PARASITIC FAMILIES 187 



and the Starlings in form and habits, and in the 

 curious little birds known as Honey-guides (Indi- 

 catoridte), closely allied in their anatomy to the 

 Barbets, and best known from Africa, though a few 

 occur in South-east Asia and its islands. 



Among the Cuckoos, only those are parasitic 

 which are essentially perchers, having short legs 

 and powerful wings, and seldom coming to the 

 ground ; among these the habit seems to be uni- 

 versal in the Old World, from the tiny and beautiful 

 Violet Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx amethystinus) of Malay- 

 sia, to the huge Toucan-like Channel-bill (Scythrops 

 novce-hollan&ice) of Australasia, though the American 

 Cuckoos of this type do not display it. The short- 

 winged, strong-legged, Magpie-like Bush-Cuckoos, 

 such as the " Crow-Pheasant " of India and the 

 Guira of South America, are never parasitic, though 

 the latter and its black allies the Tick-birds (Croto- 

 phaga) indulge in the custom of communal building 

 and nestling- rearing. 



The general habits of the European Cuckoo are 

 well known ; the egg, which is very small for the 

 size of the bird, is usually laid on the ground and 

 then taken in the bird's bill and placed in the 

 foster-nest, though when this is conveniently 

 situated, the Cuckoo may sit on it to lay her egg. 

 The male may accompany the female to guard her 

 or distract the hostility of the owners, but this is 

 apparently exceptional, the general impression 

 among naturalists being that Cuckoos live in a 

 state of promiscuity and do not regard conjugal 



