PASSERINE. 



203 



Fig. 94.— Sternum of Roller. 



Their anatomy offers some peculiarities which connect them with the Kingfishers and Wood- 

 peckers ; the sternum (fig. 94) is doubly emarginated, they have but one pair of laryngeal muscles, 

 and the stomach is membranous ; [they have also no cceca to the intestine. In every essential par- 

 ticular they thus accord with the Kingfishers and Bee-eaters, with which they form a special natural 

 group, all the members of which take their food commonly on the wing, lay numerous polished 

 white eggs, of an almost spherical shape, in holes of some description, collecting no nest, the young 



retaining their first plumage, which is little less bright than that 

 of the adult, until the second autumn : the whole of them subsist 

 exclusively on animal diet]. 



The Rollers, properly so called, — 



Have a straight beak, higher than broad, [and comparatively 



elongated]. 



There is one in Europe (C. garrula, Lin.). — Vivid sea-green, with red- 

 dish-fulvous back and scapularies ; some pure blue at the bend of the 

 wing- ; and size about equal to that of a Jay. It is a very wild bird, 

 though social with its own kind ; noisy ; which nestles in the holes of 

 trees in the forests, and leaves at the approach of winter. It feeds on 

 worms, insects, and small Frogs. Some have the exterior tail-feathers 

 elongated, [as in the common Swallow ; and there is one species, inhabit- 

 ing- South Africa, which is stated to perch and watch for prey on the 

 horn of the Rhinoceros, giving notice to that animal of the approach of 

 the hunter]. 



The Rolles (Colaris, Cuv., Eurystomus, Vieillot), 

 Differ from the preceding by having a shorter and more arcuated bill, and particularly by its being 

 widened at the base, which is broader than high. 



[The species are less numerous ; and there is one inhabiting Australia.] 



The Birds-of-Paradise (Paradiscea, Lin.), 

 Have a straight, compressed, stout, and unemarginated beak, with covered nostrils, as in the Crows ; 

 but the influence of the climate they inhabit, which extends to birds of several other genera [so far 

 as the beak is concerned], imparts a velvety texture, and frequently also a metallic gloss, to those fea- 

 thers which overlie the nostrils, while the plumage of various other parts acquires a singular dcvclope- 

 ment. These birds are indigenous to New Guinea and the neighbouring islands. From the mode in 

 which the specimens brought to Europe are prepared by the savages of those countries, it was for- 

 merly thought that they were quite destitute of limbs, and supported themselves entirely by their airy 

 plumes. It is said that they live on fruits, and are particularly fond of aromatics. [They also subsist 

 largely upon insects.] 



Some of them have thinly-barbed feathers on the flanks, [or rather shoulder-tufts, which cover the closed 

 wing,] inordinately prolonged) so as to form immense tufts, that extend far backward beyond the body; there 

 are also two [generally] barbless filaments [the uropygials] attached to the rump, which are even more elongated 

 than the airy lateral plumes. Such are 



The Emerald Bird-of-Paradise (P. apoda, Lin.), which is the most anciently known species ; and the Red (P. rubra, 

 Vaillant). These compose the Somalia of Vieillot. [They are large birds, much more so than the contracted 

 skins brought to Europe, which are evidently shrunk by the application of great heat, would hail to suppose : it 

 is only in such specimens that the wings and legs appear disproportionately large.] 



Others have the same long filaments, but their lateral tufts, though still elongated, do not extpnd past the tail. As 



The King Bird-of-Paradise (P. regia, Cincinnunuregitu, Vieillot), and the Magnificent B. (/'. magnificq, Sonne- 

 rat), [which are very distinct, generically, from the preceding]. 



Some have the thinly-webbed feathers on the flanks, but they are short, and the filaments on the rump are 

 wanting, as 



The Six-stemmed B. (P. aurea, Gm. ; P. sexsciacea, Shaw), with a golden-srreen spot on the throat, and three 

 long filaments proceeding from each ear, which are terminated by a small disk of barbs of the same colour. It 

 constitutes the Parotid of Vieillot. 



Lastly, there are some «itli neither elongated filaments nor lateral tufts (the Lophorina, Vieillot), as 



The Superb B. (/'• tuperba, Sonnerat), and the Golden B. (P. intra. Slum ; Oriolui ttureut, Gmelin), [which 

 last is congenerous with the Australian Regent-bird, and therefore a Sericulits.} 



The fourth family of the Passt r'uirr, or that of 



