424 Analytic Descriptions of the Groups of Birds 



which the artificial truncation is at once apparent when view- 

 ed with a lens, and newly-moulted specimens are occasion- 

 ally, though seldom, met with, which display the natural 

 structure. 



Now, it has been intimated that the general figure of the 

 motmots is not unlike that of a common magpie ; and it par- 

 ticularly resembles those of the sub-division Dendrocitta of 

 Mr. Gould, (comprehending the Pica vagabunda, auct., and 

 some allied species) : and the fact is not a little curious, that 

 the members of that cantorial group further agree in present- 

 ing the anomalous habit in question. Both have the central 

 tail-feathers considerably longer than the next ; and the com- 

 mon Indian Dendrocitta vagabunda has them tipped for more 

 than an inch with black, the portion between which and the 

 extremities of the next pair is frequently so worn by nibbling, 

 as to be rendered sufficiently transparent to read through with 

 the utmost facility :* the unserrated mandibles of the pie be- 

 ing inadequate to cut through the web, as is done by the mot- 

 mots. It is not, therefore, improbable that by careful obser- 

 vation and comparison of the habits of these two essentially 

 incongruous genera, the intent of so strange a practice may 

 be divined. 



In the motmots, however, it is furthermore exceedingly re- 

 markable, that although in the perfect feather of the adult 

 bird there exists not the slightest trace of irregularity, yet, 

 in the immature plumage (of one species at least, as figured 

 by Le Vaillant), a considerable and apparently pristine sinu- 

 ation occurs, where the artificial excision is practised by the 

 adults : though what inference can be deduced from this, I 

 am a loss to imagine, unless it be, simply, that some object 

 must be attained by the peculiarity. 



Motmots are solitary birds, inhabitants of the interior of the 

 forest, though probably of the more open glades rather than the 

 dense entanglement They subsist both on small animals and 

 upon fruit: in this resembling the succeeding group of toucans. 

 Mr. Waterton narrates, of the P. momotus, that — " He who 

 wishes to observe this handsome bird in its native haunts, 

 must be in the forest in the morning's dawn. The houtou 

 shuns the society of man: the plantations and cultivated parts 

 are too much disturbed to engage it to settle there : the thick 

 and gloomy forests are the places preferred by the solitary 

 houtou. In those far-extending wilds [Guaiana], about day- 

 break, you hear him articulate in a distinct and mournful tone 

 " houtou, houtou." Move cautiously to where the sound pro- 



* I find that the same is sometimes noticeahle in our native magpie. 



