VERTEBRATA 173 



14. Striges, or owls, have many of the characters of 

 the Accipitres, but may be distinguished from them by 

 having their large eyes directed forward and surrounded 

 by radiating feathers, a feathered tarsus, and soft plu- 

 mage (Fig. 155). 



15. Picari&. This heterogeneous group is sometimes 

 subdivided into several orders since its members are 

 too unlike, structurally, to be classed together. 43 The 

 toes are usually paired, two in front and two behind. 



FIG. 157. Goatsucker {Caprimulgus). 



As here given the order includes swifts, goatsuckers 

 (Fig. 157), humming birds, cuckoos, kingfishers (Fig. 

 158), trogons (Fig. 156), toucans, hornbills, hoopoes, 

 and woodpeckers. These birds are not musical, and only 

 ordinary fliers. The most of them feed on insects or fruit. 

 The majority make nests in the hollows of old trees; 1 

 but the cuckoos often lay in the nests of other birds. 

 In climbing, the woodpeckers are assisted by their stiff 

 tail. 



