Family CORACIID^ 
Subfamily coraciina:. 
Genus CORACIAS. 
Galgulus, Brisson, Orn. ii. p. 63 (1760). Type C. garrulus. 
Coracias, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 159 (1766). Type C. garrulus. 
Coraciura, Bp. Consp. Volucr. Anis. p. 7 (1854). Type C. cyanogaster. 
Hab. The Western Palsearctic Begion, Western Siberia^ Central Asia^ the western part of the Indo-Malayan 
Begion, and the Ethiopian Begion. 
Alis longis, latis^ remige secnnda longissima: cauda gequali sen rectricibus extimis utrinque elongatis: rostro 
validiusculo, conico^ apice deflexo^ hamato^ longiore quam latiore: pedibus robustisj brevibus. 
Bill nearly as long as the head, compressed, longer than it is broad, the tip decurved and slightly 
notched; gape-line nearly straight, the gape furnished with decurved bristles; nostrils basal, linear, 
partly concealed by feathers; a bare space behind the eye. Wings rather long and broad, the second 
quill longest. Tail rather long, nearly even, or with the external rectrices elongated. Feet short and 
stout, the tarsus covered in front with four larger and three inferior broad scutellse; claws moderate 
arched, acute.—Type Coracias garrulus. 
The present genus contains twelve species, only one of which is a regular summer resident in the 
Western Palsearctic Region, and one other an occasional visitant. In their habits they are arboreal, 
uneasy and restless, and shy, except when they have not been subjected to persecution. They frequent 
woods, groves, gardens, and in some localities inhabited places. Their flight is strong and swift, and 
they have a habit of executing peculiar aerial evolutions when on the wing, and from this peculiarity 
their English and German name is derived. They feed on insects of various kinds, which they usually 
capture on the wing, but also take from the ground. They nest in hollow trees, banks, or in old ruins, 
occasionally even in inhabited houses, and deposit several pure wBite glossy eggs on the chips of 
wood at the bottom of a tree-hollow, or when nesting in old walls or banks they make a clumsy nest 
of roots, grass, straw, hair, &c. Five species, all of which inhabit the Ethiopian Region, have the 
external rectrices much elongated, while Coracias garrulus occasionally has these feathers elongated, 
though not very much, beyond the other tail-feathers. 
B 
