WOODPECKERS - PUFF-BIRDS. 



35S 



The Puff-Birds. 

 — Suborder 



Buccones. 



Fig. 88.— Hargitt's ■Wood- 

 pecker (Thriponax kargUti). 



An interesting genus of the section of narrow-necked woodpeckers is seen 

 In Thripotiax, which is found in the Indian region, and extends through the 

 Indo-Malayan sub-region and the Burmese pro- 

 vinces to the Philippines on the one hand, and to 

 Soutli India and the Andaman islands on the other. 

 Then the genus, of which Hargitt's woodpecker is 

 one of the most typical species (fig. 88), reappears 

 in Corea and the Japanese islands of Tsu-shima, 

 thus proving that in the Eastern Hemisphere the 

 same introduction of tropical forms unexpectedly 

 occurs in the palfearctic area as it does in the 

 Western Hemisphere. 



The puff-birds are neotropical, and are only found 

 in Central and South America. They differ from 

 the woodpeckers in having a nude 

 oil-gland and in the possession of 

 cseca, and their pterylography is 

 different. The palate is bridged 

 or desmognathous, and a vomer is 

 present. The feet are zygodactyle, and the Jlea-or 

 perforans digitorum tendon leads to the third digit only, the other plantar 

 tendon serving the three other toes, as in the woodpeckers. The bill is 

 stout and curved, and in the genus Bncco is hooked at the end, the base bemg 

 well furnished with rictal bristles. The plumage of the puft'-birds is mostly 

 of a sombre character. 



Forty-three species of puff-bird are known, divided by Dr. Sclater into 

 seven genera, Bucco with twenty species, Malacoptihi with seven, Micromon- 

 acha with one, Nunnula with five, Malacoptda with 

 one, Monacha with seven, and CheUduptera with two. 

 The accounts of the habits of these birds represent 

 them to be sluggish and apathetic ; they inhabit the 

 forests and feed on insects, after which they fly fi5pra 

 their perch, apparently in a manner similar to that of 

 a bee-eater or a flycatcher. Very few notes have 

 been published on their habits or nesting, but the 

 eggs are believed to be white, and deposited in the 

 holes of hollow trees. 



The jacamars are a small family of neo-tropioal 

 birds, mostly of metallic plumage, resembling 

 puff-birds in much of their internal 

 structure and their zygodactyle feet. 

 The bill, however, is not heavy, as in 

 the latter birds, but is long, slender and pointed, and they 

 usually have a long and pointed tail. 



The jacamars feed on insects, which they dart after from a perch, like a 

 flycatcher. Jacamerops aurea is said to be casually met with as solitary in- 

 dividuals or in pairs, preferring trees on the banks of streams to more open 

 places in the forest. Here they watch for passing insects, which they catch 

 on the wing, and return to their position. They often remain almost motion- 

 less for hours without stirring a feather. The jacamars are said to tunnel 

 a small hole in a bank and to lay white and nearly round eggs. Of the black- 

 cheeked jacamar {Oalbida mdanogenia) more has been published about the 



Fmi. 89.— The Greater 



Pied Puff-Bird 

 (Bucco macrorhynchus). 



the 



The Jacamars. 

 — Family 



Oalbulidui. 



