EURYLAIMID^. 235 



or in banks of streams. They sometimes perch lengthwise on 

 branches, clasping them with their first and fourth toes, directed 

 sideways. Their anatomy somewhat resembles that of the Cuckoos. 

 The Jacamars (Galbulid^), also peculiar to America, have a 

 long sharp slender beak, straight or slightly curved ; short feet, the 

 toes in pairs, connected as far as the second joint. They have slight 

 bodies, thin skin, and soft metallic plumage ; catch insects in the air, 

 and nestle in holes of trees. Wallace considers them intermediate 

 to Trogons and Kingfishers, with the former of which, he says, 

 they correspond precisely in habits ; and they appear to unite the 

 Kingfishers with the Bee-eaters. 



Fam. EuRYLAiMiD^, Swainson. 



Syn. Todid(2, apud Horsfield. 



Bill short, broad, depressed, with the culmen bluntly ridged, more 

 or less rounded, and the tip hooked ; margins of the upper mandibles 

 somewhat dilated, and folding over the lower ones ; nares basal, 

 apert, or overhung by a few bristles or decomposed feathers ; wings 

 rather short ; tail rounded or graduated ; tarsus short, moderately 

 stout ; outer toe syndactyle as far as the second phalanx. 



The Broadbills comprise a small group of birds from India, and 

 especially Malayana, which some have united to the Todies of South 

 America, but these apparently form a distinct family, differing in 

 the form of the bill, which is lengthened ; the nostrils are not basal, 

 and both lateral toes are syndactyle. The real situation of the 

 Eurylaimi, in a natural disposition of birds, is somewhat uncer- 

 tain. Van Hoeven places them at the end of the Caprimulgidce ; 

 Gray as a sub-family of Coraciadce ; and Bonaparte also locates them 

 next to the Eollers, Plorsfield joins them with the Todies, to form 

 a distinct family of the Fissirostres. ■ Swainson removes them from 

 this tribe to the Flycatchers ; and Blyth and Wallace class them 

 ■with the Fipridce or Ampelidce. The latter author states that, in 

 removing them from the Fissirostres, he relies chiefly on the 

 character of their feet, which are somewhat stronger, and have the 

 hallux larger than is usual among fissirostral birds ; and he further 

 says that those which he has had an opportunity of observing, do not 



