200 BILL OF THE KINGFISHER. 



its whole length, and sharp in the cutting edges. 

 That of the motmots (priorities), which, in some 

 respects, answer in America to the bee-eaters of the 

 eastern continent, is ' much stouter, having a con- 

 siderable resemblance to the bill of hornbills, though 

 without the enlargement at the base of the upper 

 mandible, by which the bills of that genus are dis- 

 tinguished. The bill of the motmot is serrated in 

 both mandibles, and the tongue is barbed or feathered 

 like that of the toucans. Indeed, it should seem 

 that this genus, as well as the former, ought to be 

 included among the omnivorous birds, notwithstanding 

 the syndactylic feet ; the feet of birds in this division 

 come so little into play in those which really belong 

 to it, that they are hardly of sufficient importance for 

 being made the ground of classification. Besides, 

 these birds kill other little birds, either by gnawing 

 them between the serrated edges of the mandibles, 

 or beating them against the ground. They are indeed 

 chiefly ground birds, bad fliers, and though in great 

 part living upon insects, they catch them upon the 

 ground ; and almost the only habits which they have 

 in common with the typical birds of the order, are 

 living solitary, and nestling in holes of the ground. 



The kingfishers have the bill robust, quadrangular, 

 and straight ; and though it is a fishing spear rather 



