360 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Family GALBULID^. 



THE JACAMARS. 



=[Zygodactyl'i\ Aureoli Vieillot, Analyse, 1816, 26. 



=Galbulidx Bonaparte, Saggio distr. An. Vert., 1831, 41; Prodr. Syst. Orn., 1840, 

 18; Consp. Av., i, 1850, 152. — Cabanis, Wiegmann's Archiv fiir Naturg., 1847, 

 pt. i, 347. — ScLATER, Cat. Am. Birds, 1862. 265. — Cabanis and Heine, Mus. 

 Hein, iv, heft 1, 1863, 213.— Lelljeborg, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1866, 16.— 

 ScLATER and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, pp. 104. — Stejneger, Stand. 

 Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 412, 414. — Fuerbringer, XJnters. Morph. Syst. Vog., ii, 

 1888, 1326, 1567.— Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, ii, 1896, 

 505.— Beddard, Struct, and Classif. Birds, 1898, 213.— Sharpe, Hand-list, 

 ii, 1900, 194. 



=Galhulinse Bonaparte, Prodr. Syst. Orn., 1840, 18; Consp. Av., i, 1850, 152. — 

 Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein, iv, heft 1, 1863, 213. — Sundevall, Met. Nat. 

 Av. Disp. Tent., ii, 1873, 76 (English translation, 1889, 148).— Gadow, Bronn's 

 Thier-Reich, Vog. ii, 1891, 266, 301.— Sharpe, Hand-list, ii, 1900. 194. 



=Galhulse (not of Fuerbringer, 1888) Sharpe, Rev. Classif. Birds, 1891, 84; Hand- 

 list, ii, 1900, 194. 



"^ Jacameropinas Sclater, Mon. Jacamars and Puff-Birds, 1882, p. xx. 



Small to medium-sized desmognathous Picarian Birds with long, 

 straight, pointed bill, having both ciilmen and gonys carinate, a small 

 aftershaft to the contour feathers, vomer absent, and pectoral 

 pteryla with a narrow lateral (clavicular) and an inner (gular) branch ; 

 plumage usually metallic (green, bronze, or purplish) on upper parts, 

 sometimes across breast also. 



The Galbuhdse differ from the Bucconidse, their nearest allies, in 

 the above-mentioned characters, agreeing with the latter family in 

 their desmognathous palate, absence of basipterygoid processes, pres- 

 ence of cseca, two carotids, nude oil-gland, and many other anatomi- 

 cal features. 



The Jacamars are peculiar to continental tropical America, ranging 

 from southern Mexico to southern Brazil, but are poorly represented 

 north of the Isthmus of Panama, where only two species, belonging 

 to two genera, are known to occur. Only twenty-one species and six 

 genera are recognized, most of which belong to the Valley of the 

 Amazon. They are forest birds, dull or stupid in their nature though 

 active enough in pursuit of their insect food, which they catch by 

 darting swiftly from some dead twig upon which they have appar- 

 ently been dozing. They lay two pure white eggs, which are deposited 

 in holes in banks of streams or old stumps. 



key to the genera of galbulid^. 



a. Bill obviously decurved, broad (width at nostrils equal to depth at game point); 

 nostrils with internal membrane; lateral rectrices two-fifths as long as middle 



pair Jacamerops (p. 362). 



aa. Bill straight, narrow, compressed (width at nostrils much less than depth at same 

 point) ; nostrils without internal membrane ; lateral rectrices less than one-fourth 

 as long as middle pair, or else sixth pair wanting. 



