508 GALBULIDA. 
from the portion of Panama crossed by the inter-oceanic railway, where its place seems 
to be entirely taken by Jacamerops aurea; but it reappears on the Isthmus of Darien, 
where the naturalists of Lieut. Michler’s expedition obtained a specimen *, and in 
Western Ecuador, whence we received specimens in a collection of skins made by 
Mr. Illingworth in the Balzar Mountains, and where Stolzmann and Siemiradzki found 
it at Chimbo, as recorded by Count Berlepsch and Taczanowski ”°. 
The flight of Galbula melanogenia is quick and rather spasmodic, and not long 
sustained, for on being disturbed it quickly alights again and remains almost motionless 
on its perch, like a Trogon or Motmot. Of its nesting-habits nothing is on record, but 
they doubtless resemble those of its near ally, G. ruficauda, described by Kirk, who 
says that it builds in marl banks in the island of Tobago, like the Motmot, without any 
nest beyond digging a hole an inch anda half in diameter. The distance of the eggs 
from the entrance is about 18 inches; they are three in number, pure white, and 
nearly circular in shape. 
JACAMEROPS. 
Jacamerops, Lesson, Traité d’Orn. p. 234 (1831); Scl. Mon. Jacamars and Puff-birds, p. xxiv ; 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xix. p. 176. 
A monotypic genus, its only species being of wide distribution in the northern part 
of Tropical America and entering our limits in the State of Panama, where it is 
tolerably common on the Line of Railway. It has also been recorded from Costa 
Rica. 
Instead of a nearly straight bill, as in Galbula, Jacamerops has a gradually incurved 
bill, which is widened at the base ; the outer rectrix on either side is of medium size, 
not quite half the length of the central pair. ‘The tarsi are feathered instead of bare 
for the distal portion. 
In his Catalogue Mr. Sclater divides the Galbulide into two subfamilies, making 
Jacamerops the sole representative of his Jacameropine. We do not adopt this division, 
as it appears to us that Jacamerops aurea is but a modified Galbula with similar style 
of plumage, its generic distinction resting on the modification of the bill. Other 
Galbulide, such as Galbalcyrhynchus leucotis, seem much more widely separated. 
1, Jacamerops aurea. 
Alcedo aurea, P. . S. Miller, Natursyst. Suppl. p. 94 (1776) *. 
Great Jacamar, Lath. Gen. Syn. i. p. 605 *. 
Alcedo grandis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 458 (1788) °. 
Jacamerops grandis, Less. Traité d’Orn. p. 234°; Cassin, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1860, p.184°; Lawr. Ann. 
* At our request Mr. Ridgway has kindly examined this specimen, which Cassin with doubt called Galbula 
ruficauda, and he pronounces it to belong to G'. melanogema. 
