6o 



PICARIAN BIRDS. 



frequenting trees, and seldom descending to the ground. They are said to breed in 

 hollow trees and lay white eggs, and the nests have the same offensive smell as 

 those of the ordinary hoopoes. Mr. Ayres says that the birds themselves have a 

 very powerful and disagreeable smell, and he has seen them creeping about the 

 trunks and branches of trees, after the manner of woodpeckers, and feeding on 

 cockroaches, which they take from the crevices of rough-barked trees. They are 



PURPLE-TAILED WOOD-HOOPOE (J liat. size). 



generally seen in flocks, probably consisting of family parties, and they have a 

 loud and harsh cry, which has caused the name of kachela or chatterer, to be 

 given to them by the Dutch colonists. 



THE HORNBILLS. 

 Family 



The hornbills, which form a suborder as well as a family by themselves, 

 derive their name from the great development of the bill, which is mostly hollow, 

 and furnished with a casque of greater or less prominence, although the latter 

 appendage is sometimes represented merely by a straight and compressed keel. 

 Moreover, in the case of the solid -casqued hornbill (Rhinoplax), the whole of this 



