458 MOMOTID2. 
Mr. Cherrie gives the following interesting notes on this species :—“ On the 8th May, 
1889, I bought five young birds, the pin-feathers not yet concealed, and the eye light 
sepia-brown. By the 25th of the same month they were fully feathered, the iris had 
changed to a decided chestnut shade, and the tail of one of the birds measured 3-55 
inches. On the 28th the birds commenced imitating the notes of the adults; their eyes 
had become bright chestnut. With the first utterances of the notes of the adults the 
peculiar jerky motions of the tail commenced. It was most amusing to watch the four 
birds sitting in a row together, almost motionless, only giving the tail first a jerk to this 
side, then to that, now up and now down, to see it held for the space of a couple of 
minutes almost at right angles to the body, and then go with a whisk to the other side, 
the birds all the time uttering their peculiar cooing notes. On May 30th I measured 
the tail of one of the birds and found it to be 4°25 inches, an increase of °7 inch in five 
days. I fed the birds on raw meat, and about this time they began to fight vigorously 
for their shares. If two happened to get hold of the same piece, neither was willing to 
let go, and each would close its eyes and hang on for dear life, both squealing as hard 
as they could. On 3rd June the serration of the bill began to show. On the 16th the 
tails were apparently full-grown, and the birds began to tear at the webs at the points 
of the middle pair of feathers. By the Ist July the tail-feathers were fully trimmed.” 
He adds, “on one occasion I found the stomach of a bird I had shot filled with snails 
of a species having a delicate easily crushed shell. The birds I had in confinement 
greedily ate earthworms, and one day when I had placed a small live Warbler in the 
cage I returned in about half an hour’s time and found the feet and tail of my Warbler 
protruding from the mouth of one of the Bobos!” 
The specimens described by R. P. Lesson in 1842 were obtained by his brother 
Adolphe Lesson at Realejo, on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua 1. 
2. Momotus ceruleiceps. 
Prionites ceruleiceps, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 18'; Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 113 *. 
Momotus ceruleiceps, Scl. P. Z.S. 1857, pp. 201°, 253%; 1859, p. 367°; 1864, p. 176°; Baird, 
U.S. Bound. Surv., Birds, p. 7, t. 8"; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 160°; 
Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 327°. 
Momotus ceruleocephalus, Jard. & Selby, Ill. Orn. iv. t. 42°. 
Momotus subhutu, Less. Descr. Mamm. et Ois. p. 265 (1847) ». 
M. lessoni affinis, sed capite summo omnino ceruleo distinguendus. 
Hab. Mexico (Lesson™), Tamaulipas (Gould+), Boquillo in Nuevo Leon (Couch), 
Villa Grande, Hacienda de la Cruz, Rio Camarcho in Nuevo Leon (Ff. B. 
Armstrong), Sierra Madre above Ciudad Victoria, Xicotencal, Tampico, Valles 
{W. B. Richardson), Misantla, Colipa (I’. D. G.), Cuesta de Misantla (I. Trujillo), 
Jalapa (Sallé*, de Oca®, Ferrari-Perez*), Santa Ana, Plan del Rio, Hacienda 
Tortugas, Rio San Juan Martin, Cuichapa (Ferrari-Perez). 
