84 



cassell's book of birds. 



so that after sitting for three or four minutes quietly upon the eggs they begin to turn themselves 

 v^ round, and it is supposed to be by the con- 



stant repetition of this movement in a circle 

 that the feathers of tlieir tail become in time 

 quite spoiled and worn away. As to their 

 eggs, Schoraburghk gives us no information 

 whatever, nor do we find anything recorded 

 concerning them in the works of other natu- 

 ralists. 



The BROAD-THROATS {Eurylaimus) 

 are small, compact birds, with short, broad 

 beaks, powerful feet, moderate-sized wings, 

 and short or rather long tail. The beak, 

 which is shorter than the head, is broad at 

 its base, slender at the tip, and hooked at its 

 extremity ; the gape extends as far as the 

 eyes ; the moderate-sized foot has the tarsus 

 a trifle longer than the cenne toe, which latter 

 is united with the inner as far as the first 

 joint; the wing, in which the third or fourth 

 quill is the longest, is short and rounded ; 

 the tail is usually either rounded or gradu- 

 ated ; in some species, however, it is slightly 

 incised ; the plumage is of brilliant hues, 

 and the sexes almost alike in colour and 

 markings. These birds inhabit India and 

 the Malay Islands, where they haunt the 

 innermost recesses of deep, dark forests, and 

 carefully avoid the habitations of man. 



THE SUMATRAN TROWEL-BEAK. 

 The SuMATRAN Trowel-beak (Co?ydon 

 Sumatraniis), a species of the above family 

 inhabiting Sumatra and Borneo, represents a 

 group recognisable by their compact and 

 falcon-like body ; short, broad beak, the 

 upper mandible of which almost entirely 

 encloses the lower one ; and also by their 

 bare, short, strong feet, armed with long 

 toes ; short rounded wings, in which the 

 third or fourth quill exceeds the rest in 

 length ; and moderate-sized tail, formed of 

 twelve rounded feathers. The dusky plu- 

 mage, which is soft and thick, is replaced in 

 the region of the beak by a few short bristles ; its colour is principally of a pale black ; the entire 



THE MOT-MOT {Prionites momola) 



