Fig. 76.–The Kea or Mountain Nestor. Nestor notabilis. × ¼. (From Nature.)
Of fossil Parrots, Psittacus occurs in the Lower Miocene of France, the large Necropsittacus rodericanus in Rodriguez, and the still bigger Lophopsittacus mauritianus, known from an old picture to be crested, in the Mare aux Songes in Mauritius.
Order XIII. CORACIIFORMES.
The Order Coraciiformes contains the Sub-Orders Coraciae, Striges, Caprimulgi, Cypseli, Colii, Trogones, and Pici, and includes a large number of arboreal forms with comparatively short legs, which often nest in holes, and have blind and helpless young. The group coincides with the Picariae of Nitzsch and Mr. Sclater, except in so far that the former author included the Psittaci, the latter the Cuculi, while both kept the Striges separate.
The Sub-Order Coraciae consists of the Families Coraciidae or Rollers, Momotidae or Motmots and Todies, Alcedinidae or Kingfishers, Meropidae or Bee-eaters, Bucerotidae or Hornbills, and Upupidae or Hoopoes.
Fam. I. Coraciidae.–Two Sub-families may be recognised of these Old World birds, (1) Coraciinae, and (2) Leptosomatinae; the latter containing only the remarkable "Kirombo" of Madagascar.
Sub-fam. 1. Coraciinae.–Most of the twenty or more species of Rollers are brilliant blue and green, varied with reddish, and bear a resemblance to certain of the Crow-tribe, especially to the genus Cissa. The short metatarsus, however, scutellated in front and reticulated behind, is a clear distinction, as in Cissa and so forth it is longer and smooth behind, with elongated scutes anteriorly. It is comparatively long in Ground-Rollers, but they are quite unmistakeable. The bill is strong, decurved, and slightly hooked, being broad and depressed in Eurystomus; the toes are moderately stout with curved claws, while the second and third are united basally; the wings are long, broad and rounded, or shorter in Ground-Rollers, with ten primaries and about thirteen secondaries; the twelve tail-feathers vary in length, five species of Coracias having them very long, and one spatulate. The furcula is U-shaped, the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial, the nostrils are hidden by bristly feathers, the tongue is thin and horny, the aftershaft is small, while there is no down on adults or nestlings. The sexes are similar, the young duller.
The genus Coracias ranges over temperate Europe, all Africa, and Central and Southern Asia eastwards to Celebes, where C. temmincki alone occurs. C. garrulus, which strays to Britain, and breeds from Sweden and Omsk to North Africa and North India, has the head, most of the wing-coverts, and the lower surface light greenish-blue, a red-brown back, dusky and blue remiges, ultramarine bend of the wing and rump, and greenish tail with light blue on the lateral feathers, the outer pair alone having black tips. In the similar C. abyssinicus the two outer rectrices are elongated and tapering; in the more purple C. spatulatus they are cobalt-blue with black shafts produced into small racquets. C. naevius has an olivaceous back, reddish-lilac head and under parts, a white nuchal patch, white streaks on the breast, blue rump, bend of the wing, lateral rectrices and outer portion of the remiges. The genus Eurystomus occupies Tropical Africa, and extends from India to Manchuria, Australia and the Solomon Islands, occasionally reaching New Zealand. E. glaucurus, of Madagascar and Anjuan Island, is bay above and lilac below, with nearly ultramarine wings and cobalt tail tipped with blackish; E. orientalis is bluish-green, with blackish head, remiges and rectrices, some blue on the wing-coverts, an azure patch on the primaries, and a purple throat. E. australis is similar, and is termed the Dollar-Bird from exhibiting its circular light wing-patch when flying.
The members of these two genera are active, noisy, and pugnacious, though shy; they are usually diurnal, but are occasionally observed hawking for insects at dusk; when disturbed they attempt to hide in some neighbouring tree, while they also roost or take refuge from the heat among the foliage. The flight is swift, though not sustained, the wings being closed from time to time; at the courting season the male darts through the air with many a turn and twist, expanding and contracting his tail; and both sexes have the habit of rolling or turning somersaults in their course, and of puffing out their cheeks and throat. The note is a harsh "rack-rack-kack" or "racker-racker," uttered while perched or flying; the food, largely procured when hopping on the ground, and frequently jerked into the air before being swallowed, consists of small reptiles, frogs, beetles, worms, slugs and grasshoppers, if not of grain. Rollers frequent wooded country up to an altitude of about two thousand feet, in pairs or moderate-sized flocks; they occasionally sit huddled together on some branch, but love to perch on tall bare trees or wires, whence they energetically challenge Hawks and Crows. The four or five oval glossy white eggs are sometimes laid on a mass of roots, grass, hair, and feathers, in cavities in walls or under eaves of buildings; but more usually with little or no bedding in holes in trees or banks. In the breeding season the cock summons the hen from her nest, if danger threatens, while both parents dash at an intruder, or settle near him, jerking the head and tail. Many adults are slaughtered for decorative purposes.