‘Cases 
7-63. | 
[Case 57. 
- 
86 BIRD GALLERY. 
Order XXV. CORACIIFORMES.  Preartan Brrps. 
This Order contains a number of families including the Oil-birds, 
Frog-mouths, Kingfishers, Rollers, Bee-eaters, Motmots, Todies, 
Hoopoes, Hornbills, Nightjars, Swifts, Humming-birds, and Colies. 
They differ greatly from one another in outward form, structure, and 
habits, possessing hardly a single feature in common by which they can 
be distinguished from other allied orders. 
Family I. SrearornirHipa. Or1n-Birds. 
The Oil-bird or Guacharo (Steatornis caripensis) (1110), the sole 
representative of this family, inhabits the caves in the northern and 
north-western portions of South America, and is also found in the 
island of Trinidad. Both in its general outward appearance and in its 
crepuscular habits the bird bears a strong resemblance to the Nightjars, 
with which it has generally been associated and to which it is evidently 
closely allied. It differs, however, from these birds in its strongly- 
hooked and deeply-notched bill, feeds mainly if not exclusively on 
fruits, and lays from two to four pure white eggs. The large cheese- 
shaped nest, made of clay-like material and exhibited in the Case, is 
placed on ledges or holes in caverns. When about a fortnight old, the 
young become extremely fat and as it were enveloped in a thick layer of 
yellow grease. hey are then destroyed in large numbers by the natives, 
who melt down the fat into a colourless oil known as guacharo-butter, 
which is used for purposes of illumination and for cooking. 
Family IT. Poparcipm. Froc-mourus. 
The Owl-like birds comprising this family are only met with in the 
Indian and Australian regions, and are closely related to the Nightjars, 
but differ entirely in their mode of nesting and, like the Oil-bird, the 
majority lay white eggs. Three genera are recognised, Podargus and 
Egotheles being confined to New Guineaand Australia, while Batrach- 
ostomus is found in the Indo-Malayan countries and islands. 
The Common Australian Frog-mouth (P. strigoides) (1111) makes 
a slightly constructed flat nest of sticks placed in the fork of a 
horizontal branch, and lays two white eggs, which are incubated by 
both parents. During the day these birds sleep in an upright position 
on the dead branch of a tree, the colour of their plumage harmonising 
so closely with their surroundings that they are almost invisible. Their 
prey appears to consist chiefly of insects such as mantis and locusts, 
captured on the tree-stems in a state of repose. The Hared Frog-mouth 
