the family of Cuculidce. 217 



like the Frigate Pelicans, the jagars, and some of the eagles, rob 

 other birds of their food ; but this is a mere act of thieving, for all 

 these feathered robbers can, and do habitually depend just as much 

 upon their own industry in procuring food. But with the typi- 

 cal cuckoos the case is far different, for by depositing their eggs 

 in the nest of other birds, to whom they leave the care of hatch- 

 ing their young and feeding them afterwards, they become as truly 

 parasitic as any of the Acari or Pediculi ; they fasten themselves, as 

 it were, on another living animal, whose animal heat brings their 

 young into life, whose food they alone live upon, and whose death 

 would cause theirs, during the period of infancy. Such only is a pa- 

 rasitic animal, and such only, among birds, belong to the typical 

 cuckoos, and their representative the Mololhrus pecoris. 



Such may be considered the leading or most typical distinctions 

 of the family now before us, as furnished by that particular group 

 which stands at the head, and of which our English species is a per- 

 fect example. As we descend more into detail, and investigate the 

 peculiarities which distinguish the minor divisions, we shall find all 

 those variations of structure and of economy which is to be met with 

 in every other natural group of birds, following in the same uniform 

 series as the primary types of the animal kingdom. Before, however, 

 we proceed further, it will be satisfactory to show how perfectly the 

 conclusion we have come to, on the aberrant rank of the family, is 

 supported by the following table ; wherein the five families of the 

 Scansores are arranged under the three primary divisions of the 

 tribe. 



Analogies of the Scansores or. Climbers. 



Families of the Tribes of the Orders of 



Seansores. Typical characters. Insessores. Birds. 



•" « r r i 



g^'o i I Bill short, with a \ 



• ~% "G \ Psittacid^, <{ distinct notch or }> Dentirostres. Rafiores. 



"eg 1 [ [ t00th ' j 



■g „ f ("Bill lengthened, co-~) 



• •" t? J D, m „ I nic, nostrils cover- j r , T 



« £! PlCIDiE, i ed ^ incumbent j> CONIROSTRES. INSESSORES. 



|_ [_ feathers, 



[certhiams, 5 Nostrils P™tectedby \ Scansores. Rasores. 

 I a corneous scale, | 



(" Feet not strictly scan- "| 



-S J r,,™,,,,^ I sorial, very short, nos- „, „ 



13 i OUCULIDiE, J ., , i ., ' w Tenuirostres, Grallatores. 



.j» j tnls naked, tail. covers | 



[_ remarkably long, 

 [Ramphastid^ I ^j^rge? head \ Fissirostres. Natatqres. 

 We see in this table a precision and harmony which is not to be 



H 





