COEACIID^ COEACIAS 45 



Suborder III. ANISODACTYLI. 



Deep plantar tendons coracine, i.e., hallux connected with the 

 flexor perforans digitorum (fig. 2e, p. 2) ; palate desmognathous 

 (fig. 5, p. 5) ; ambiens muscle absent. 



In addition to the families of EoUers, Bee-eaters, Kingfishers, 

 Mouse-birds and Hornbills represented in South Africa, the Motmots 

 and Todies of the neotropical region and perhaps the Madagascar 

 Eoller (Leptosomatidas) should be included in the sub-order. 



Family I. CORACIID^. 



Bill stout, corvine in shape, the upper mandible toothed near 

 the end ; the outer toe united to the middle one at the extreme 

 base only, so that it is reversible at will, the inner toe united to the 

 third by its basal joint ; nostrils at the base of the mandible ; 

 dorsal feather tract well defined on the neck and forked on the 

 upper back (fig. 1, p. 2) ; oil gland present but nude ; caeca present. 



This family is confined to the temperate and tropical portions 

 of the old world. 



Key of the Genera. 



A. Bill elongated ; breadth at the gape about half 



the length of the culmen Coracias, p 45. 



B. Bill short and broad, breadth at the gape about 



equal in length to the culmen Eurystomus, p. 53. 



Genus I. CORACIAS. 



Type. 



Coracias, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 159 (1766) ... C. garrula. 



Bill elongated and slightly compressed ; its breadth at the 

 gape about half the length of the culmen ; a few short but strong 

 rictal bristles ; wing of ten primaries, the second or third the 

 longest, the first not falling very far short of it ; tarsus short, less 

 than the length of the middle toe ; tail of twelve feathers. 



This genus contains the Eollers, birds of bright plumage and 

 powerful flight, spread over the greater part of Europe, central 

 and southern Asia as far as Celebes, and the whole of Africa. 

 Shelley's list contains the names of nine species occurring in the 



