458 MOMOTID^, 



Mr. Cherrie gives the following interesting notes on this species : — " On the 8th May, 

 1889, I bought five young birds, the pin-feathers not yet concealed, and the eye light 

 sepia-brown. By the 25th of the same month they were fully feathered, the iris had 

 changed to a decided chestnut shade, and the tail of one of the birds measured o'55 

 inches. On the 28th the birds commenced imitating the notes of the adults ; their eyes 

 had become bright chestnut. With the first utterances of the notes of the adults the 

 peculiar jerky motions of the tail commenced. It was most amusing to watch the four 

 birds sitting in a row together, almost motionless, only giving the tail first a jerk to this 

 side, then to that, now up and now down, to see it held for the space of a couple of 

 minutes almost at right angles to the body, and then go with a whisk to the other side, 

 the birds all the time uttering their peculiar cooing notes. On May 30th I measured 

 the tail of one of the birds and found it to be 4*25 inches, an increase of '7 inch in five 

 days. I fed the birds on raw meat, and about this time they began to fight \'igorously 

 for their shares. If two happened to get hold of the same piece, neither was willing to 

 let go, and each would close its eyes and hang on for dear life, both squealing as hard 

 as they could. On 3rd June the serration of the bill began to show. On the 16th the 

 tails were apparently full-grown, and the birds began to tear at the webs at the points 

 of the middle pair of feathers. By the 1st July the tail-feathers were fully trimmed." 

 He adds, " on one occasion I found the stomach of a bird I had shot filled with snails 

 of a species having a delicate easily crushed shell. The birds I had in confinement 

 greedily ate earthworms, and one day when I had placed a small live Warbler in the 

 cage I returned in about half an hour's time and found the feet and tail of my Warbler 

 protruding from the mouth of one of the Bobos ! " 



The specimens described by E,. P. Lesson in 1842 were obtained by his brother 

 Adolphe Lesson at Eealejo, on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua ^. 



2. Momotus cseruleiceps. 



Prionites caruleiceps, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 18'-, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 113 '. 

 Momotus caruleiceps, Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, pp. 201 ', 253 * ; 1859, p. 367 ' ; 1864, p. 176 '; Baird, 



U. S. Bound. Surv., Birds, p. 7, t. 8 ' ; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 160 ' ; 



Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 327 '. 

 Momotus cceruleocephalvs, Jard. & Selby, 111. Orn. iv. t. 42 ". 

 Momotus subhutu, Less. Descr. Mamm. et Ois. p. 265 (1847) ". 

 M, lessoni affinis, sed capite summo omnino caeruleo distinguendus, 



Hab. Mexico (Lesson^^), Tamaulipas (Gould^), Boquillo in Nuevo Leon (Couch''), 

 Villa Grande, Hacienda de la Cruz, Rio Camarcho in Nuevo Leon (F. B. 

 Armstrong), Sierra Madre above Ciudad Victoria, Xicotencal, Tampico, Valles 

 {W.B. Bichardson), Misantla, Colipa (F. D. G.), Cuesta de Misantla {M.Trujillo), 

 Jalapa (Salle ^, de Oca^, Ferrari-Perez^), Santa Ana, Plan del Rio, Hacienda 

 Tortugas, Rio San Juan Martin, Cuichapa (Ferrari-Perez). 



