438 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 2 



the feathers with its bill. It is now recognized that attachment of 

 the barbs to the feather shaft becomes weak as the feather matures, 

 so that the individual filaments break off through friction when the 

 tail strikes leaves or branches as the motmot moves about. It is 

 interesting that in some the feather vane may remain entire, though 

 in general appearance these birds closely resemble others with racket 

 tips. 



Motmots nest in burrows that they dig in earthen banks, in which 

 their white eggs are laid on the earth of a chamber that has no nest 

 lining. The birds associate in pairs, or outside the nesting season 

 may be found alone. The four species that live in Panama range 

 in size from the smallest of the family, the tody motmot, to the 

 largest, the rufous motmot. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF MOMOTIDAE 



1. Small, wing less than 80 mm. ; tail shorter than wing. 



Tody motmot, Hylomanes motnotula obscurus, p. 438 

 Large, wing more than 100 mm., tail decidedly longer than wing 2 



2. Bill broad and flattened ; very finely serrated on cutting edges of maxilla and 



mandible. 



Broad-billed motmot, Electron platyrhynchum minor, p. 441 



Bill compressed and rounded; serrations on cutting edges of maxilla and 



mandible coarse and prominent 3 



3. Crown black centrally, bordered broadly with blue; throat, foreneck and 



breast green or dull brownish green. 



Blue-crowned motmot, Momotus momota, p. 448 

 Entire head, foreneck, and breast rufous-brown, except for black band 

 through eyes, and spot on breast. 



Rufous motmot, Baryphthengus martii scmirufus, p. 444 



HYLOMANES MOMOTULA OBSCURUS Nelson: Tody motmot, 

 Bobito 



Figure 51 



Hylomanes motnotula obscurus Nelson, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 56, no. 22, 

 September 7, 1911, p. 1. (Cerro Bruja, Colon, Panama.) 



A small motmot, with short tail, without racket-shaped tips. 



Description. — Length 160-190 mm. Tail slightly shorter than wing ; 

 feathers of the throat, especially those on the side, slightly elongated. 

 Adult (sexes alike), forecrown dull olive-green with a faint buffy 

 to rusty wash, changing behind the level of the eye to cinnamon-rufous 

 or russet, which extends over the hindneck; a line of greenish blue 

 on either side of the crown ; rest of upper surface dull green, with 

 the edgings of the coverts and larger wing feathers duller; a broad 



