392 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



was usually perched on the upper branches of some tree, from which it made short 

 flights into the air in pursuit of insects. The first one I shot was only winged, and, 

 turning on its back, and uttering harsh screams, it fought most savagely with my dog. 

 It was a male ; length eleven inches ; irides dark brown ; legs, feet, and beak, scarlet ; 

 plumage greenish blue ; head almost black ; wings very prettily marked Avith blue and 

 black, each having on it a spot of very pale blue; patch on throat rich violet; beak 

 short, strong, and hooked at tip ; gape and eyes very large." 



The following family, the LEPTOSOMATID^E, is not the least remarkable for the fact 

 that there is only one species living, inhabiting the wonderful Madagascar, while 

 another is known as fossil from the tertiary deposits in France. As may be expected, 

 this last survival stands alone among his more modern contemporaries, and many 

 are, indeed, its peculiarities, though the relationship to the rollers is 

 unmistakable ; in fact no other living birds come nearer to it, and 

 several authors refer it unhesitatingly to the Coraciadaa. There are 

 two external peculiarities which may be very well seen in the illustra- 

 tion herewith presented, viz., the position of the nostrils at the middle 

 of the beak, the curious development of the loral plumes into a con- 

 spicuous tuft, and the apparently yoke-toed feet. I say apparently 

 yoke-toed, since the fourth toe is not placed directly behind, as in 

 the cuckoos or wood-peckers, but laterally, rather more behind than 

 in front. This disposition of the toes induced the older systematists p , 

 to place the bird in question among the Cuculidre, but Dr. P. L. Sclater 

 has shown that it differs considerably from the latter, and approaches 



,. . . . 1-, i i FIG. 192. Pterylosis 



the rollers. Kecent studies of its myology show that it really belongs of Zeptosowms, dor- 



,i , -,- ,. .. m , sal view; ^.powder- 



here ; the breastbone presents some peculiarities ot its own. 1 he down patches ; o, 



pterylosis is remarkable. It possesses long after-shafts, and the dor- 

 sal tract bifurcates between the shoulders, and there are two highly developed powder- 

 down patches, one on each side of the rump, as shown in the appended figure. There 

 seems, consequently to be characters enough to warrant its recognition as type of a 

 distinct family. 



Our figure of Leptosomus discolor, or kirumbo, as it is called by some of the 

 natives of Madagascar, only represents the male, Avhich is glossy green, with coppery 

 reflections on the back and crown, cinereous on sides of head, round the neck, and 

 below. The female, which by Reichenbach was made the type of a different genus, 

 and placed in a different part of the system, is barred and spotted with blackish and 

 rufous brown. 



The French traveler, Alfred Grandidier, gives the following account of the habits 

 of the kirumbo. They " live in bands of ten or twelve individuals on the borders of 

 woods. As soon as one of these birds is knocked over with a shot, all the others 

 place themselves at a little distance off or hover round the hunter, so that sometimes 

 one may kill as many as ten in less than a quarter of an hour." About the roller-like 

 tumbling in the air, Messrs. Roch and Newton made the following observations : 

 " It has a peculiar habit of playing in the air for some time over the same place, 

 ascending almost perpendicularly, as it were by a jump, to a great height, and descend- 

 ing again in a curve neai-ly to the top of the trees, by almost closing its wings, at the 

 same time uttering a whistle so like an eagle's that it was for a long time doubted by 

 us whether the bird that performed this wonderful freak was not a raptorial. How- 

 ever, after having several times watched it with our glasses, we satisfied ourselves that 



