THE CUCKOOS. 
19 
at tbo rest upon the dry chips or dead wood 
cavai .? 1 is generally selected and not ex- 
som .^.k themselves. Sometimes a nest-hole is 
out n" I but the Wryneck never seems to hammer 
denth Woodpeckers. The nest-hole varies in 
distan’ ^ • ®’^"’*‘^timcs the eggs are deposited at a considerable 
and shallow, 
le eggs can be seen from the entrance. 
ten^.°* -From six to eight in number, sometimes as many as 
\Vr ’ ^’’l" distance is recorded by Mr, Norgate of a female 
(187 ^ day mg forty-two eggs for two years in succession 
live* Seebohm remarks, in 1874 “her reproduc- 
laid "'‘^'■0 apparently exhausted, as only one egg was 
"’hite^'^'^ i'-’ ^ ^7 5 the place was deserted ! ” The eggs arc pure 
Peckc-^ “1^'® Spotted Wood- 
oieasii’ glossy as the eggs of the latter bird. They 
°'S 5 ~o‘ 6 S inch in diameter j axis, o-S-o'ps. 
CUCULINE BIRDS. ORDER COCCYGES. 
the cuckoos, sub-order CUCULI. 
tyle f? Cuckoos have a scansorial or climbing, t.e. a zygodac- 
T'he' hnll’ directed forwards and two backwards, 
tendon dlnd-toe, is served by the flexor lotigus hallucis 
tuctecl k second, third, and fourth toes are con- 
Cuckon"^*^^ perforavs digifornm. In this respect 
" Game-Birds. The palate is bridged or 
“^dere is ^’’^l-dous,” and there are no basipterygoid processes ; 
nude, mg " ^dter-shaft ” to the feathens, and the oil-gland is 
^°uth An "''tnber of tail-feathers is only ten, except in the 
^■Rht in genera, Guira and Croiophaga, where they are 
Ik , '■‘Umber. 1 
''ecoen’^”?''^ combination of characters the Cuckoos may 
crder of other bird.s, and the only other Sub- 
waters or T consists of the Musophagi, the Plantain- 
Cucko Africa. These arc closely allied to 
|°Urth toe i°\ k ^eet only semi-zygodactyle, the 
Cuckoos fully directed backwards as in the True 
n habits and mode of nesting they also differ 
c 2 
