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TROPICAL AMERICA AND ITS ANIMALS 



red-tailed jacamar (Galbula ruficauda), a member of the typical genus, which 

 contains about ten other species. The remaining genera are Urogalba, with two 

 species, Brack ygalba, with half a dozen, and Jacamar nicy on, Galbalcyrhynchus, and 

 Jacamerops, with one each. Jacamars are characterised by the fourth toe being 

 turned backwards parallel with the first, so that the foot has two toes in front and 

 two behind. The beak is characterised by its length and straightness, and the 

 feathers of the body are provided with after-shafts, a feature by which jacamars 

 are readily distinguished from the undermentioned pulf-birds. Usually the tail 



RED-TAILED JACAMAR. 



is provided with a dozen feathers, but in two of the genera (Brachygalba and 

 Jacamaralcyon) the number is reduced to ten. 



In Tobago, at any rate, jacamars breed in holes in the mud-cliffs on the banks 

 of rivers, in which, like nearly all birds nesting in similar situations, they lay 

 pure white eggs, nearly round in shape. In these respects jacamars resemble their 

 relatives the motmots. 



One of the most beautiful of all birds is the quezal (Pliaromacrus mocinno) 

 of Guatemala, a species about the size of a jackdaw, of a magnificent violet 

 and metallic green colour above and red below. It is a member of a genus 

 containing five other species, and belongs to the tropical family of trogons 



