THE



Avicultural Magazine


THE JOURNAL OF THE

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY



Fifth Series. —Vol. II.—No. 2 .—All rights reserved. FEBRUARY, 1937.



THE COLLARED PUFF-BIRD


(Bucco colaris)


By P. H. Maxwell


The photograph of this bird is taken from Sclater’s monograph of the

Jacamars and Puff-birds by kind permission of Mr. W. L. Sclater.

There is a specimen of this bird in the bird galleries of the Natural

History Museum, London. I also have a print of it but my print does

not seem very accurate as regards the pigmentation. The following is

a description of it: the sexes are alike.


Above bright rusty red, crossed with black linear bands except on the

sides of the head ; dorsal band black ; wings, blackish ; coverts,

external secondaries and tail like the back ; beneath white ; abdomen,

washed with ochraceous ; pectoral band, black ; bill, orange-red ;

culmen, blackish ; feet, brown ; whole length 7 inches, wings 3*2,

tail 6, bill horn gape 1*4.


The habitat of this bird is G-uiana and Amazonia : it is found mostly

in hilly and dry districts and is often seen near the ground hunting for

beetles and other insects.


Mr. H. Whitley collected this bird at Yquitos, East Peru, in fact he

was one of the first collectors to obtain specimens of this bird. Mr. Bates

says of the genus Bucco, in his book A Naturalist on the Amazons, “ they



3



