40 



The Motmots form an allied family {Moinotidtv), found only in 

 tropical America. Most of the species have serrated bills, long 

 tails, and rather subdued but peculiar colors. Some of the species 

 have the long middle feathers of the tail racket-shaped, a feature 

 said to be produced by the birds themselves by biting off a por- 

 tion of the barbs. (See Case H.) Nearly allied to these are the 

 Todies {TodidcE), consisting of about half-a-dozen species con- 

 fined to the West Indian Islands. They are small birds, mostly 

 green in color, with the throat of some shade of red (Case H). 

 They nest, like the Kingfishers, Motmots, and Colies, in holes in 

 banks, and lay white eggs. 



The Kingfishers {AlcedinidcE) are a cosmopolitan group, num- 

 bering about one hundred and thirty species. Most of them are 

 richly colored, and generally more or less crested ; some are very 

 small, as the Wood-Kingfishers of Africa ; others are as large as 

 Crows, as th'e Giant Kingfishers or Laughing Jackasses of Austra- 

 lia (Case R). Among the most interesting in form and most 

 striking in coloration are the Racket-tailed Kingfishers of New 

 Guinea. The food varies with the different groups, some being 

 more or less omnivorous, others feeding on reptiles, others on 

 shrimps and small crabs, and others exclusively on fishes, as is 

 the case with our North American species (Case B), and also 

 those of South America (Case H). 



The Hornbills {Bucerotidu) are believed to be near relatives of 

 the Kingfishers, notwithstanding their enormously modified beaks. 

 The sixty known species are all Old World birds, where their 

 distribution is mainly tropical. They are large, heavy, and of 

 strange appearance (Case R), but their breeding habits are still 

 more novel. They nest in hollow trees, and the male bird con- 

 fines the female as a prisoner during the period of incubation 

 by closing the entrance to the nest with clay, except a small aper- 

 ture, through which he feeds her. 



The Hoopoes ( Upiipidce), and the Wood-Hoopoes [Irrisoridcc) 

 — the former numbering six species, the latter ten — form two 

 families constituting the suborder Upupoida;. The Hoopoes are 

 remarkable for their large crests, of which the Common Hoopoe 

 of Europe (Case S) is a good example. The Wood-Hoopoes 

 are African and have the climbing habits of Woodpeckers. 



