192 
POPULAE HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
The Barbets form a group of large-billed birds, peculiar 
to the warmer parts of the world, and most of them signal- 
ized bj the various bright colours of their plumage. The 
beak is thick and conical, and bulged on the sides at the 
base, with various bundles of stiff bristles, directed forwards. 
Though the toes are arranged as in the Scansorial birds, 
none of the numerous species of the genus Bucco and Pogo- 
nias seem to climb. Their beak, with the edges of their 
upper mandible, sometimes {Pogonias) strongly toothed, is 
well formed to cut the stems of fruits and to crush them. 
One of these, the Coppersmith {Bucco Indicus) is, ac- 
cording to the ornithologist of the Indian Peninsula"^, a 
very abundant species in India, wherever there are trees in 
any quantity. It is a familiar bird, coming close to houses, 
and is not unfrequently observed perching on the house- 
top. It hops about the branches when feeding, and does 
not climb. Its chief food is fruit of various kinds, and 
sometimes insects. When not feeding it sits generally on 
the top of a tree, and utters a monotonous call, nodding its 
head first to one side and then to another. The Hindoos 
call it Tamhapit, — that is, Coppersmith,^' — a name given 
to it by many of the European residents. 
* T. C. Jerdon, Esq., Madras Journal of Literature and Science, April, 
1840, vol. xi. p. 216. 
