380 CORACIIFORMES 



CHAP. 



Sub-fam. 1. Momotinae. Motmots have loose-webbed green, 

 blue, cinnamon, and black plumage ; the sexes being barely dis- 

 tinguishable, and the young similar to the adults, but with less 

 developed tail. The length varies from six and a half inches to 

 twenty. The head is generally rather narrow ; the bill is Crow- 

 like, with a few rictal bristles, and has the margins of the mandibles 

 more or less serrated ; in Prionirliynclius it is unusually broad 

 and strongly keeled. The scutellated metatarsus is of no great 

 length, the third digit being united to the fourth for about a 

 third of its extent ; the wings are rather short and rounded, 

 with ten primaries and eleven secondaries. The tail-feathers are 

 generally twelve, though Baryplitliengus has only ten ; they are 

 very distinctly graduated, as is well seen from beneath, the median 

 pair being much elongated with racquet-tips, except in Hylo- 

 manes, Aspatha and Baryplitliengus. The furcula is U-shaped ; the 

 tongue is long, thin and frayed out towards the apex into laminae 

 which point forwards; the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial ; the after- 

 shaft is small; while neither adults nor nestlings possess down. 



Motmots are not shy birds, though they inhabit dense forests 

 and seldom visit the outskirts ; they prefer the vicinity of 

 streams, where they may be seen, solitary or in pairs, flitting 

 before the traveller from tree to tree, or sitting motionless on 

 the lower branches, whence they make sudden dashes to secure 

 their prey. This consists of insects caught in the air, small 

 reptiles, or fruit ; but in captivity they will eat bread, raw meat, 

 small birds and mammals, often rapping live creatures on the 

 ground or on their perch before swallowing them, as is done by 

 Todies, Kingfishers, and Hornbills. The flight is brief, while the 

 short legs are ill-adapted to the ground. The long, soft, " flute- 

 like " note recalls that of the Hoopoe, and may be syllabled 

 " Hu-tu," this being a native name in some parts ; it is most 

 commonly heard at dawn, while the bird's habit of jerking its 

 tail up and down as it utters each syllable is comparable to that 

 of Barbets and Toucans. Three or four round, creamy -white 

 eggs are deposited, without any nest, in holes in trees or banks, 

 probably bored by the birds themselves; both sexes being said 

 to incubate in turn. Motmots with racquet-tipped rectrices have 

 been shewn to produce that shape by nibbling off the vanes. 1 



Urospatha martii, ranging from Costa Eica to Amazonia, is 

 1 Cf. Salvin, P.Z.S. 1873, pp. 429-433. 



