ALCED1NID.E. 297 



which they pursue by short and rapid flights. Their 

 eggs are deposited in hollow trees. 



The typical species^ — 



The Red-tailed Jacamar (Galhula rujicauda), inha- 

 bits South America, frequenting trees in damp and 

 shady places. They generally sit on the low naked 

 branches m the forests, from which they dart upon 

 butterflies, spearing them with their long bills ; tlieir 

 haunts, indeed, may frequently be discovered by the 

 ground being strewn with the beautiful wings of their 

 victims. 



" A bird called Jacamar," says Mr. Waterton, " is often 

 mistaken for a kingfisher, but it has no relationship (in 

 its habits) with that tribe ; it frequently sits on the 

 trees overhanging tlie water, and as its beak bears some 

 resemblance to that of a kingfisher, this may probably 

 account for its being taken for one. It feeds entirely 

 upon insects, sits on a branch in motionless expectation, 

 and as soon as a fly, butterfiy, or moth passes by, it darts 

 at it, and returns to the branch it had just left. It seems 

 an indolent, sedentary bird, shiinniug the society of all 

 others. It never visits cultivated grounds, but remains 

 all the year round in the woods. There are four species 

 of Jacamar in Demerara ; they are all beautiful, the 

 largest superb. Its plumage is of so fine a changing blue 

 and golden-green, that it may take rank with tlie choicest 

 of the Humming-birds." 



