TOCKUS GINGALENSIS. 277 



I have never been able to procure any information concerning its nesting beyond the native assertion that 

 it breeds in hollow trees like the last species . 



The figures in the Plate represent an adult in the foreground, and an immature bird (placed by the artist, 

 failing a knowledge of its habits, upon a cocoanut-tree) in the background. The feet and legs, I regret to 

 say, have been coloured much too dark. 



PICARI^. 



Fam. UPUPIMl. 



Bill very slender, long, and curved from the base. Wings rounded. Tail moderately long, 

 even or rounded at the tip. Tarsi short. Feet with three toes in front and one behind. Tongue 

 small and heart-shaped. Sternum with either a notch on each side of the posterior edge or a 

 foramen in place of a notch. 



Subfam. UPUPINjE. 



Bill more slender and longer than in Irrisorince. Wings with ten primaries. Tail with ten 

 feathers. Tarsus shielded in front with broad transverse scales. 



Sternum with an open notch on each side of the posterior edge. Head crested. 

 Of terrestrial habits. 



Genus TJPLTA. 



Bill typically long and slender, much compressed ; gape rather wide. Nostrils round, partially 

 concealed by the plumes. Wings with the 4th quill the longest, and the 1st a little more than 

 half the length of the 4th. Tail even. Tarsus equal to the middle toe without the claw. Outer 

 toe joined to the middle one at the base, and considerably longer than the inner ; hind toe equal 

 to the inner one, its claw long and straight. 



Crest very large and deep. 



