38 
GUIDE TO THE 
very similar American cousins, the Tanagers {Tana- 
gridae). None of the latter two families are found 
in Europe, while among the Fringillidae we meet a 
great many of our most common and familiar birds, 
such as the Sparrows and Finches, as well as the 
Buntings and Yellowhammers. Many extraordinary 
varieties and albinoes are here. Special attention 
might be called to the Bullfinches. We see here 
not only the small Western, but also the larger 
Eastern species (or rather subspecies), also albinoes of 
extraordinary beauty and a real hermaphrodite, show- 
ing on one side the colours of the male, on the other 
those of the female. The black variety, produced in 
cages, generally from excess of hemp-seed, similar to 
the one of the Skylark, is also to be seen. On side- 
brackets we find some Sun-Birds or Nectariniidae, 
from the tropical regions of the Old World. 
The next case. 
Bird Case VII., 
the corner case, contains a great assemblage of 
“ Picarian birds.” The Cuckoos, Cuculidae, consist 
of two natural groups — the Cuculinae, which are 
nearly all parasitic, viz. lay their eggs in the nests of 
other birds and do not hatch them themselves, and 
the Centropinae, which are non-parasitic. These 
latter birds are, nevertheless, very interesting in many 
other ways ; for example, the female Gentropus is the 
larger and stronger bird, and does the “ singing,” as 
