154 CONOPOPHAGA. 



the middle toe as far as the first joint ; the same 

 reasons, therefore, which have heen urged against 

 Todus mridis being a terrestrial hird, are equally 

 applicable in the present case. "Whatever may be 

 the real economy of these birds, certain it is that 

 they are of a thicker and stronger structure than any 

 other of the todies. The head is particularly large, 

 the body plump, and the feet comparatively strong ; 

 there is a strength, also, in the bill, which is not 

 found in any of the other sub-genera : when viewed 

 in profile only, it precisely resembles that of an ant- 

 thrush (Myothera)) occasioned by the thickness of 

 the under mandible, the gonyx or ridge of which 

 curves upward, while the tip is distinctly notched : 

 this is an important and peculiar character. The 

 Conopophagce, in all probability, feed upon soft 

 apterous insects ; for they have no bristles, properly 

 so called, on the sides of their bill, where there are 

 merely a few straggling setaceous feathers ; the front 

 of the head is protected in the same way, as well 

 as the nostrils ; these latter being very large, beset 

 with only a small oval aperture at the end, and 

 which is placed nearly in the middle of the bill. 

 The rough and bristly appearance of the front of 

 these birds reminds us of Dasycephala, to which, 

 both in this and in their brown plumage, they are 

 analogous. Of their manners we are totally unac- 

 quainted, further than that our hunters reported 

 they were only to be met with in thick woods ; and 

 they are at all times scarce. We possess two species 

 from Brazil. 



