VI 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 
erown and black and white throat. This genus extends from 
Costa Rica to Bolivia and Brazil. Lophornis covers the same area, 
but reaches Mexico. JZ. ornatus 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 
behind 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. XITI. Coliidae.—This group is the only constituent of the 
Sub-Order Couit or Colies, 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 poimt 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, 
fo) 
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. 
Colies 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 
