124 



THE BRAZILIAN MOTMOT. 



upward. The scapularies are long and sharp in form, and their color is a, beautifully pure white, 

 contrasting strongly with tlie deej? black of the upper part of the body. At the upjier angle 

 of each wing there is a well-detined orange line, and a white spot on the inside. The 

 wedge-shaped tail is black, the thigh is blackish-brown, and the legs are brown. The color 



of the eyes is blue, which changes to green 

 soon after death, and then fades wholly into 

 dullness. 



By the natives the bird is called Burong- 

 palano, or Tam-i^alano. Several other species 

 of Eurylaimus are known to science, all of them 

 being handsome and remarkable birds. The 

 Great Eurylaimus {Euryla'imus conjd-on), for 

 example, is notable for the great width of the 

 beak, its bright rosy hue, its hooked form, and 

 the very wide gape of the mouth. The plumage, 

 too, is colored in a very bold and striking man- 

 ner. The general hue is jet black, relieved by a 

 large white mark on the middle of the wing, 

 another at the extremity of the tail, and a small 

 scarlet patch of elongated feathers in the centre 

 of the back. As a general rule, the birds of this 

 group adliere to the above-mentioned colors, 

 but there is a curious and notable exception in 

 the person of the Dalliousie's Eurylaimus {Psa- 

 risbinus daUiouske), whose plumage is tinted 

 with blue, green, and yellow, after the manner 

 of many paroquets. Indeed, the general aspect 

 of the bird irresistibly reminds the observer 

 of a paroquet, and the semblance is further 

 increased by its long azure tail feathers. 



The Motmots, so called from their monot- 

 onous cry, which is thought to resemble the 

 syllables mot-mot continually repeated, are in- 

 habitants of tropical America and the adjacent 

 parts of the world. There are several species 

 of these curious and beautiful birds ; but as 

 their habits and form are very similar, they can 

 be sufficiently represented by a single example. 

 The Motmots are among the number of those 

 creatiires which have perplexed the systematic 

 naturalist, and theii* position in the kingdom of 

 birds is even yet subject to doubt. On account 

 of their large and deeply serrated mandibles, 

 their long-bearded tongue, and the similarity of 

 some of their habits, they have been placed close 

 to the toucans, to which birds they bear no 

 small resemblance. Their feet, however, are of 

 entirely different construction ; and instead of 

 congregating in flocks like the toucans, they lead solitary lives in the forest depths. In these 

 birds the tail is wedge-shaped, and in several of the species the two central feathers are remark- 

 able for a naked space before their termination. 



BRAZILIAN MOTMOT.—Momottis brazUleniis. 



The Brazilian Motmot is, like the other species of the same genus, a very solitary bird, 

 being seldom seen except by those who care to penetrate into the deepest recesses of the 



