BROADBILLS. 



537 



that the bright red breast of the male bird gives it quite a gay appearance among 

 the dull plumaged species that people the thickets of Patagonia. It builds a slight 

 nest of fine twigs, lined with fibres, and generally placed in a thorn-bush ; the eggs 

 being bluish-green in ground-colour, with brownish flecks. The male bird has the 

 upper-parts dull grey, with the tips of the tail-feathers and a wing-bar white ; and 

 the forehead and under - surface deep brick-red. The female is yellowish grey 

 above, obscurely mottled, and the breast and under-parts buff with dark spots. 



THE BKOADBILLS. 

 Family E 



Deriving their name from, and readily distinguished by, the enormous breadth 

 of their bills, which are generally associated with the possession of bright colours, 



JAVAN BROADBILL (i- liat size). 



the broadbills are the eastern representatives of the chatterers of the New World. 

 They are birds of fairly powerful make, having the upper mandible dilated at its 

 base, and the tip of the beak abruptly hooked ; while the wings are rather short, 

 and the tail is short and rounded. The broadbills, which Wallace considers to 

 be the survivors of a once extensive group, possess a very limited distribution, 



