Sir W. Jardine on the Habits of Prionites. 



325 



used at times to sit in our portico, from whence it would dart 

 down into the flower-garden, seizing the lizards indiscrimi- 

 nately without regard to size ; when hungry I have seen them 

 kill and attempt to swallow one ten inches long ; I have often 

 extracted the lizard in such instances when the tail protruded 

 from four to six inches out of the bird's mouth ; at other times, 

 when it had succeeded as far as the hind legs, and the bird 

 appeared in a state of suffocation. They feed also on soft 

 fruits ; I took several large seeds from the stomach of one a 

 few days since. The two spatulate tail-feathers are entire at 

 the first moult, but when or how they become spatulate, I am 

 sure no one in Tobago knows. The birds have always been 

 reported to assist it with their bill, hence my anxiety to do- 

 mesticate them for the purpose of ascertaining the fact ; but 

 in this I have always failed, for the tail had no sooner ex- 

 tended four or five inches than it was broken off by the cage 

 or floor. One thing is certain, that at this season, viz. from 

 October until May or June, we may search in vain for a spe- 

 cimen without the spatulate tail, while betwixt June and Oc- 

 tober they may be met with in abundance ; this leads me to 

 the conclusion that it is natural, and that they assume the 

 spatulate appearance with the first moult and unassisted." 



The specimens of the Tobago Motmot which we have re- 

 ceived, vary in length from seventeen to fourteen and a half 

 inches ; when compared with P. Brasiliensis, the blue colour 

 encircling the crown covers less space on the occiput, the 

 feathers are not so elongated, and the tint is pale or greenish 

 at their base, and not of the deep and uniform cobalt of the 

 Brazilian bird; the upper part of the plumage is nearly simi- 

 lar in tint, but the whole of the lower parts and under wing- 

 covers are of a deep and uniform brownish-orange, relieved 

 only by the black elongated feathers, which appear through 

 nearly the whole group in a similar situation. 



From the specimens in spirits* being rather soft and tend- 

 ing to decay, the examination of the soft structures could not 

 be made satisfactorily. The whole muscular system exhibited 

 little strong development ; indeed the outward form of the bird 

 (confirmed by our knowledge of its habits) shows no provi- 



* In sending home specimens in spirits care should be taken not to place 

 too many in the same jar or barrel ; a certain quantity of spirits will only 

 preserve a certain portion of animal matter, and the desire to fill the vessel 

 often proves destructive to the whole. It should also be noticed, that par- 

 tial putridity or decay has not commenced; and if the vessel has remained 

 for some time in a warm climate, it will tend much to the preservation of 

 the specimens to renew the spirits before they are despatched, taking out at 

 the same time any which may seem to be soft or not keeping. 



