of the Order Insessores Heterogenes, 423 



ground ; having the tarse of mean length, and the innermost 

 toe short, as in the kingfishers : the claw of the middle toe is 

 rather long, with an expanded inner edge. Beak almost cor- 

 vine, but with the lower mandible also slightly decurved; and 

 the nostrils quite bare, uncovered by incumbent bristle-like 

 feathers ; their orifice is a circular perforation in the fore-part 

 of the nasal membrane, and consequently a little removed 

 from the base of the bill, (as in the todies and jacamars) : the 

 medial portion of both mandibles is distinctly denticulated. 

 Wings rounded, having the fourth, fifth, and sixth feathers 

 nearly equal and longest : tail very much graduated, its sixth 

 or outermost pair of feathers short, and absent in some of the 

 species. The plumage is loosely webbed, as in the toucans, 

 having also the general appearance of that of the jays, ana- 

 logously with which it is somewhat lengthened upon the head, 

 where, in most of them, it is finely coloured, the tint resem- 

 bling that of the more brilliant kingfishers and halcyons ; 

 there is also a singular pointed tuft of similar elongated fea- 

 thers on the fore-part of the neck, which contrasts remarkably 

 with the surrounding plumage : the body-feathers are long, 

 and have a distinct supplementary shaft, as in the aricaris, 

 which is similarly flocculent and downy ; their colouring is 

 chaste and unobtrusive : around the beak are the fi\e sets of 

 vibrissa} so conspicuous in some barbets, but small and little 

 noticeable. 



The sexes are undistinguishable ; and the young scarcely 

 differ, except in the more downy texture of their feathers. — 

 They appear to shed the primaries at the first moult. 



The tongue is described to be barbed as in the toucans ; 

 the eye, also, to be large, as in those birds. Le Vaillant states 

 that the stomach is rather muscular. It is probable that their 

 skeleton considerably resembles that of the rollers, but with 

 the sternal crest less developed : and that the digestive or- 

 gans accord with those of the toucans, excepting, perhaps, 

 that a gall-bladder may be present, as in the hornbills and 

 kingfishers. 



The most remarkable circumstance connected with this 

 group of birds is the unaccountable practice which most of 

 them exhibit of mutilating their long middle tail-feathers : 

 in other words, of nibbling off a small portion of the vanes of 

 them, immediately beyond the extremities of the next pair, 

 leaving, however, the tips barbed and untouched, as also the 

 entire remainder of their plumage. Of so general occurrence 

 is this, that it might reasonably be imagined to be an origi- 

 nal conformation, did not the absence of exact conformity in 

 the corresponding webs preclude the supposition ; besides 



Vol. II. No. 20. n. s. r r 



