1 8 14 THE PICARIAN BIRDS 



siderable depth, but invariably (so far as my experience goes) turn at right angles 

 at a few inches from the entrance. The tunnel terminates in a somewhat rounded 

 cell, where, upon a little heap or bed of fine soft earth, without any lining whatever, 

 the eggs are laid. These are usually three or four in number, almost globular, 

 glossy, and of a beautiful pearly white, except that, when fresh, the contents im- 

 part a delicate pink tinge to the shell. They are, in fact, miniature kingfisher's 

 eggs. The tameness of the tody is well known, but, as Gosse well remarks, this 

 seems rather the tameness of indifference than of confidence. I have accomplished 

 the capture of specimens with a butterfly net at different times with little difficulty, 

 and frequently a tody has permitted so near an approach that I have been tempted 

 to put out my hand in the hope of taking it. The todies keep in pairs, if not con- 

 stantly, for the greater part of a season at least, and during nidification seem to 

 range over a very circumscribed space. Their food appears to consist exclusively of 

 small insects, which they usually pursue and take after a short flight, returning con- 

 stantly to the same twig, where they will patiently sit and watch, with head drawn 

 in and beak pointing obliquely upward, the plumage much puffed out; the wings 

 meanwhile being flirted by a continuous, rapid, vibratory movement." 



THE MOTMOTS 

 Family MOMOTID^E 



Exclusively confined to Central and South America, the motmots, of which 

 there are seven genera, are closely allied to the kingfishers and bee-eaters of the 

 Old World; and are by no means unlike the latter in external appearance, most of 

 them having a long tail, with the central feathers produced beyond the others. 

 The first toe is always present;" the hinder margin of the breastbone has four 

 notches, which are converted into perforations; and there are no caeca to the intes- 

 tines. The bill is serrated, its saw-like notches being doubtless of use to the birds 

 when they nip off the webs of their tail feathers. Both in the wild state and in 

 confinement, as soon as the central feathers of the tail begin to grow beyond the 

 line of the others, the birds commence to nibble the web away, leaving a bare shaft 

 for an inch or an inch and a half, with a large racket at the end of the central pair. 

 In one instance, quoted by Mr. Salvin, the two middle tail feathers had not grown 

 symmetrically, one being more developed than the other. The bird was evidently 

 puzzled to find the central feather, which its instinct warned it to nibble, and it 

 began operations on several of the other feathers, until in time the middle one 

 grew out beyond the others, and showed which was the proper one to snip. There 

 are seventeen species of motmots, distributed among seven genera, all of them 

 having long tails, with the exception of Hylomanes, which is a bird of small size, 

 recalling the todies in general appearance. 



True Motmots ^ s a we ^-known example of the typical genus, we select the Mexi- 

 can motmot (Momotus lessoni}, a species with the general color of the 

 plumage green; this tint including the tail feathers which become blue toward their ex- 



