308 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



be alike in all. They are tolerably lively and active ; and live, in a 

 wild state, almost exclusively on fruits and berries. All of the 

 Indian species have green as the predominant or ground colour.* 

 A genus has lately been discovered, Tetragonops^ Jardine, which is 

 said by Bonaparte to form a direct link between the Toucans and 

 the Barbets ; so that perhaps ]\Ir. Blyth may be right in making' 

 the two groups as divisions of one natural family. The Barbets, 

 however, have not that airy lightness of action so remarkable in 

 the genuine Toucans, unless Tetragoriops may prove an exception. 



Gen. Megalaima, Gray. 



Syn. Bucco, Auct. (In part), and of most modern authors. 



Char. — Bill moderate, about as long as the head, robust, conical, 

 more or less wide at the base and compressed at the tip ; culmen 

 tolerably arched ; upper mandible somewhat overlapping the lower 

 one ; gape wide ; nostrils somewhat exposed, in a groove at the 

 side of the culmen ; wings moderate, rounded ; tail short, nearly 

 even ; feet truly zygodactyle ; conspicuous tufts of bristles surround- 

 ino- the bill, a series of them above each nostril, a tuft at each 

 angle of the gape, and another growing from the chin. 



This genus comprises the largest birds of the family (as here 

 restricted) ; and with the exception of the first bird, which is 

 coloured peculiarly, they form a group of very closely allied 

 species, some of which are not very readily distinguishable from 

 each other, all having more or less brown heads, and green 

 plumag<3. 



191. Megalaima virens, Bodd. 



Bucco, apud Boddaert — PL enl. 871.' — Blyth, Cat. 316 — 

 PIORSF., Cat. 921 — Bucco grandis, Gould, Cent. Him. Birds, pi. 

 46 — Kaniong-pho, Lepch. 



The Great Barbet. 



Descr. — Whole head, nape, and neck, dusky violet-blue ; a demi- 

 coUar of pale yellow on the hind-neck, separating the blue from 

 the coppery-brown hue which clothes the upper part of the 

 back, scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts ; the lower part of the 



* The Malayan Megalorlii/nchas Hayi constitutes one exception. 



