154 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



bling red sealing-wax in color. The wing is represented 

 in Fig. 125. 



Fig. 125. Wing of Wax wing. 



254. The third division of the Perchers is that of the 

 Fissirostres. The characteristics of this tribe were men- 

 tioned in 236. These, as you have seen, appeared to 

 some extent in some of the Dentirostres, especially the 

 family of Fly-catchers. The adaptation of the wide, 

 gaping mouth, with its bristles at the sides, to the cap- 

 ture of insects in flight, is obvious. Some of the larger 

 species of this tribe, however, live on fish. There are 

 six families the Goatsuckers, the Swallows, the Todies, 

 the Trogons, the Kingfishers, and the Bee-eaters. 



255. The Goatsuckers, of which you have an example 

 in Fig. 118, are for the most part nocturnal, and they 

 have the soft plumage and dull colors so characteristic 

 of those nocturnal birds of prey, the Owls. They sally 

 forth in the evening when the Fly-catchers and Swallows 

 have retired to rest, and, like the Bats, skim about in the 

 air, mostly near the ground. But while the Bats capture 

 such hard-cased insects as beetles, the Goatsuckers take 

 into their gaping mouths the soft-bodied moths. When 

 these are once in the mouth they can not escape, for the 

 bristles fence them in, and the thick saliva which is there 

 envelops them. The foot of this bird is curiously con- 

 structed. The hind toe, as in the Owls, can be brought 



