39 



various tropical countries, are not larger than small Thrushes. 



One of the most peculiar birds of the Picarian order is the 

 Guacharo or Oil-bird of Northern South America, sometimes 

 regarded as so different from other birds as to be placed as a 

 distinct order. It is allied on the one hand to the Owls, and on 

 the other to the Goatsuckers, and has sometimes been looked 

 upon as merely a gigantic Goatsucker. The single known species 

 forms the family Steatornithidce (Case H). 



The Goatsuckers {Cap rim idg idee) are widely distributed, having 

 representatives everywhere. The group includes our Nighthawks 

 and Whippoorwills, and also several remarkable forms inhabiting 

 the tropics, as the Lyre-tailed Goatsuckers of South America 

 (Case H), and the Pennant-winged Nightjar of Africa. They 

 are nearly all nocturnal in habits, with soft mixed colors of gray, 

 buff, brown, black, and white, and singularly distinct notes, from 

 which many of the species, as our Whippoorwills and Chuckwills- 

 widow, have derived their vernacular names, which are imitative 

 of their notes. The Moreporks and Frogmouths {Podargidce) 

 of Australia, New Guinea, and the East Indies (Case Q) are near 

 allies of the Goatsuckers and Nightjars. 



The Rollers {Coraciida;) externally somewhat resemble Jays, 

 especially in the coloration of some of the species, but many 

 anatomical features indicate that their nearest affinities are with 

 the Picarian series. They range throughout the greater part of 

 the Old World, to which they are restricted (see Case R). 



The Kirumbo, of Madagascar, distinctly allied to the Rollers, 

 constitutes the single species of the family Leptosomidcz (Case R*). 



The Colies {Coliida), a small group restricted to tropical Africa 

 and Madagascar, find a place here, though so distinct from their 

 allies as to be assigned the rank of a suborder. They are fruit 

 eaters, of plain colors, bold and active, and quaint in their atti- 

 tudes (Case R). 



The Bee-eaters {Meropidtr) are exclusively birds of the Old 

 World, mainly tropical, and richly colored. They nest in colo- 

 nies, in river banks, which they are said to tunnel for a distance 

 of eight to ten feet, at the end of which the nest is placed. As 

 their name indicates, their food is chiefly bees, wasps, and other 

 insects, which they capture on the wing. (See Case S.) 



