Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/224

Rh in their manners. No one, from seeing them alive, would suppose they were truly scansorial birds; and yet it is highly probable that this singular power of varying the position of one of their toes, gives them that quickness of motion and firmness of holding, which accompanies the habit just mentioned."

The technical characters of the Family, besides those already spoken of, are a beak of medium length, rather deeply cleft, both mandibles compressed and more or less curved downward; the nostrils exposed; wings for the most part short, but the tail lengthened. Their skin is remarkably thin, but the plumage, especially on the back and rump, thick and compact.

The intertropical regions, both of the Old and the New World, afford the greatest number of species to this Family; many, indeed, penetrate into the temperate zones, but it is only as summer visitants, the greater number retiring almost before the heat of the season has sensibly abated. Their food consists largely of insects, principally those which are soft-bodied, as spiders, moths, and caterpillars, varied in many cases with berries and other fruits; and some of the large species will occasionally prey on mice, reptiles, and the eggs and young of birds. Their voices are generally loud and croaking; often consisting of a repetition of a single note in long succession. Their plumage is generally of subdued, but chaste and pleasing hues, with more or less of reflected lustre; the long tail is often graduated, and handsomely barred with black and white. Africa and the islands of the Indian Ocean produce some small