SCANSORES, OR CLIMBING BIRDS. 
with a hand 
LARGE gronp of birds is arranged by naturalists under the title of Scansores, 
or Climbing Birds, and may be recognized by the structure of their feet. Two 
toes are directed forward and the other two backward, so that the bird is able to 
take a very powerful hold of the substance on which it is sitting, and this enables 
some species, as the woodpeckers, to run nimbly up tree-trunks and to hold 
themselves tightly on the bark while they hammer away with their beaks, and 
other species, of which the Parrots are familiar examples, to clasp the bough as 
There is some little difficulty in settling the exact limits of this group. 
The very curious birds that go by the name of Toucans are not one whit less remarkable 
than the hombills, their beak 
being often as extravagantly 
large, and their colors by far 
superior. They are inhabi- 
tants of America, the greater 
number of species being found 
in the tropical regions of that 
country. 
Of these birds there are 
many species. Mr. Gould, in 
his magnificent work, the 
“Monograph of the “Rham- 
phastidse,” figures fifty-one 
species, and ranks them under 
six genera. 
The most extraordinary 
part of these birds is the enor- 
mous beak, which in some 
species, such as the Toco Tou- 
can, is of gigantic dimensions,, 
seeming big enough to give its 
owner a perpetual headache, 
while in others, such as the 
Toucanets, it is not so large as 
to attract much attention. 
As in the case of the horn- 
bills, their beak is very thin 
and is strengthened by a vast 
number of honeycomb -cells, so 
TOCO .—Eamphastus toco. that it is very light and does 
not incommode the bird in the 
least. In performing the usual duties of a beak, such as picking up food and pluming the 
feathers, this apparently unwieldy beak is used with perfect address, and even in flight its 
weight does not incommode its owner. 
