COLIIDAE 439 



throat and rufous tibiae. The forked tail has the pointed narrow 

 feathers steel-blue with white shafts. The hen has a dark green 

 crown and black and white throat. This genus extends from 

 Costa Eica to Bolivia and Brazil. Lopltornis covers the same area, 

 but reaches Mexico. L. urnatas has beautiful fawn-coloured tufts 

 with green terminal spots, on the sides of the neck ; and is chiefly 

 bright green and cinnamon, with a rufous and purplish rump and 

 a chestnut crest ; the female exhibits more white below and lacks 

 the crest and tufts. The remaining half score of species are similar 

 or even more brilliant. Heliactin cornuta of Brazil alone of the 

 Family has resplendent purple, green, and gold tufts above and 

 Ijehind the eyes. The coloration is shining green, with a bluer 

 crown, black cheeks and throat, and white lower parts. The hen 

 is green above and white below, with buff throat. 



Fam. XIII. Coliidae. — This group is the only constituent of the 

 Sub-Order Colii or Colics, termed Mouse-birds in South Africa from 

 their creeping habits. They were formerly classed among the 

 Passerine Fringillidae, to which they bear a certain outward resem- 

 blance, while at a later date a partial study of the anatomy seemed 

 to point to an affinity with the Plantain-eaters ; but it is now 

 generally recognised that they should be placed among those 

 Families which in this work form the Order Coraciiformes. They 

 are small, tough-skinned birds, which would appear larger were it 

 not for the short, dense feathering ; the bill is stout and Finch-like, 

 the long metatarsus exhibits one series of scutes in front, and reti- 

 culations behind ; the toes with their slender claws are all directed 

 forwards, but the hallux and apparently the outer toe can be turned 

 backwards. The wings are weak and rounded, with ten primaries 

 and nine secondaries; the very long tail has ten rectrices, the 

 outer pair not being greatly developed. The furcula is U -shaped ; 

 the syrinx has one pair of tracheo-bronchial muscles ; the tongue 

 is flat and cartilaginous with horny papillae ; an after-shaft is 

 present ; the adults, and probably the nestlings, have no down. 



Colics frequent forest-districts, especially where the bush is 

 thick ; they are active, yet not very shy, and are usually found, 

 except during the breeding season, in flocks of some six to eight 

 individuals. The flight is laboured, with many a quick beat of 

 the wings; but it is direct and fairly rapid, though seldom sustained 

 beyond some neighbouring tree, where the bird may be seen stealing 



