belong to Africa, and 

 feed on the two species of Banana, Musa Paradisaica and Sapientum ; they 

 fly sluggishly, and move their wings very frequently without making much 

 progress ; but they vault from branch to branch of the forest trees, among 

 which they live, with great agility, and run up their trunks with much 

 quickness. They build in hollow trees ; both male and female participate 

 in the process of hatching, and their young ones follow them a considerable 

 time. There are six species. 



PHCENICOPHAUS (Gr. (ftoivtZ, red, and 0<ioc, an eye). This genus, which 

 consists of four species, was included among the Cuckoos till separated from 

 it by Le Vaillant under the title of Malcoha, by which name one of the 

 species is known in Ceylon. It is distinguished from them by its strong 

 and much-curved beak, and by the nostrils being placed near the edges of 

 the upper mandible, which is very strong ; around their eyes is a bare 

 circle covered with little elevated papillae, in their appearance resembling 

 velvet ; the head is square and larger than in the Cuckoos, which, however, 

 they otherwise resemble in the form of their body, the shortness of their 

 wings, and the gradation of their tail. They feed only on fruit. 



POOONIAS (Gr. irwyuiv, a beard) Toothbill. The individuals forming 

 this genus were included among the Buccones till separated by Illiger, on 

 account of the different form of their beak. All of them are natives of 

 Africa. Eight species. 



PTEROGLOSSUS (Gr. irnpov, a feather, and y\>aaa, a tongue) Aracari. 

 This genus, formed by Illiger on account of the feathering of the edges of 



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