MOTMOTS. 



397 



of the colors: Lower parts veriligris-blne,.aii(l forehead pale whltish-hlue ; body above 

 chestnut, jiassing into rufous on tlie ruinj) ; a black stripe through the eye nearly 

 meets another which posteriorly borders the yellow throat. 



The Mrrojiin:e proper form a grou[) of hardly more than thii'ty species. Ki/ctiornis 

 and its allies, which have a more arched bill, and elongated jilumes on the throat, like 

 the niotmot, form a grou]) of still fewer species. The latter differ also somewhat in 

 their habits, being less active, less sociable, and preferring the dense forests, while 

 Merops is very jiartial to the open country. 



During the sway of the old theory that the peculiar birds of one hemisphere were 

 represented in tlie other hemisphere by corresponding forms, the i\reroj)ida! were 

 regarded as represented in the Xew \Yorld by the niotinots, or Momi)TII>/K, — a family 

 which is as exclusively American as the bee-eaters are palteogaean. In this case the 

 theory worke<l tolerably well, for not only is there a certain external resemblance 

 between the two groups, lint they are also evidently related, notwithstanding the fact 

 that the former have well-developed cajca, while the latter have lost them. It is diffi- 

 cult to see why the same exj)lanatiou which has been advanced in order to explain the 

 absence of feather-tufts to the oil gland of several IMomotidw, viz., that they were 

 lost after the ancestral stock had sjilit up into two branches, — one with and another 

 without colic caica, — should not aiij)ly just as well to the presence or absence of cajca 

 as com])ared with the synpehnous and syndactylous arrangement of the toes. 



The ]\[oniotida', like the next family, have the edges of the bill serrated, which 

 has caused them to be united in a common group, called by some authors Scrratiros- 

 tres. But this character is not exclusive, since there is a genus of kingfishers {Syma), 

 in which the tomia are likewise denticulated. In contradistinction to the Todidas, 

 however, the tail is graduated and elon- 

 gated, tlie middle feathers especially so, 

 cxce])t in the small s]iecies composing the 

 genus J/)/h»/Htnes. The number of tail- 

 feathers v.'iries in the different genera 

 between ten and twelve. The ])resent 

 family is not rich in species, and the cen- 

 tre of its distribution seems to be Central 

 America. The predominant colors are 

 green and rusty, with bluish or beryl- 

 green ornamental ])lumes. 



The habits of these birds have been 

 summed up as follows: "Tlie birds are 

 solitary, or live in pairs, ])referring the 

 shady recesses of the forest. They sit 

 motionless on a low branch, often in 

 nooks near rivulets, wherefroin they dart 

 on their i)rey. Swainson says they catch 

 their j>rey on the wing, but Kirk avers 

 that they alight to seize it. Ordinarily 

 their food is insects, reptiles, and fruits. 

 In captivity a bold, mistrusting bird, the 

 niotmot will then eat bread, raw meat, oranges, watermelons, small birds, mice, 

 lizards, snakes, cockroaclies, etc. On i)ouncii)g on these latter, they afterwards strike 



Fio. 19T. — reiural tnil-foatliers of (A) .yimioliis hi pro- 

 press of (Icnuilation : ^B) of /•'inntminlii, aiul (C) of 

 MimwiHS Uiimmi from almve, with central feulliers 

 half-Krown, but yet partially denuded ; all half natu- 

 ral size. 



