Barbets, and their Distribution. 243 



trustworthy observer,* that the Blue-cheeked Barbet " exca- 

 vates holes iu trees for its nest." 



Besides the Blue- throated Barbet, some eight or nine 

 species of the same genus are found in India. About fifteen 

 others are known, all of which inhabit different portions of the 

 " Indian Region/' that is South-eastern Asia and the large 

 adjacent islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and the Philippines. 

 There are also found within the same area two other nearly 

 allied forms of slightly different structure, namely, Psilopogon, 

 with one species peculiar to Sumatra, and Megalorhynchus, 

 with two species found in Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo. We 

 have thus altogether about twenty-six known Indian species of 

 this family, which in their habits and mode of life do not 

 materially differ from Megalcema Asiatica. 



In the forests of Africa we again meet with numerous 

 representatives of the same family, belonging, however, accord- 

 ing to the best authorities, to genera different from those of 

 Asia. These are the Barbets of the genera Barbatula, Gym- 

 nobucco,Lcemodon, and Trachyphonus, whichare distributed over 

 the wooded districts of Abyssinia, and the adjacent portions 

 of East Africa, are found throughout the tropical forests of 

 Western Africa, and extend southwards nearly to the vicinity 

 of Cape Town. The well-known African traveller and natu- 

 ralist, Theodor von Heaglin, has written an excellent article 

 upon the Barbets of Eastern Africa, in the " Ibis" for 1861,f 

 and M. Jules Verreaux, of the Jardin des Plantes, has given a 

 complete list of the known African species of the family, in 

 the Zoological Society's " Proceedings" for 18594 From these 

 authorities it would appear that there are at present known about 

 twenty-five African Barbets belonging to the genera above 

 mentioned. We have no such accurate account of the habits 

 and manners of these birds as of the Indian Barbets; but 

 from the following general remarks of Heuglin there w^uld 

 appear to be little deviation on these points. Of the Barbets 

 of Eastern Africa, Heuglin says : " With the exception of the 

 Trachyphoni, the Capitunidce are not shy birds, though quiet 

 and solitary, and always keeping to the high trees and bushes. 

 The Trachyphoni are frequently seen in the plains, and 

 although also shy, are of a much more lively and wandering- 

 nature than the Pogonorynchi and Barbatulce. The note of the 

 Trachyphoni is loud and very melodious ; they run (though in 

 a different way from Woodpeckers) up and down the trunks of 

 trees, feeding upon insects, berries, and fruits, as they hop 



* Buchanan Hamilton. 



f See his article on new or little-known birds of Eastern Africa, " Ibis," 1861, 

 p. 121. 



+ P. Z. S., 1859, p. 393. 



