580 ' The Roller-like Birds 



THE BARBETS AND HONEY-GUIDES 



(Family Capitonida) 



There are differences of opinion as to the propriety of associating these birds 

 in the same family, and the Honey-guides have not infrequently been placed 

 near the Cuckoos; but in the structure of the "yoke-toed" feet they all appear 

 to agree closely with the Woodpeckers, while in other particulars, especially 

 in the arrangement of the feather tracts, they approach the Toucans. They also 

 agree with the Woodpeckers and Toucans in possessing a tufted oil-gland and 

 the left carotid only, while they differ in the structure of the palate, this being 

 aegithognathous with desmognathous tendency, as Gadow states. They are 

 rather sharply divided into two subfamilies, the Capitonina, which embraces 

 the Barbets, and the Indicatorina, or Honey-guides. 



The Barbets (Subfamily Capitonina). The Barbets take their name from 

 the French, signifying a sort of beard, from the presence of numerous strong 

 bristles about the base of the bill. They are stockily built birds of small size, 

 many of them being under six inches in length, with relatively large heads 

 and large stout bills, and altogether they present a rather ungraceful ap- 

 pearance, although in the matter of coloration many of them are exceedingly 

 gorgeous, but as Dr. Stejneger says, the "juxtaposition of the colors is 

 such as to produce a tasteless effect. Sky-blue, light green, and yellow are 

 sometimes found combined with red and other colors in such a manner as 

 to annoy an eye accustomed to harmony in colors." The Barbets are 

 mainly birds of the forests or the more timbered portions of cultivated areas, 

 where they spend most of their time near the tops of the trees, occasionally 

 coming down among the surrounding bushes. Some of them climb about 

 the trunks not unlike Woodpeckers, and even search for insects in the crev- 

 ices, but the majority are more frequently observed hopping "from branch to 

 branch, as they search for their food. They are not very active birds, but are 

 said to sit motionless for hours, uttering their various calls at intervals, the latter 

 accompanied in some species by a movement of the head from side to side, in 

 others by a jerk of the tail over the back. Their food is somewhat varied, con- 

 sisting in some cases almost exclusively of fruits and seeds with few insects, while 

 in others it appears to be almost entirely of insects. So far as is known the 

 Barbets nest in holes in trees, or rarely in banks, excavating for themselves a neat 

 hole, usually on the under side of a branch and in soft or decaying wood. The 

 nest hole often extends for several feet into the branch, and not infrequently 

 is provided with two openings. The eggs, from three to five in number, are 

 oval in shape and white and somewhat shining, very much like those of Wood- 

 peckers, although usually not quite so glossy. The flight of the Barbets is ordi- 

 narily undulating but strong and rapid. 



The Barbets enjoy a wide geographical distribution, being found in the 

 tropical forest regions of both the Old and New Worlds, except that they are 

 absent from the West Indies and the Australian region. They are most numer- 



