THE MOTJLOTS. 



361 



I ;<aw no less than seven hundred skins, all shot at Tangier in the spring of 1874, which were consigned 

 by Olcese to some dealer in London. However, the enormous injury these birds do to the peasants who 

 keep Bees fully merits any amount of punishment, but, at the same time, they destroy qviantities of 

 Wasps. After being fired at once or twice, they become very wavy and shy at the breeding-places ; 

 and the best way to shoot them is to 

 hide near the colmenares, or groups 

 of corchos, or cork bee-hives, which 

 in Spain are placed in rows, some- 

 times to the number of seventy or 

 eighty together; and it is no un- 

 usual thing to see as many Bee- 

 eaters whirling round and swoop- 

 ing down, even seizing the bees at 

 the very entrance of their hives. 

 The reason of their early departure 

 in August is to be accounted for by 

 the simple fact that bees cease to 

 work when there are no flowers, 

 and by that time all vegetation is 

 scorched up." The Bee-eater suffers 

 probably less from the fashionable 

 rage after its plumes than do some 

 of the bright-coloured birds, as it 

 goes in winter to South Africa, 

 where it rears another brood of 

 young ones. 



THE SEVENTH FAMILY OF THE 

 FI SSI ROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS. 

 THE MOTMOTS (Momotida).' 

 These birds are peculiar to 

 the New World, being found from 

 Mexico southwards through the 



whole of Central America and the South American continent. Their general plumage is green, and 

 the majority of the species have a large racket at the end of the centre tail-feathers, formed by the bird 

 itself, as detailed below. Mr. Waterton gives an account of the Motmots in Demerara, and he was 

 the first to point out that the racket in the tail was produced by the bird's own action. He writes : 

 " The Houtou ranks high in beauty amongst the birds of Demerara. His body is green, with a bluish 

 cast in the wings and tail ; his crown, which he erects at pleasure, consists of black in the centre, 

 surrounded with lovely blue of two different shades ; he has a triangular black spot, edged with blue, 

 behind the eye, extending to the ear ; and on his breast a sable tuft, consisting of nine feathers, edged 



also with blue. This bird seems to suppose that its beauty can 



, be increased by trimming the tail, which undergoes the same 



^^^^ operation as one's hair in a barber's shop, only with this differ- 



ence, that it uses its own beak, which is serrated, in lieu of a pair 

 of scissors. As soon as his tail is full-grown, he begins about 

 an inch from the extremity of the two longest feathers in it, and 

 cuts away the web on both sides of the shaft, making a gap 

 about an inch long. Both male and female adonise their tails in 

 this manner, which gives them a remarkable appearance amongst all other birds. While we consider 

 the tail of the Houtou blemished and defective, were he to come amongst us, he would probably con- 

 sider our heads, cropped and bald, in no better light. He who wishes to observe this handsome bird 



AUSTRALIAN BEE-EATEK. 



BILL OF MOTMOT. 



