138 



THE GREEN JACAMAR. 



and so graceful in the arrangement of its feathers that the spectator entirely forgets its size in 

 admiration of its beauty. The neck of this species is rather long and mobile, enabling the 

 bird to dart its long straight bill in every direction with great rapidity. The tail is rather 

 curiously formed, the feathers being so graduated that the central pair extend far beyond the 

 others, and form a kind of fork, alterable at the will of the bird. As the Jacamars bear a 

 very close resemblance to the kingfishers, they were formerly supposed to belong to that group 

 of birds, and the Paradise Jacamar was termed the Fork-tailed Kingfisher. 



The head of the Paradise Jacamar is brown tinged strongly with violet, and the throat, 

 the neck, and some of the wing-coverts are pure white. The back, wings, and remainder of 

 the body is a rich golden green, and the bill and feet are black. The feet are feathered nearly 

 as far as the toes. 







GREEN JACAMAR OaUnUa virioHe. 



In its habits the Paradise Jacamar is not unlike the trogons and fly-catchers, seldom troub- 

 ling itself to chase its prey through the air, but preferring to sit upon a bough and catch the 

 butterflies as they pass unconsciously near the feet of their destroyer, and then pounce sud- 

 denly upon them and secure them in his long bill. So persevering are they in their watchful- 

 ness, and so strong is their attachment to the spot where they have taken up their residence, 

 that the locality where they feed can readily be discovered on account of the wings, legs, and 

 other uneatable portions of their prey, which they twist off and throw away before endeavoring 

 to swallow their victim. The Paradise Jacamar is a native of Surinam. 



THE GREEN JACAMAR receives its popular name from the slight preponderance which 

 green holds above the other hues in the coloring of its plumage. 



Nearly all the Jacamars present a very similar arrangement of colors, which is by no 

 means easy to describe, as the feathers are tinted with glowing Imes of green, azure, gold, and 

 metallic red, all of which seem to have been scattered at random over the plumage, and to 

 have become so intermixed that the eye fails to separate them, or to assign any particular 

 locality to any particular color. Indeed, the plumage of the Jacamars is a very Turkey-carpet 

 of tints, all the colors being very bright, but without any definite arrangement ; so that, 

 although clad in gorgeous raiment which nearly equals the plumage of the humming-birds in 



