84 PICARIAN BIRDS. 



in the more important feature of the palate, being constructed on the desmo- 

 gnathous instead of on the schizognathous type. Accordingly, it seems 

 most probable that their true position is between the kiroumbos and the 

 oil-birds (to be mentioned next). From the former they are distinguished by 

 the absence of an oil-gland, and the presence of only ten feathers in the tail ; 

 while from the latter they differ by the absence of the articular surfaces on the 

 rostrum of the hinder part of the palate, known as basipterygoid processes. Unlike 

 the nightjars, these birds have no comb-like appendage to the third toe : while 

 they further differ by building nests, or laying their eggs in hollow trees. Two 

 notches occur in the hinder border of the breast-bone. 



Typical Frog- These birds, Podargus, are the typical representatives of the firs. 



Mouths. o f the two subfamilies into which the group is divided, this subfamily 

 being distinguished by the narrow, slit-like nostrils, protected by an overhanging 

 membrane, and hidden by plumes and feathers. Powder-down patches occupy 

 each side of the rump, and the metatarsus is shorter than the third toe. The 

 present genus, which is characterised by the pointed tail-feathers, includes five 

 species, all inhabitants of Australia and the adjacent Papuan Islands. Gould 

 describes the Australian species as inanimate and sluggish birds, depending on 

 their supply of food less upon their power of flight than upon the habit they are 

 said to have of traversing the branches of trees on which their favourite insects 

 reside. At intervals during the night they sit about in open places, on rails, 

 stumpy of trees, or the roofs of houses. They are strictly nocturnal in their habits, 

 sleeping during the day, and mostly found in pairs, perched near each other on 

 the branches of the gum-trees, in situations not at all sheltered from the beams 

 of the midday sun. " So lethargic are its slumbers," he writes, " that it is 

 almost impossible to arouse it, and I have frequently shot one without disturbing 

 its mate sitting close by ; it may also be knocked off with sticks or stones, and 

 is sometimes even taken with the hand. When aroused, it flies lazily off with 

 heavy flapping wings to a neighbouring tree, and again resumes its slumbers till 

 the approach of evening, when it becomes as animated and active as it had been 

 previously dull and stupid." According to Mr. North, in New South Wales, 

 the tawny-shouldered frog-mouth commences to breed in September, and the 

 breeding-season is at its height in October, and continues for the two following 

 months. It builds a flat nest of sticks, loosely placed together on the horizontal 

 branch of any suitable tree. The eggs are three in number, perfectly white, elon- 

 gated in form, and the shell finely granulate. 



Eared Frog- Their smaller size and rounded tail-feathers distinguish these 



Mouths. birds from the preceding, while the mode of nesting is also different. 

 The side of the head in some of the species is adorned with ear-tufts, ending in 

 bristly plumes. The sexes also are mostly different in colour, the female being 

 rufous and the male greyer. One of the largest species is the great-eared frog- 

 mouth (Batrachostomus auritus), inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and 

 Borneo. It measures about 16 inches in length, and is chestnut-brown, vermicu- 

 lated with blackish lines, and whitish bars. On the Jiind-neck is a collar of buffy 

 white feathers, with a black border, forming bands ; median and greater wing- 

 coverts with large spots of white edged with black ; throat and breast brown, with 



