inhabit the deep recesses of tropical American forests, here occupy
the next case (77). They are recognised as a branch of the great
corvine family. Their enormous beaks are peculiarly adapted for
searching in quest of eggs about the crevices of trees. The varieties
here, include the Janeiro toucan, and the yellow-breasted toucan. The
three next cases contain the many varieties of the Woodpecker.
Woodpeckers are represented by naturalists as crows with a structure
adapted to "an insect-eating life amidst growing timber." They are to
be found in all quarters of the globe, searching out, with their long
beaks, the minute life that gathers in the interstices of trees. The
first case of the series, contains the South American and African
barbets, and the groove-billed barbican; the minute woodpecker, the
North American three-toed and white-billed woodpecker, and the spotted
woodpecker common in Europe. In the second case are the larger
varieties of the woodpecker, including the well-known great black
woodpecker of Europe; the North American red-headed woodpecker, and
the South American yellow-crested variety; the Carolina woodpecker;
and the Cayenne woodpecker. The third case contains the African and
American ground woodpeckers; and the Wrynecks of Africa, Europe, and
India. The chief food of the wrynecks consists of ants, which they
pick up with their delicately tapered tongues.

The three last cases devoted to perching birds, are occupied by the
varieties of the Cuckoo family. In this country, the notes of the
cuckoo are hailed as the announcement of the dawning summer; and the
solitary and peculiar habits of the bird, but particularly its custom
of placing its eggs in the nests of larks, finches, sparrows, &c., and
so getting alien birds to bring up its young, have always made it an
object of particular curiosity to people generally. This latter custom
has been explained, by a high authority, thus:--"The fact is, that the