AMPELID.E. 1 / / 



FAMILY IV. 



AiiPELiD.E. I'he Chatterers. 



Gen. Chakac. — Bill moderate, more or less broad at the base and more or 

 less depressed, with the sides gradually compressed to the tip, which is 

 emarginated ; the wings long, and generally rounded ; the tail moderate, 

 and usually even at the end; the tarsi generally short and slender; the toes 

 moderate, with the outer more or less united to the base of the middle one ; 

 the claws short and curved. 



In the members of tliis family, the notches, 

 characteristic of the dentirostral birds, though 

 small, are always distinctly to be seen on each side 

 of the tip of the bill, which is rather short, broad, 

 and depressed at the base, so that, when viewed 

 from above, it is nearly triangular. The wings are 

 generally long and the tail short ; the feet are 

 slender, and the toes terminated by curved acute 

 claws grooved along their lower surface. Most of 

 them are met mth in the warmer latitudes, where 

 they feed upon insects and fruits. Their plumage 

 is often very beautiful and brilliant in its colouring. 



The Chatterers are remarkable for the width of 

 their gape, which, in many, is nearly as mde as that 

 of a Groatsucker : they live almost entirely on soft 

 berries and small fruits, which, being swallowed 

 whole, require a very wide passage down the throat. 

 They are perpetually hopping about among the 

 branches of fruit -bearing trees, and seem to know, 

 by wonderful instinct, the period when each species 

 yields its fruit. They never walk upon the ground, 

 the structure of their feet being only adapted for 

 grasping boughs. These birds are most of them con- 

 fined to the American continent ; many of them are 

 remarkable for the splendid tints of azure and purple 

 with which, in the pairing season, the males are be- 

 dizened, but during the rest of the year the two sexes 

 are equally clad in grey or brown plumage. 



To this family belong the Thick-heads, the Mana- 

 kins, the Chatterers proper, the Caterpillar-eaters, 

 and the Drongo Shrikes. 



