IXORA J 



When they have commenced growth they may be 

 removed to the greenhouse to perfect their flowers, in 

 doing which they must be regularly watered. A cold 

 pit, or close under a south wall, is favourable to their 

 growth, provided they be defended against frost. 

 They are propagated by offsets. 



IXORA (Linnseus). A genus of fine flowering 

 evergreen shrubs, found every where in the eastern 

 parts of Asia. Class and order Tetrandria Mono- 

 gynia, and natural order Rubiacetz. Generic charac- 

 ter : calyx small, four-cleft ; corolla-tube long ; limb 

 regular, four-lobed, spreading. Stamens almost set- 

 ting on the throat of the limb, alternating with the 

 lobes thereof. Style lengthened out, stigma double. 

 Berry two-celled, and two-seeded. This is one of 

 the finest of our stove plants, and when grown in a 

 moist heat, kept free from insects, and properly 

 attended to, and not plunged in the bark-bed, always 

 flowers in perfection. It is increased by cuttings. 



JABIRU. A genus of American birds chiefly 

 inhabiting the marshy places of the tropical parts of 

 that continent ; and bearing some resemblance to the 

 herons, but much more to the storks. See the article 

 MYCTERIA. 



JAC AMAR (Galbula). A genus of Zygodactylic, 

 or climbing birds, which reside chiefly in trees, but 

 are not so decided climbers as many of the order. 

 They are in so far related to the kingfishers ; and, 

 like them, they have the anterior toes in great part 

 united, so that, though several naturalists rank them 

 with the zygodacty-lic birds, the real structure of their 

 feet is syndactylic. As is the case with the king- 

 fishers their tarsi are short, their feet altogether 

 of feeble structure, and evidently not intended for 

 performing any very important office in the economy 

 of the birds. They rest upon trees, and build their 

 nests in the lower brandies ; but they feed on the 

 wing, chiefly, if not exclusively, upon those insects 

 which hover over water and humid earth ; and thus 

 the birds are found only in marshy places, which in 

 such situations are very unfavourable to human life ; 

 and therefore, as is the case with our own kingfisher, 

 the habits are not so well observed, because not so 

 open to observation as those of many other birds. In 

 finding their food, they keep to the air, and do not 

 fish, even by twitching fishes out of the water ; and 

 thus their habits do not require the same smoothness 

 of plumage as the kingfishers, but they have all a 

 good deal of metallic lustre in their feathers. 



The structural characters of the genus are : the 

 bill long, straight, or slightly bent toward the tip, 

 slender, four-sided, and without any notch or tooth ; 

 the nostrils placed laterally at the base of the bill, of 

 an oval shape, and covered with a naked membrane 

 for the posterior half of their length ; the feet very 

 short, with three or four toes, of which two are always 

 turned to the front and united as far as the third joint ; 

 the wings of mean length, the first three quills increas- 

 ing in length by stages, but the third shorter than 

 the fourth and fifth, which are the longest in the 

 wing ; the tail consists of twelve feathers, of which 

 the two lateral ones are very short. 



These structural characters indicate a peculiarity 

 of action in the birds, which confines them to locali- 

 ties which are rather limited ; as they must find their 

 food without any very severe degree of labour. The 

 feet, as we have already observed, are quite inefficient 

 *or any very important active purpose ; and hey are 



A C A M A R. 



885 



not adapted even for that slow climbing motion from 

 branch to branch which characterises the parrot tribe 

 and other tree climbers ; and as little can they cling 

 to the upright bole of a tree, like the woodpeckers, or 

 run along like the creepers, and other birds which 

 are active in catching insects upon the bark. As 

 little does the structure of their wings suit them for 

 coursing their insect prey through \\\Q air, by rapid 

 motions and sudden wheelings and evolutions, such 

 as those made by the swallows and bee-eaters. Their 

 organs of motion are all fitted for short flights, and 

 frequent ascendings and descendings ; and this kind 

 of structure and of flight naturally confines them 

 to those situations in which slow-flighted insects are 

 found in sufficient abundance. Of course it is onlv 

 in those rich and humid parts of the tropical countries 

 which may be said to be in a state of perpetual pro- 

 duction, without any winter's repose, and free from 

 drought, as take place in the less humid districts of 

 the same climates, that these birds can be in a situa- 

 tion properly adapted for them. Hence it does not 

 appear that they migrate to any considerable distance. 

 Our knowledge of them is, however, far from perfect, 

 and we must receive with caution many of the accounts 

 which have been given of them. They inhabit the 

 deepest recesses of the forests, and thus they are but 

 rarely seen ; and different from very many of the 

 birds of tropical forests, they are not much heard. 

 Their voice is very feeble, being merely a sort of 

 subdued hissing ; and even this is practised only 

 during the breeding time, which we believe is not 

 confined to any particular season of the year, which 

 licence indeed extends to very many of the forest 

 birds of tropical countries. Generally speaking, they ( 

 remain at perfect rest, and in perfect silence, on the 

 twigs or leaves of the trees, always as solitary indi- 

 viduals, and never in flocks, or even in societies of 

 any extent. From those resting places they sally 

 forth with very rapid but very short flight, in order 

 to capture those insects which are sporting over the 

 water. They never rise to any great elevation when 

 on the wing ; and their short flights are taken in 

 straight lines, generally sloping upward or inclining 

 downward, for either of which they are remark- 

 ably well adapted by the peculiar structure of their 

 wings and tail. It has been supposed that some spe- 

 cies at least of the jacamar deposit their eggs in the 

 nests of other birds, something after the manner of 

 the cuckoo of Europe, but the fact is not plearly esta- 

 blished. All the known species are understood to be 

 natives of America only. They admit of division 

 into two sub-genera, in consequence of the different 

 number of toes in each. 



JAMAICA JACAMAR (B. Galtmla grandu) is a na- 

 tive of that country after which it is named. It is 

 about ten inches in length. The upper parts are 

 golden green, with reflections of copper and bronze. 

 The first quills are brown : the upper tail-coverts 

 green, the lower ones ash colour with violet reflec- 

 tions. The feathers at the opening of the gape are 

 copper red ; the chin white ; the throat and under 

 parts red ; the bill and feet black, the former nearly 

 straight and resembling that of the king-fisher. This 

 one has two toes turned to the front and two to the 

 rear, the latter free, but the former united. 



LONG-TAILED JACAMAR ( G. para disea). This spe- 

 cies is longer than the former, but the greater length 

 is in the tail rather than the body. The upper part 

 is blackish ' rown with a play of colours ; the op of 



