SCANSORES AND INSESSORES. 457 



CHAPTER LXIX. 



SCANSORES AND INSESSORES. 



ORDER V. SCANSORES. The order of the Scansorial or Climb- 

 ing birds is easily and very shortly denned, having no other 

 distinctive and exclusive peculiarity except the fact that the 

 feet are provided with four toes, of which two are turned back- 

 wards and two forwards. Of the two toes which are directed 

 backwards, one, of course, is the hallux or proper hind-toe, 

 and the other is the outermost of the normal three anterior 

 toes. This arrangement of the toes (fig. 177, A) enables the 

 Scansores to climb with unusual facility. Their powers of 

 flight, on the other hand, are generally only moderate and 

 below the average. Their food consists of insects or fruit. 

 Their nests are usually made in the hollows of old trees, but 

 some of them have the remarkable peculiarity that they build 

 no nests of their own, but deposit their eggs in the nests of 

 other birds. They are all monogamous. 



The most important families of the Scansores are the Cuckoos 

 (Cucutida\ the Woodpeckers and Wry-necks (Piada), the Par- 

 rots (Psittadd(Z\ and the Toucans (Rhamphastidce). 



The Cuculidce, or Cuckoos, are chiefly remarkable for the ex- 

 traordinary fact that many of them, instead of nidificating and 

 incubating for themselves, lay their eggs in the nests of other 

 birds. As a rule, only one egg is deposited in each nest, and 

 the young Cuckoo which is hatched from it, is brought up by 

 the foster-parent, generally at the expense of the legitimate off- 

 spring. The large Channel-bill (Scythrops Nova-Hollandia) is 

 said to possess the same curious habit, but many species of 

 this group build nests for themselves in the ordinary manner. 



The second family of the Scansores is that of the Picidce, and 

 comprises the Woodpeckers and Wry-necks. These birds feed 

 chiefly upon insects, and the tongue is extensible and covered 

 with a viscid secretion, so as to enable them to catch their prey 

 by suddenly darting it out. 



The next family is that of the Parrots (Psittatida), the 

 largest group of the Scansores, comprising over three hundred 

 species. The bill in the Parrots is large and strong, and the 

 upper mandible is considerably longer than the lower and is 

 hooked at its extremity (fig. 177, B). The bill is used as a 

 kind of third foot in climbing. At the base of the upper 

 mandible is a " cere," in which the nostrils are pierced. The 

 tongue is soft and fleshy. The feet are especially adapted for 



