448 CORACIIFORMES CHAP. 
and round the base of the bill. Chelidoptera tenebrosa, the 
“ Swallow-wing,” of Venezuela, Guiana, and Amazonia, has long 
wings and a short square tail; the colour being blue-black, with 
a chestnut lower abdomen and white tail-coverts. The larger C. 
brasiliensis inhabits Brazil, This is apparently the only member 
of the group of which the nest has been found; it was a mere 
hole in a bank, containing two shining white eggs. 
Fam. XVI. Capitonidae.—This is here taken to contain the 
Sub-familes (1) Capitoninae, or Barbets, and (2) Indicatorinae, 
or Honey-guides. Much confusion has arisen from the fact that 
Brisson included the former in his genus suweco, while subse- 
quently Garrod and W. A. Forbes combined the Rhamphastidae 
(Toucans) with the above-mentioned groups in their Capitonidae. 
Sub-fam. 1. Capitoninae.—Barbets are heavy, ungraceful birds, 
with large stout bills, which are swollen at the base, occasionally 
suleated, and more or less beset with bristles.  Pogonorhynchus 
and Tricholaema have the maxilla toothed—generally strongly, 
while that of Zetragonops fits into a fissure in the truncated tip 
of the mandible. The scutellated feet are fairly powerful, with 
zygodactylous toes and rather long claws; the moderate wings have 
ten primaries, and ten or eleven secondaries ; the tail of ten rectrices 
is more usually short than long, and may be square, rounded, or 
eraduated. The clavicles are somewhat reduced ; the tongue is said 
to be thin, short, and cartilaginous; the nostrils are often bristly, 
an aftershaft is present; while both adults and young lack down. 
The briluant plumage commonly exhibits vivid contrasts of 
scarlet, blue, purple, or yellow on a green ground, but Calorham- 
phus and Gymnobucco are sombre in hue; different species, moreover, 
have crests, naked orbits, or brightly coloured bills. The sexes 
are alike, except in Capito; the young are duller. 
The members of this Family are strictly arboreal, and inhabit 
forests, or well-timbered cultivated districts and gardens; not 
being usually shy, or easily disturbed while feeding in flocks, 
The tops of trees are their natural resort, yet pairs frequently 
descend to the bushes, where they hop from branch to branch ; 
they also climb up and down the trunks, and some African 
forms are said thus to search the cracks for insects. The flight 1s 
powerful and undulating, but Barbets are inactive birds, and 
often sit motionless for hours, their plaintive whistle, or noisy 
ringing note of two or three syllables being heard at intervals 
