6 
BEAUTIFUL BIRDS. 
passing from one bough to another they simply hop, 
without using their wings, and their motions are so 
quick that an unpractised observer, even if placed 
immediately beneath the tree, would soon lose sight 
of the bird. The Brazilian hunters give to their 
Cuckoos the general name of Cat’s Tail ; nor is the 
epithet inappropriate, for their long hanging tails, no 
less than their mode of climbing the branches, give 
them some distant resemblance to that quadruped. I 
have no doubt that the great length of tail possessed 
by nearly all the Cuckoos is given to them as a sort 
of balance, just as a rope-dancer, with such an instru- 
ment in his hands, preserves his footing when other- 
wise he would assuredly fall. Bemote, then, as the 
Cuckoos unquestionably are from the typical Scansores 
(the Woodpeckers, according to Mr. Swainson), we 
yet find the functions of the tail contribute to that office, 
although in a very different mode to that which it 
performs among the AYoodpeckers, the Parrots, and 
the Creepers. 
The toes are placed in pairs, that is, two directed 
forward, and two apparently backward ; but a closer in- 
spection will show that the latter are not strictly pos- 
terior, and that they differ so very materially from those 
of the ^iciclcB as clearly to indieate a different use. 
The organization of the external posterior toe of all 
the AVoodpeckers, Parrots, and Toucans renders it in- 
capable of being brought forward, even in the slightest 
degree ; whereas in the Cuckoos this toe can be made 
to form a right angle with that which is next to it in 
front, from which circumstance it has been termed 
versatile : this term, however, is not strictly correct, 
