Sub-fam. 1. Galbulinae.–Jacamars are ordinarily brilliant coppery- or golden-green above, and more or less rufous below; though the upper parts may be metallic blue, chestnut, or greyish-black. The bill and feet are generally blackish; but in Galbalcyrhynchus, Brachygalba albigularis, and B. melanosterna, the bill is white, in Galbula albirostris and G. cyaneicollis it is yellow and black. The largest species (Jacamerops grandis) is not eleven inches long. The females resemble the males, or are paler below, and lack the usual white throat. The Sub-family ranges from Mexico to South Brazil.
These birds are usually found towards the outskirts of forests near water, where they frequent lofty trees, and commonly sit crouched upon some dead or slender branch for hours, merely moving the head from time to time. The food consists of insects–especially flies or moths–which are often caught upon the wing, and crushed against the boughs before they are swallowed, the bird sallying forth and returning to its perch like a Fly-catcher. The regular note is short and seldom heard; but Jacamaralcyon has, according to the natives, an agreeable whistling song. The flight is quick and jerky. Generally found solitary or in pairs, the various species occasionally bathe in small flocks. The three or more roundish white eggs are laid in holes in banks, or possibly in old stumps. In some districts names equivalent to "Large Humming-birds" are given to Jacamars; while early writers confounded them with Kingfishers.
Urogalba paradisea of Guiana, Peru, and Brazil, and U. amazonum of Upper Amazonia, characterized by an extremely long and tapering median pair of tail-feathers, are dark blue, with bronzy and green reflexions, brownish heads, and white throats. Seven out of ten members of the genus Galbula are also Amazonian; the remainder reaching South Mexico, Bolivia, and South-East Brazil, and one of them Trinidad and Tobago. G. albirostris is brilliant bronzy-green above, with rufous lower parts and white throat; most of its congeners being fairly similar, though G. chalcothorax has a decided red and blue gloss on both surfaces and a white abdomen. Brachygalba, which extends from Colombia to Amazonia, includes six diminutive forms, with a varying admixture of green and brown above, of black, brown, rufous and white below. Jacamaralcyon tridactyla of South-East Brazil is greenish-black, with a brown, rufous-streaked head, and a white mid-breast and abdomen. Galbalcyrhynchus leucotis of East Ecuador and Upper Amazonia is chestnut, with white cheeks and darker head and quills. Jacamerops grandis, ranging from Veragua to Amazonia and Ecuador, is bright coppery-green, with blackish wings and tail, a white throat-patch, and a chestnut abdomen.
Fig. 93.–Puff-bird. Bucco hyperrhynchus. × ⅜.
Sub-fam. 2. Bucconinae.–The Puff-birds differ structurally from the Galbulinae only in having shorter and stouter beaks, with hooked or incurved tips; stronger metatarsi, which are scaly behind; fully developed lateral rectrices; and no aftershaft. The habits of the two groups are similar, while the aforesaid English name probably refers to the puffy appearance of the head while the birds are resting. They are black, brown, or rufous in hue, relieved by white markings; the bill being red in Bucco chacuru, B. maculatus, B. striatipectus, and B. collaris, and red or yellow in Monacha. The entire range of the Family, extending from Guatemala and Honduras to Argentina, is occupied by the twenty hook-billed species of Bucco. B. dysoni is blue-black, with a white under surface crossed by a broad black band, and a white forehead and nape; B. hyperrhynchus is similar with a larger bill; B. collaris differs in its rusty-red upper parts barred with black; B. bicinctus has these mottled with brown, and two black bands on its buff breast; B. maculatus has a rufous chest and black spots on the white belly; and so forth. The half-dozen species of Malacoptila, extending from Guatemala to Brazil, are brownish birds, striated with rufous; the lower parts being more or less fulvous, often with black and white breast-bands. The diminutive Micromonacha lanceolata of Upper Amazonia is rufescent above; the forehead and under parts are relieved by black, while each outer rectrix has a black bar. The Nunlets (Nonnula rubecula and its congeners) are also among the smallest of the Family, and are distributed from Panama to Peru and Brazil; they are brown above and ferruginous beneath, with a little white. Hapaloptila castanea of Colombia and Ecuador is a hook-billed species, with olive-grey upper and chestnut under parts, a white forehead and throat. Monacha comprises about seven large blue-black forms, ranging from Nicaragua to South-East Brazil and Bolivia, some of which have white on the wings and round the base of the bill. Chelidoptera tenebrosa, the Swallow-wing, of Venezuela, Guiana, and Amazonia, has long wings and a short square tail; the colour being blue-black, with a chestnut lower abdomen and white tail-coverts. The larger C. brasiliensis inhabits Brazil. This is apparently the only member of the group of which the nest has been found; it was a mere hole in a bank, containing two shining white eggs.
Fam. XVI. Capitonidae.–This is here taken to contain the Sub-families (1) Capitoninae, or Barbets, and (2) Indicatorinae, or Honey-guides. Much confusion has arisen from the fact that Brisson included the former in his genus Bucco, while subsequently Garrod and W. A. Forbes combined the Rhamphastidae (Toucans) with the above-mentioned groups in their Capitonidae.
Sub-fam. 1. Capitoninae.–Barbets are heavy, ungraceful birds, with large stout bills, which are swollen at the base, occasionally sulcated, and more or less beset with bristles. Pogonorhynchus and Tricholaema have the maxilla toothed–generally strongly, while that of Tetragonops fits into a fissure in the truncated tip of the mandible. The scutellated feet are fairly powerful, with zygodactylous toes and rather long claws; the moderate wings have ten primaries, and ten or eleven secondaries; the tail of ten rectrices is more usually short than long, and may be square, rounded, or graduated. The clavicles are somewhat reduced; the tongue is said to be thin, short, and cartilaginous; the nostrils are often bristly, an aftershaft is present; while both adults and young lack down.
The brilliant plumage commonly exhibits vivid contrasts of scarlet, blue, purple, or yellow on a green ground, but Calorhamphus and Gymnobucco are sombre in hue; different species, moreover, have crests, naked orbits, or brightly coloured bills. The sexes are alike, except in Capito; the young are duller.
The members of this Family are strictly arboreal, and inhabit forests, or well-timbered cultivated districts and gardens; not being usually shy, or easily disturbed while feeding in flocks. The tops of trees are their natural resort, yet pairs frequently descend to the bushes, where they hop from branch to branch; they also climb up and down the trunks, and some African forms are said thus to search the cracks for insects. The flight is powerful and undulating, but Barbets are inactive birds, and often sit motionless for hours, their plaintive whistle, or noisy ringing note of two or three syllables being heard at intervals throughout the day or on moonlight nights. The latter cry is variously syllabled kuttooruk, tok-tok, or poo-poo-poop, while its likeness to the sound of striking metal has given the name of "Copper-smith", "Tinker-bird," and "Iron-smith" to Xantholaema haematocephala, Barbatula pusilla, and Cyanops faber. While uttering their protracted notes Barbets often move their heads from side to side, and certain American species jerk their tails over their backs like Toucans. The food consists of fruits of every sort, buds and petals of flowers, and even green bark, or in many cases almost entirely of insects; in captivity pieces of meat or small birds seem acceptable, the latter being usually battered upon some hard substance before being swallowed. When feeding on trees these birds are so noiseless that the falling berries alone betray their presence, while they quit the feast with great reluctance. They cut neat circular nesting-holes, which turn downwards and widen out below, in soft or decaying wood, generally on the under side of a branch; and lay three, four, or even five eggs, oval, thin-shelled, white and somewhat shining, on a few chips or sometimes other substances. A week or two may be occupied in excavating the cavity, while it is a moot question whether the tapping that goes on in spring is made in finding suitable breeding quarters or in obtaining insects. Von Heuglin saw two borings in banks. The young accompany their parents for a considerable time. Barbets do not thrive well as cage-birds.