86 



ISIUD IIALLICUV. 



Order XX^^ CORACIIFORMES. Puakian Birds. 



This Order coutains a number of families including tlie Oil-birds, 

 Frog-mouths, Kingfishers, Rollers, Bee-eaters, Motmots, Todies, 

 Hoopoes, Hornbills, Nightjars, Swifts, Humming-birds, and Colies. 

 They differ greatly from one another in outward form, structure, and 

 habits, possessing hardly a single feature in common by which they c;iu 

 be distinguished from other allied orders. 



Family I. Stkatokxithid.k. Oil-bikds. 



Cabe")7.: The Oil-bird or Guacharo {Stea/oniis curipensin) (1110), the sole 

 representative of this family, inhabits the caves in the northern and 

 north-western portions of South America, and is also found in the 

 island of Trinidad. Both in its general outward appearance and in its 

 crepuscular habits the bird bears a strong resemblance to the Nightjars, 

 with which it has generally been associated and to which it is evidently 

 closely allied. It dift'ers, howevci-, from these birds in its strongly- 

 hooked and deeply-notched bill, feeds mainly if not exclusively on 

 fruits, and lays from two to four pure white eggs. The large cheese- 

 shaped nest, made of clay-like material and exhibited in the Case, is 

 placed on ledges or holes in caverns. When about a fortnight old, the 

 young become extremely fat and as it were enveloped in a thick layer of 

 yellow grease. They are then destroyed in large numbers by the natives, 

 who melt down the fat into a colourless oil known as guaeharo-butter, 

 which is used both for purposes of illumination and cooking. 



Family II. Pouaroiu.i;. Fkog-mouths. 



[Cati- r,7.\ The Owl-like birds comprising this family are only met with in the 

 Indian and Australian regions, and are closely related to the Nightjars, 

 but differ entirely in their mode of nesting and, like the Oil-bird, the 

 majority lay white eggs. Three genera are recognised, Fodart/ux and 

 jEgotheles being confined to New Guinea and Australia, while Buirach- 

 ostomiis is found in the Indo-Malayan countries and islands. 



The Common Australian Frog-mouth {P. sirit/oidcs) (1111) makes 

 a slightly constructed flat nest of sticks placed in the fork of a 

 horizontal branch, and lays two white eggs, which are incubated by 

 both parents. During the day these birds sleep in an iqjriylit position 

 on the dead branch of a tree, the colour of their plumage harmonising 

 so closely with their surroundings that they are almost invisible. Their 

 prey appears to consist chiefly of insects such as mantis and locusts, 

 captured on the tree-stems in a state of repose. The Eared Frog-month 



