318 



GEOGRAPHICAL ZOOLOGY. 



[PABT IV. 



Family 70.— IRRISORID^. (1 Genus, 12 Species.) 



General Distribution. 



Neotropical 

 Sub-regions. 



Neabctic 

 Sub-regions. 



Pal^arctic 

 sub-kegions. 



Ethiopian 

 Sub-regions. 



Oriental 

 sub-reoions. 



Australian 

 Sub-regions. 



1.2.3— 



The Irrisors are birds of generally metallic plumage, which 

 liave often been placed with the Epunachidae and near the Sun- 

 birds, or Birds of Paradise, but which are undoubtedly allied to 

 the Hoopoes. They are strictly confined to the continent of 

 Africa, ranging from Abyssinia to the west coast, and southward 

 to the Cape Colony. They have been divided into several sub- 

 genera which it is not necessary here to notice (Plate IV. Vol. L 

 p. 261). 



Family 71.— PODARGIDiE. (3 Genera, 20 Species.) 



General Distribution. 



The Podargida?, or Prog-mouths, are a family of rather large- 

 sized nocturnal insectivorous birds, closely allied to the Goat- 

 suckers, but distinguished by their generally thicker bills, and 

 especially by hunting for their food on trees or on the ground, 

 instead of seizing it on the wing. They abound most in the Austra- 

 lian region, but one genus extends over a large part of the Oriental 

 region. The following are the genera with their distribution : — 



Podargus (10 sp.), Australia, Tasmania, and the Papuan 

 Islands (Plate XII. Vol. I. p. 441) ; Batrachostomus (6 sp.), the 

 Oriental region (excluding Philippine Islands and Cliina) and 

 the northern Moluccas ; ^gothdes (4 sp.), Australia, Tasmania, 

 and Papuan Islands. 



