202 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



AN ATTEMPT TO ARRANGE AND DESCRIBE THE SPECIES OF 

 BIRDS OF THE GENUS TODIRAMPHUS, LESSON. 



Genus TODIRAMPHUS, Lesson, Voy. Coquille, Zoologie, I, p. 684 

 (Quarto, Paris, 1826). 



Orig. Desc. — {Types T. tula and T. Divinm.) " Ges todiramphes ont le 

 bee droit, a mandihide inftnenre tresdSfjerement revjiee, tres-deprime, 

 plus larrje que ha id, sans arete, a mandibides Scales, ohtuses an Lout et 

 aplaties, a hords entieremeat lisses ; narines hasaJes en fissure oblique 

 tres-peu apparente, hordees ]X(r les plumes du front ; ailes courtes, ar- 

 rondies, premiere remige pdas courte, la quatrieme, la plus longue ; 

 queue longue, a reef rices egales au nomhre de douze ; tarses alonges 

 mediocres, reticules." 



Description by us. — Bill straight, broad and depressed, with the 

 ridges of both mandibles more or less rounded and obscure or obsolete ; 

 inferior mandible curved upwards from about its middle ; commissure 

 nearly straight or slightly curved upwards. Nostrils small, basal ; in- 

 serted obliquely. 



Wings short, rather rounded, first quill shortest, third and fourth 

 usually longest; tail moderate, composed of twelve feathers, generally 

 slightly rounded; tarsi and feet weak, and covered with scales, the 

 latter with the outer and middle toes united to their first joint; claws 

 rather large, curved. 



General form short and robust, allied to Halcyon, Sw., from which 

 all the species that we have seen may readily be distinguished by the 

 more flattened bill, in which the ridges are scarcely discernible (com- 

 pared with H. smyrnensis, atricapillus, and cyanoventris) . In Halcyon, 

 the bill is nearly quadrangular, and the ridges of both mandibles 

 strongly defined. 



Colors of the typical species, generally light-blue (ultramarine and 

 cobalt), with various shades of green (mostly prussian-green), white, 

 and fine orange or buff" (sienna). Other species are deep brownish- 

 green, and white ; and others of various shades of reddish-brown, green. 



