CyPSELIDffi 



19 



usually singly or in pairs and not in small parties like the Kakelaar, 

 frequenting forest as well as thorn country, where it runs up and 

 down the trunks and branches of the mimosas, somewhat like a 

 Tree Creeper in search of insects and their larvae which form its 

 food. Marshall states that it not infrequently descends to the 

 ground in pursuit of its prey and that the stomachs of individuals 

 examined by him contained diptera, reduviid bugs and occasionally 

 cteniform spiders and wasps ; while Ayres obtained a female which 

 was regaling itself on white ants as they were ascending the tree 

 trunk. Like a tit it will creep head forwards down a perpendicular 

 tree trunk, and will also cling beneath a branch examining flower- 

 buds for insects. Its flight is more graceful and floating than that 

 of its ally the Kakelaar ; and though most authors state that it is a 

 silent bird, the Woodwards speak of it as noisy and chattering, and 

 that it has a peculiar plaintive cooing note which can be heard at 

 a great distance off and to which it sometimes gives utterance when 

 perched on the top of a tree. 



Mr. Millar tells me that he once found the young of this bird 

 in the hole of a tree where they had evidently nested ; but that he 

 had never been able to find the eggs, probably in consequence of 

 the wary nature of the bird. I know of no other observations on 

 their nesting habits. 



Suborder II. CYPSELI. 



Deep plantar tendons coraciine, i.e., hallux suppHed by the flexor 

 perforans digitorum ; palate aegithognathous or desmognathous ; 

 dorsal feather tract defined on the neck forked on the upper back ; 

 oil gland naked ; ambiens muscle absent. 



This suborder in addition to the Swifts and Goatsuckers includes 

 a third family, the Humming birds (TrocMlidae) confined to the 

 New World ; perhaps also the Progmouths (Podargidae) from the 

 Oriental and Australian regions, and the Oil-bird forming the family 

 Steatornithidae from South America. 



Family I. OYPSELID^. 



Bill small and shghtly hooked, gape very broad, wings long, 

 the primaries ten in number being greatly developed and curved ; 

 secondaries very short and less than nine in number ; humerus 



