CHAPTER VII. 



INSESSORES (Perchers). 

 SCANSORES (Climbers}. 



THIS is a small tribe, compared to the two previously described, 

 containing but three families, the Woodpeckers, Creepers, and 

 Cuckoos ; but it yields to none in point of interest, all its 

 members partaking of habits peculiar to the tribe, and being 

 sufficiently scarce in point of numbers to attract attention when- 

 ever they appear. They are essentially inhabitants of the trees, 

 procuring all their food from the insects which they find in the 

 branches and trunks, or from the berries and fruits thereon. 

 Some of the families in this tribe seldom touch the ground, 

 and they are rarely to be found elsewhere than in wooded 

 districts ; they are all more or less eminent for their climbing 

 and grasping powers, which are developed in different degrees 

 in the various genera. 



PICID.E (THE WOODPECKERS). 



This family may well stand at the head of the climbers, for 

 nothing can exceed the admirable structure of their bodies, and 

 the formation of their legs, feet, tail, beak and tongue, all so 

 eminently adapted to their requirements ; the legs extremely 

 short and strong, giving the bird a good purchase on the trunk 

 or branch of the tree into which it is about to dig with its 

 powerful beak ; the toes long, two being directed backwards and 

 two forwards (an arrangement peculiar to the climbers, but 

 which adds immensely to its powers of grasping and climbing), 



