3;xxi 



VII. History of the Puff-hirds. 



The history of the Puif-birds need not be commenced before Brisson, who, in the fourth 

 volume of his excellent ' Ornithologie,' published in 1760, invented the generic term Bucco 

 (from hucca, a cheek*), and arranged in it three species — one belonging to the family now treated 

 of, and two to the family usually called Capitonidse. As, however, Brisson placed the bird of 

 this family first, and called it simply "i?ziCCO," and as, moreover, Linnaeus, in his 12th edition 

 of his ' Systema Naturae,' constituted his genus '•^ Bucco'' of this same species alone, I think there 

 can be no doubt whatever that it is correct to retain the name Bucco for the leading group of 

 this family, and not to use it for the Capitonidee, as hasbeen done by some writers. 



Buffon (1780) applied the term Tamatia to the present group, in which, however, he 

 included the Capitonidse of the New World, and used the name '^'Barbu" for the Capitonidai 

 of the Old World. 



Gmelin (1788), in his edition of the 'Systema Naturse,' mixed up all the Bucconidee and 

 Capitonidae known to him in his genus Bucco. Of the seventeen species which he attributes to 

 Bucco, six only properly belong to this family — namely, B. tamatia, B. capensis (i. e. B. coUaris), 

 B. macrorhynchus, B. melanoleucus (i. e. B. tectus), B. fuscus (i. e. Malacoptila fasca), and 

 B. cinereus (i. e. Monacha nigra). Besides these, Gmelin placed one Bucconine bird in the 

 genus Alcedo (sc. Bucco maculatus), and another in the genus Cuculus (sc. Chelidoptera 

 tenehrosa). It may be said, therefore, that at this period eight species of Bucconidse were 

 known to science. 



Ten years later Latham, in his ' Index Ornithologicus,' did not advance at all upon Gmelin's 

 arrangement. His nineteen species of Bucco are likewise a mixed multitude, of which only six 

 properly pertain to the present group. 



A much more intelligent writer treated of the Bucconidse (as we now call them) in 1806. 

 Francois Levaillant introduced this group into the second volume of his ' Oiseaux de Paradis,' 

 separating them from the Barbus (Capitonidse) under the name " Barbus Tamatias," and consti- 

 tuting a second genus of Monacha and Chelidoptera under the title " Barbacous." In his volume 

 and in the Supplement to it Levaillant described and figured all together seven of these birds. 



After Levaillant there is little noteworthy in the history of the Barbets until we come to 

 Vieillot, who in 1816, in his 'Analyse d'une nouvelle Ornithologie,' placed the Barbets in two 

 genera — Bucco and Monasa (corr. Monacha) in his family Baebati, separating them both from 

 Capito, which, as here given, becomes the first name available for the rival family Capitonidref. 

 In his articles in the ' Nouveau Dictionnaire ' ("Barbu" and " Monase ou Barbacou ") published 

 shortly afterwards, Vieillot recognized four species of the first genus and two of the second, 

 besides various bad species. The only species added to those of previous authors, however, was 

 his Bitcco chacuru (from Azara's El Chacuru). In his ' Encyclopedic Methodique ' Vieillot made 

 very few alterations in this arrangement. 



Neither Latham, in his ' General History' (1822), uor Lichtenstein,who issued liis 'Doublctten- 



* "Nomen a me huic generi impositum, a huccarum sive genarnm et capitis crassitio" (Brisson, Orn. iv. p. U]). 

 t Temminck, in his "Analyse du Systeme General," prefixed to tlie 'Maunel d'Ornithologie,' used Vieillofs uaiue 

 " Cajyito " for tlie Puff-birds, and " Bucco " for the Barbets, and thus much increased the confusion on this subject. 



