154 
CONOPOPHAGA. 
the middle toe as far as the first joint ; the same 
reasons, therefore, which have been urged against 
Todus viridis being a terrestrial bird, are equally 
applicable in the present ease. Whatever may be 
the real economy of these birds, certain it is that 
they are of a thicker and stronger structure than any 
other of the todies. The head is particularly large, 
the body plump, and the feet comparatively strong ; 
there is a strength, also, in the bill, which is not 
found in any of the other sub-genera : when viewed 
in profile only, it precisely resembles that of an ant- 
thrush ( Myothera J, occasioned by the thickness of 
the under mandible, the gonyx or ridge of which 
curves upward, while the tip is distinctly notched : 
this is an important and peculiar character. The 
Conopophagce , in all probability, feed upon soft 
apterous insects ; for they have no bristles, properly 
so called, on the sides of their bill, where there are 
merely a few straggling setaceous feathers ; the front 
of the head is protected in the same way, as well 
as the nostrils ; these latter being very large, beset 
with only a small oval aperture at the end, and 
which is placed nearly in the middle of the bill. 
The rough and bristly appearance of the front of 
these birds reminds us of Dasycephala, to which, 
both in this and in their brown plumage, they are 
analogous. Of their manners we are totally unac- 
quainted, farther than that our hunters reported 
they were only to be met with in thick woods ; and 
they are at all times scarce. We possess two species 
from Brazil. 
