ORDER SCANSORES. 4-53 



Little Wryneck. P. Exilis. Tem. Col. 371. f. 2. 



Like the last, but with the cheeks and neck, yellow. 

 South America. 



Some of these picumnes have only three toes, 

 like the picoides. 



Anomalous Wryneck. P. Ahnormis. Tem. Col. 

 371.^ 



Green, above ; beneath, brightish-brown. Java.* 



The CucKOw. CucuLus.t L. 



Have the bill moderate, rather deeply cleft, com- 

 pressed, and slightly arched; the tail long. They 

 live on insects, and are migratory. We subdivide 

 this numerous genus as follows. 



The True Cuckows. 



Have the bill of moderate strength ; the tarsi short ; 

 the tail with six quills. They are celebrated by the 

 singular habit of laying their eggs in the nests of 

 other insectivorous birds ; and what is not less extra- 

 ordinary, the foster parents, frequently belonging to 

 much smaller species, take care of the young cuckow 

 as of their own offspring, even when the introduc- 

 tion of the cuckow*s eggs has been preceded, as is 

 often the case by the destruction of their own. The 



* Add Yunx Minutus, Vieillot, the Carpentero Nano of Azara. 

 •j- Koxxi/|, cuculus ; cuckow, expresses the cry of the European species. 



