Order II. Picarice 99 



their anatomy, are remarkable for their diversity of 

 style and habits. They approach the Passeres, how- 

 ever, in being birds of the trees or air rather than of 

 the ground, and in having bhnd and naked nesthngs, 

 except in Goatsuckers and Hoopoes. Swifts have very 

 short beaks with a wide gape, short feathered feet, 

 long and often forked tails, and toes which all point 

 forward. Goatsuckers have an even wider gape, with 

 conspicuous bristles along the upper mandible, a toothed 

 claw on the mid-toe, and peculiarly soft plumage. The 

 Woodpeckers have a big head, with powerful bill and 

 long extensible tongue, stiff spiny tail-feathers, and 

 two of the four toes pointing backwards; but the 

 Wrynecks, classed in the same family, have soft tail- 

 feathers. Our Kingfisher has a large head with a long 

 stout biU, and a very short tail, while it is noted for 

 its briUiant colours. The Roller and Bee-eater, rarely 

 met with in Britain, are equally brilliant, but have 

 long curved bills. Hoopoes have a long slender arched 

 bill and a wonderful compressed crest of feathers. 

 The Cuckoo has its well-known call to distinguish it, 

 and also two toes pointing backwards, as in the Wood- 

 pecker tribe, not to mention its habit of laying eggs in 

 other birds' nests. The name Picarice is derived from 

 Picus, a Wood-pecker. 



Family CYPSBLID^, or Swifts 



The Swifts are remarkable and interesting birds, 

 which used to be classed with the Swallows, but on 

 investigation proved to be more nearly akin to the 

 Humming-birds. This is a good case of the " conver- 

 gence " of species, even of different Orders, in nature, 

 that is, of those which stand far apart in classification 



7—2 



