THE 



WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE. 



"MULTOEUM MAKE BUS GKANDE LEVATUR ONUS," — Ovid. 



®\x l\t §xmt\bh%i of Milts. 



No. 12.— INSESSORES (Perchers). Continued. 

 Fissirostres (wide-billed) . 



HIS last tribe of the great order of Perchers is by far the 

 smallest of the four, for though it contains as many families 

 as the Climbers, viz.: the Kingfishers, Swallows and Goatsuckers, 

 yet two of these are represented in this country by one single 

 species only, and the whole tribe numbers but six individuals 

 known in Wiltshire. There is indeed another family belonging 

 to this tribe, viz.: the Bee-eaters ; but the only two species belonging 

 to it which ever appear in England, viz., the " Roller," (Coracias 

 garrula) and the "Bee-eater," (Merops apiaster) have only visited 

 us as very rare stragglers, and no instance of the occurrence of 

 either of them in Wiltshire has hitherto reached me. The word 

 " Fissirostres," (wide-billed or cloven-beaked,) describes at once their 

 chief characteristic, and indeed if we closely examine those species 

 in which this peculiarity is most developed, viz., the common 

 Swift and the Night-jar, we shall be surprized to see to what an 

 immense width the gape extends, and how apparently dispropor- 

 tionate to the size of the head is the enormous extent of the 

 capacious mouth and throat, though these are admirably adapted 

 to their habits of feeding on the wing and capturing flies and 

 moths as in a net in their rapid career through the air. Their 

 feet being little required for use are generally small and weak, 

 and their flight is peculiarly smooth and easy, gliding as they do 



VOL. IX. — NO. XXVII. Q 



