BRASILIAN SAW-BILLED 
ROLLER. 
peds, which it finds on the surface of th 
ground: it lines this with dry stalks of herbs 
and there lays it's eggs, which are generall 
two in number. The Houtous are common 
in the interior parts of Guiana, but they seldoi 
frequent the neighbourhood of plantations 
Their flesh is hard and unpalatable food. Piso 
is mistaken, too, in saying that they live on 
fruits. As this is the third time he has been 
misled, it is probable that he has applied the 
attributes of another bird to the present, which 
he describes only from Marcgrave, and with 
which he was, perhaps, unacquainted : for i 
is certain that the Houtou is the same bird with 
the Guira Guainumbi of Marcgrave ; which 
is difficult to tame ; which is unfit for eating 
and which neither perches nor nestles on trees 
nor feeds on fruits. The specific charadler o 
the Ramphastos Momota is, that it's feet arc 
gressary; that is, that the toes are disposed 
three before, and one behind.'* 
This is the entire account of our Brasih'au 
Saw-Billed Roller, as published by BufFon, 
under the name of the Houtou, or Momot: on 
which we need only remark that, notwith- 
standing 
