140 CASSELL S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



parents assist in their incubation, the father sitting upon them during the night, and seeking food 

 during the day, whilst the female takes her place upon the nest in his absence. Should the sun's 

 rays prove too powerful for the young, they are carried to a shady nook or hole until mid-day is 

 passed. By November they are fully fledged, but remain for some time longer under parental care 

 and tuition. Gould and Verreaux both inform us that if the season be unusually cold it is not 

 uncommon for the Giant Owl Swallow to remain for a time in a hole, or on a branch in a state of 

 complete torpidity. Such of these birds as we have seen caged in Europe were extremely tame, and 

 would not only eat from the hand, but allowed themselves to be carried about the room without any 

 sign of fear. 



The FROG-MOUTHS (Batrachostomus) constitute a group of comparatively small birds, 

 inhabiting India and its neighbouring islands. Though smaller than the Giant Owl Swallow, they 

 have a still larger beak, which is very broad and flat at its base, slightly arched at its tip. and 

 terminates in a hook; the upper mandible projects over the lower one in all directions; the nostrils 

 are small and covered with feathers, and the wings abruptly rounded ; the tail is long, and is either 

 graduated, or has the outer feathers very short ; the tarsi and feet are small but strong, the toes 

 powerful and very flexible, 



THE PLUMED FROG-MOUTH. 



The Plumed Frog-mouth (Batrachostomus cornutus or B. Javanensis) is an inhabitant of Java, 

 and distinguished from its congeners, not only by the remarkable arrangement of the head-feathers, 

 but by the beauty of its plumage. In this bird the region of the ears and brow is covered with a 

 plume of long, ragged feathers, which hangs down over the eyes and makes the head appear of a size 

 very disproportionate to the rest of the body. The plumage on the back is light rust-red, marked 

 with fine zig-zag black lines, the nape being adorned with a white crescent-shaped patch; the 

 shoulder-feathers are tipped with white spots thrown into relief by an ornamented semicircular line of 

 black at their tips ; the brow is marked with reddish yellow spots. The centre of the throat and 

 upper part of the breast and belly are white, partially marked with zig-zag lines ; the lower breast is 

 rust-red, spotted with black and white ; the tail is light reddish yellow, striped seven or eight times 

 with a deeper shade, and streaked with black ; the quills are similarly decorated. The eye is sulphur- 

 yellow, the feet brown, and the beak pale yellow. This extraordinary looking bird chiefly inhabits 

 the thickets of allangallany palm-trees that abound in Java at about 3,000 feet above the level of the 

 sea. Bernstein, who was the first to give us any account of it, says nothing as to its life or habits, 

 but has given us a description of the nest. This delicate little structure, which is formed almost 

 entirely of down from the body of the bird, is placed in a hole within the stem of the palm, and is so 

 small as to render it impossible for the parent to sit in it whilst engaged in the process of incubation. 

 The female is therefore compelled to lie along the stem that encloses her snug cradle, and whilst 

 holding firmly on with her feet, presses her breast against the opening of the nest, and thus imparts 

 warmth to her young. The one egg found by Bernstein was oval in shape and of a dull white, 

 streaked and spotted with brownish red ; these markings were most thickly strewn over the broad 

 end, where they formed a kind of wreath. 



Another very similar species (B. auritns) has the face ornamented with a pair of large tufts of 

 light feathers that project horizontally, giving the bird a very singular and grotesque appearance. 



