464 CLASS XVI. 



Sp. Prionites hrasiliensis, Rhamphastas Momota L., Buff. PI. enl. 370, 

 Less. Ornith. PI. 30, fig. 2, &c. ; — Prionites Lessonii, Momotus Lessonii 

 Desmurs PL peintes, 62, &c. Species, whose bill is broad and flat at the 

 base, form with Swainson the genus Ci-ypticus. (Sp. Prionites platy- 

 rhynclms, Momotus platyrhynchus Jaedine and Selby III. of Ornith. 

 PI. 106; — Prionites supterciUosus, Crypticus svperciliosus Swains.) In the 

 last species noted the notches at the margin of the bill are fine and scarcely 

 to be observed by the naked eye. The same is the case with a small 

 Mexican species (not much larger than a common kingfisher), Prionites 

 momotula, Hylomanes momotula Lichtenst, Ahhandl. der Akml. der Wiss. 

 zu Berlin, Physik-math. Klasse, 1838, p. 449, PI. iv., Gray Gen. of Birds, i. 

 PI. XXIV. ; it has a shorter tail and somewhat longer tarsi than the rest. 



Merops L. Bill moderate or long, arched, acuminate, with 

 margins very entire. Tongue narrow, with apex horny, laciniate. 

 Tail long, subeven. Tarsi short, reticulate posteriorly. Tibias 

 denuded above the heel. Wings with first quill mostly very small, 

 second, more rarely third or fourth, longest of all. 



a) Wings lone/. Tail ivith tioo middle feathers elonc/ate. 



Sp. Merops apiaster L., Buff. PI. enl. 938, Lesson Ornith. PI. 30, fig. i, 

 Naumann Taf. 143; ihQ bee-eater, le gxnepier, der Bienenfresser ; the back 

 red-brown, the throat yellow with a black margin, breast and belly 

 greenish-blue ; this bird lives in the south of Europe and in Africa, and 

 feeds on insects, especially wasps and bees, which it captures on the wing, 

 like swallows; has been seen, though very rarely, in England; — Merops 

 nuhicus Gm., Buff. PI. enl. 649, &c. 



b) Wings short, rounded. Tail forhed or emarginate. Sub-genera 

 Melittophagiis Bote and Nyctiornis Swains., Alcemerops IsiD. Geoffr.i 



Sp. Merops amictus Temm., PI. col. 310, Guerin Iconogr., Ois. PI. 27, fig. i ; 

 green, head violet-red on the top, throat bright blood-red ; a large species 

 from Borneo and Sumatra; — Merops gidaris Lath., Shaw, Melittophagus 

 gularis Gray, Gener. of Birds, PI. xxx. «Stc. 



Family XXXI. Halcyonince. Wing-coverts large. Primaries 

 ten. Tarsi short, covered anteriorly with transverse, distinct or 

 obsolete scutes, sometimes reticulate. Two outer toes united, dis- 

 tinct only at the apex. Bill long, straight, with culmen keeled. 

 Nostrils basal, lateral, small. Tibias denuded below towards the 

 heel. Tail with twelve "feathers. 



The kingfishers forra a natural family, of which about eighty 

 species are now known. Only very few occur in the new world ; 



^ Nouv. Ann. du Mus. I. 1832, p. 395. 



