PASSERINE. 141 



CARYOCATACTES, Cuv. 



The Nutcrackers have the two mandibles straight, equally pointed, and 

 without any curve. There is only one species known. 



Corvus caryocatactes, L. (The Common Nutcracker. ) Brown ; the whole 

 body spotted with white. It builds in the hollows of trees, in dense moun- 

 tain forests, climbs trees and perforates their bark like the Woodpeckers, 

 feeds on all kinds of fruit, insects, and small birds. 



CORACIAS, Lin. 



The Hollers have a strong- beak, compressed near the point, which is a 

 little hooked. The nostrils are oblong 1 , placed at the edge of the feathers, 

 but without being covered by them; the feet short and stout. They belong 

 to the eastern continent, and are like the Jays in their habits and in the loose 

 feathers on the forehead. Their colours are vivid, but rarely harmonious. 



PAEADIS-EA, Lin. 



The Birds of Paradise, like the Crows, have a strong, straight, compressed 

 beak, without any emarginations, and with covered nostrils; but the influ- 

 ence of the climate they inhabit, an influence extended to birds of several 

 other genera, gives a velvet tissue to the feathers which cover these nostrils, 

 and frequently a metallic lustre, at the same time that it singularly developes 

 those which cover several parts of the body. They are natives of New 

 Guinea and of the adjoining islands, are said to live on fruits, and to be par- 

 ticularly fond of aromatics. 



The feathers on the flanks of some of them are silky, and singularly ex- 

 tended into bunches longer than the body, which give such a hold to the 

 wind that they are very often swept away by it. There are also two bearded 

 filaments adhering to the rump, which are as long as, and even longer than 

 the feathers on the flanks. 



P. apoda, L. Size of a Thrush, maronne ; top of the head and neck yellow; 

 circumference of the beak and throat of an emerald green. It is the male 

 of this species which is ornamented with those long bundles of yellowish 

 feathers employed by the ladies as plumes. 



FAMILY IV. 



TENUIROSTRES. 



This family comprehends the remaining birds of the first division; 

 those in which the beak is slender, elongated, sometimes straight, 

 and sometimes more or less arcuated, and without any emargination. 

 They are to the Conirostres what the Motacillaj are to the other 

 Dentirostres. 



