The Ground-Rollers, Atelornis, Uratelornis, Geobiastes and Brachypteracias, are curious forms, peculiar to Madagascar. A. pittoïdes has green upper parts with a ruddy tinge, white bars across the short primaries, a fine blue head and tail, except for the two brown median rectrices, and a reddish-fawn lower surface divided by a blue band from the white throat. A. crossleyi has a rufous head and black gular stripes. Uratelornis chimaera is a nearly allied form. Geobiastes squamigera has the upper back reddish-brown, the lower green; the head and under parts are buff, with black scale-like markings, and a black line down the crown. The primaries are brownish, the tail shews a curious combination of green, blue, black, and brown. Brachypteracias leptosomus is yellowish-green above, with bluish margins to the feathers, and a purplish-brown head and neck, while the brownish tail has a subterminal black and a terminal white bar; it is white below, banded or striped with chestnut and black. These forest-species are almost entirely terrestrial and crepuscular, running about in solitary fashion in the dusk, and carefully examining the ground for insect-food, or scratching for worms and the like; occasionally they fly to a low branch, jerking the tail as they alight. The eggs are said to be white.
Sub-fam. 2. Leptosomatinae.–This contains only Leptosoma discolor, the Kirombo or Vorondreo of Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, which has a big crested head; a long, slightly hooked bill, overhung at the base by recurved loral feathers; linear nostrils, placed far forward and covered by a horny plate; metatarsi scutellated on both aspects; and a partly reversible outer toe. The wings are moderate, having ten primaries and twelve secondaries; the long, square tail has twelve feathers; the tongue is tapering, horny and channelled; a large aftershaft is present, and there is a considerable powder-down patch on each side of the rump. The head is grey, glossed with copper and green, the neck duller; the upper parts are shining green and coppery-red, the under parts grey with white abdomen. The slightly larger female is reddish-brown above, with buff markings and only a dull gloss; the head is chiefly black, and the lower surface fawn-coloured spotted with black. This curious bird is very noisy throughout the day, uttering its note, which resembles the syllables "tu-hou" thrice repeated, either while hovering in the air or while ascending or descending in vertical fashion. Meanwhile the wings are struck against the body, and the throat puffed out like a bag. It is found in the forests in flocks of about a dozen, perching and squatting lazily on the branches, and scarcely moving when its neighbours are shot; the food consists mainly of grasshoppers, chamaeleons, and lizards; the nest is said to be made of rushes and placed in holes, the eggs to be white. One female is often accompanied by several males. The Malagasy consider that the "Reò" brings ill-luck, and make it the theme of various tales and chants.[[225]]
Fig. 77.–Kirombo. Leptosoma discolor. × 2⁄7.
Fam. II. Momotidae.–The Motmots and Todies fall naturally between the Rollers and Kingfishers, but are also closely connected with the Bee-Eaters, which do not occur in the New World. They compose the Sub-families (1) Momotinae and (2) Todinae, the former ranging from South Mexico and the Antilles to Paraguay, while the latter are restricted to the Greater Antilles.
Sub-fam. 1. Momotinae.–Motmots have loose-webbed green, blue, cinnamon, and black plumage; the sexes being barely distinguishable, and the young similar to the adults, but with less developed tail. The length varies from six and a half inches to twenty. The head is generally rather narrow; the bill is Crow-like, with a few rictal bristles, and has the margins of the mandibles more or less serrated; in Prionirhynchus it is unusually broad and strongly keeled. The scutellated metatarsus is of no great length, the third digit being united to the fourth for about a third of its extent; the wings are rather short and rounded, with ten primaries and eleven secondaries. The tail-feathers are generally twelve, though Baryphthengus has only ten; they are very distinctly graduated, as is well seen from beneath, the median pair being much elongated with racquet-tips, except in Hylomanes, Aspatha and Baryphthengus. The furcula is U-shaped; the tongue is long, thin and frayed out towards the apex into laminae which point forwards; the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial; the aftershaft is small; while neither adults nor nestlings possess down.
Motmots are not shy birds, though they inhabit dense forests and seldom visit the outskirts; they prefer the vicinity of streams, where they may be seen, solitary or in pairs, flitting before the traveller from tree to tree, or sitting motionless on the lower branches, whence they make sudden dashes to secure their prey. This consists of insects caught in the air, small reptiles, or fruit; but in captivity they will eat bread, raw meat, small birds and mammals, often rapping live creatures on the ground or on their perch before swallowing them, as is done by Todies, Kingfishers, and Hornbills. The flight is brief, while the short legs are ill-adapted to the ground. The long, soft, "flute-like" note recalls that of the Hoopoe, and may be syllabled Hu-tu, this being a native name in some parts; it is most commonly heard at dawn, while the bird's habit of jerking its tail up and down as it utters each syllable is comparable to that of Barbets and Toucans. Three or four round, creamy-white eggs are deposited, without any nest, in holes in trees or banks, probably bored by the birds themselves; both sexes being said to incubate in turn. Motmots with racquet-tipped rectrices have been shewn to produce that shape by nibbling off the vanes.[[226]]
Urospatha martii, ranging from Costa Rica to Amazonia, is oil-green above, with a blue tinge on the blackish primaries and the end of the tail, the two median rectrices being much elongated and having terminal blue racquets; the under parts and head are cinnamon, the cheeks black, while a tuft of long black feathers adorns the neck below. Eumomota superciliaris of Central America is green above, with cinnamon mantle and blue remiges and rectrices tipped with black, the two median tail-feathers having elongated bare shafts with broad racquet-tips, half blue and half black. On the sides of the head are black bands and light blue eyebrows, while the throat is black with long blue lateral feathers, and the abdomen chestnut. Momotus brasiliensis, extending from Guiana to Northern Brazil, is somewhat similar in colour, but has little red on the back; the head is cobalt-blue with black on the crown and sides; the under parts are green with a rufous tinge. The long throat-feathers are black with light blue edges. Aspatha gularis of Guatemala is bright green above, and has a yellowish breast; the abdomen and throat are pale blue, with a black tuft at the base of the latter; the sides of the head are reddish-fawn with black ear-coverts. The tail is normal.
Fig. 78.–Motmot. Momotus brasiliensis. × ⅓.