310 BULLETIN 50, TJUITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Superfamily- C.A.I>ITOI»rE!S. 

 THE BAKBETS AND HONEY GUIDES. 



"^Rhamphmtidae Cabanis, Wiegmaim's Archiv fiir Naturg., 1847, pt. i, 348 



(includes EamphastLdes). 

 <,Capitones Shakpe, Rev. Rec. Att. Claeeif. Birds, 1891, 83; Hand-list, ii, 1900, 



177 (excludes Indicatoridae). 

 = Capitonidx Gadow, in Bronn's Thier-Eeicli, Vog., 1893, 266, 301; Classtf. 



Vertebr., 1898, 37.— Bbddaed, Stract. and Classif. Birds, 1898, 192. 



Aegithognathous or (in some Capitonidse) desmognatlious Scan- 

 sores with the vomer single, bifurcate; cervical hsemapophysis single, 

 sharp, channeled; spina externa sterni moderately long, not forked; 

 clavicles separated (not ankylosing into a furculum) ; manubrial proc- 

 ess pointed; csBca absent; femoro-caudal and accessory semitendino- 

 sus muscles present, ambiens and accessory femoro-caudal muscles 

 absent; oil-gland tufted; contour feathers with aftershaft, and bill 

 not highly specialized. 



KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF CAPITONES. 



a. Ventral pteryla forked on side of breast; wing rounded, with ten relatively short 

 piimarieB, the longest of which exceed secondaries by much less than length of 

 culmen; fifth to sixth primariea longest; outermost primary small, much less 

 than half as long as longest; nostrils bored directly into the horny rhinotheca 

 (no nasal fossae) ; bill relatively much larger, broader, or deeper (usually both) 

 basally, the cuhnen less convex; conspicuous, elongated, frontal bristles; plu- 

 mage usually bright and varied (usually with red, orange, yeUow, green, or 

 blue, often several of these hues combined and strongly contrasted), the sexes 



more or less different in coloration Capitonidse "■ (p. 311). 



aa. Ventral pteryla not forked on side of breast; wing long and pointed, with nine 

 primaries, the longest of the latter exceeding secondaries by more than twice 

 the length of culmen; four outermost primaries (sixth to ninth) longest, the 

 outermost (ninth) nearly to quite equal to longest; nostrils in center of large 

 nasal fossae, surrounded by broad membrane; bill relatively much smaller, 

 narrower and less deep basally, the cuhneil more strongly convex; plumage 

 plain or dull, without bright hues (except, sometimes, yellow), the sexes alike 

 in coloration Indicatoridae (extralimital).* 



" The above external characters taken chiefly from the American genera. 



6 =Indicatorinse Swainson, Classif. Birds, ii, 1837, 325; Bonaparte, Prodr. Syst. 

 Om., 1840, 17; Consp. Av., i, 1850, 100; Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein., iv, heft i, 

 1863, 1; Gadow, Bronn's Thier-Reich, Vog., ii, 1891, 267, 301. =Indicatoridss 

 Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 412, 421, in text; Fuerbringer, Unters. Morph. 

 Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1389; Sharpe, Hand-list, ii, 1900, 176. =Indicat(yres Sharpe, 

 Rev. Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 83; Hand-list, ii, 1900, 176. 



A rather small group, of about eighteen species and four genera, mostly confined 

 to Africa, two species (of the typical genus Indicator) occurring in the Himalaya 

 Mountains and the Malay Peninsula and Borneo respectively. 



The above diagnosis is taken from the genera Indicator and Melignothes alone, the 

 other two genera {Prodotiscus Sundevall and MelignoTnon Reichenow) not being 

 available for examination in this connection. 



