414 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



and slightly arched bill, which in several species has the end of the upper mandible 

 decidedly hooked. Their food consists of insects, and travelers describe them as dull 

 and stupid birds which inhabit the densest forests. They are said to deposit two white 

 eggs in a deep hole dug into the sandy bank of a ravine or a river. There are known 

 about half a hundred species of puff-birds, which exclusively inhabit tropical America 

 as far north as Guatemala. 



Closely allied to the foregoing family are the jacamars, GALBULID^E, of similar 

 geographical distribution, though entirely confined to the regions east of the Andes. 

 A very characteristic and entirely unique feature of their pterylosis is the inner 

 branch which is given off from the inferior tract at the lower end of its gular portion, 



as represented in Fig. 205. Their bill is long, usually straight 

 and angular both above and below ; their feet are very short 

 and feeble, and the anterior toes are united for a consider- 

 able distance, giving the feet the appearance of a kind of 

 zygodactylous kingfisher's foot. The plumage is character- 

 ized by brilliant metallic reflections on the upper surface of 

 the body. 



The jacamars are of the same dull and stupid nature as 

 the puff-birds, and are therefore called by the Brazilians 

 ' Joao doido,' or * foolish John,' and altogether their habits 

 are quite similar. Thus, for instance, they build in holes in 

 sandy banks, and lay two white eggs. Hardly two dozen 

 species are known, most of them agreeing in shape and 

 colors more or less with the type, Galbula galbula. The 

 upper side and breast are of a most brilliant metallic golden 

 green, like that of trogons or humming-birds ; hence it is also 

 called in South America ' Bejaflor grande.' The throat is 

 whitish, rest of under surface rusty. Jacamerops grandis 

 is the largest of the group, somewhat similarly colored, 

 but with a shorter, though broader and stouter, curved bill. 

 Jacamaralcyon tridactylus is notable for having lost the 

 first toe, like the three-toed woodpeckers, thus differing 

 considerably from the three-toed kingfishers, in which it 

 is the second digit that has become rudimentary. The 

 species of the genus Urogalba are blackish with steel-blue reflections, and have the 

 two central tail-feathers greatly elongated. 



Every well-defined ' family ' has its peculiarity which deserves a rather detailed 

 treatment ; and the RAMPHASTID^E, or toucans, form no exception. The first thing 

 which strikes the observer, when looking at one of the large toucans, is the enormous 

 size of the bill. It is not only as long as the bird itself, but it does not lack much of 

 equalling the body in bulk ; and the observer will most likely make the remark that 

 such an enormous bill must be very heavy. The fact is, however, that the bill is 

 extremely light in comparison with its size, being very thin, and filled with a light, 

 cellular bony tissue. Professor Owen, in his observations on the anatomy of Itar- 

 phastos, thus describes the bill : " The osseous portions of the mandibles of the toucan 

 are disposed in a manner adapted to combine with the great bulk of those parts a due 

 degree of strength and remarkable lightness ; and the bony structure is consequently 

 of a most beautiful and delicate kind. The external parietes are extremely thin, 



FIG. 205. Ventral pterylosis 

 of Galbula. 



