PEARL-SPOTTED BARBET.
These are climbing birds of somewhat brilliant coloration, distributed over the tropical portions of both hemispheres, but absent in Europe, Northern Asia, Australia, and the Moluccas southwards from the Sunda Islands. “Though strictly arboreal in their habits,” write Messrs. Marshall, in their exhaustive work on the family,[262] “and living only in forest districts or open countries interspersed with groves of trees, they are neither shy nor difficult to approach. When the districts in which they are found happen to be at all thickly populated, the Barbets show no disposition to retreat to more secluded quarters, but take up their abode in gardens, and frequently breed in trees close to the houses. They usually keep to the tops of the trees, but may occasionally be seen creeping among the branches of small bushes and underwood. Their food is fruit, seeds, buds, and occasionally insects; these latter are very seldom resorted to in Asia, more frequently in Africa, and with some American species they form the staple food. They are not gregarious, though a great number may sometimes be seen together in a fig-tree at the fruit season. They live in pairs during the breeding season, which is in the spring, and commence moulting in September. They rarely, if ever, descend to the ground, and appear to move from tree to tree only when compelled to do so in search of food, or when disturbed by an intruder. Their flight is powerful, but heavy and undulating, like that of a Woodpecker. A curious instance of their disinclination to travel is seen in the fact of the Himalayan Lineated Barbet (Megalæma hodgsoni) and the Hoary Jungle Barbet (M. caniceps) never crossing the narrow valley of the Deyra Doon, though both are abundant in their respective boundaries; also that the Blue-faced Barbet (M. asiatica) is confined to the valley of the Jumna, in the district between Mussooree and Simla, though there are many other valleys apparently equally suitable. When not in pursuit of food, the Barbets sit motionless among the foliage near the tops of the trees, and exhibit none of that vivacity which is so marked a characteristic of the Passerine birds, amongst which they have been sometimes erroneously classed. Their voice is loud and ringing, consisting almost always of one, two, or three syllables, given out with extraordinary power, and may be heard at midday or on a moonlight night when all other sounds are hushed. Some of the American species have, in common with the Toucans, the habit of jerking their tail up over their back when they utter their call. The male and female sometimes keep up what appears to be a ‘calling-match’ for about ten minutes, and then suddenly cease. As far as is known, they all build in holes of trees, which they make for themselves in soft or decayed branches. No lining is needed for the nest, a few of the broken chips being left at the bottom of a hole. The entrance is circular and neatly bevelled, resembling that of a Woodpecker. The hole is generally about eight or ten inches deep, varying, of course, with the size of the bird. They lay three or four shining white eggs, with rather thin shells, and rather elongated, blunt, oval in shape, both ends being nearly similar. They are laid in the latter end of April and beginning of May in Northern India. Barbets are occasionally caged, but they are very seldom brought to England, and do not bear confinement very well; consequently, little is known of them in this country, except to ornithologists. An interesting account of one of them (Megalæma zeylanica) in captivity, by Mr. Layard, will be found quoted below. Their plumage, though very brilliant, is tasteless and too gaudy, and their shape is heavy and ugly, which will account for their skins not yet having been promoted to the positions with which pretty birds’ feathers are generally associated in the minds of the non-ornithological public.” Mr. Layard’s account is as follows:—“The Brown-headed Barbet is common in Ceylon, and universally distributed. It feeds on fruits and berries of all kinds, which it swallows entire. It does not, that I know of, devour small birds when in a state of nature, but one kept in a large aviary at Colombo destroyed all the little Amadinæ placed with it. Not content with snapping them up when within his reach, he would lie in wait for them behind a thick bush or the feeding-trough, pounce upon them unawares, and, after beating them a little on the ground or perch, swallow them whole. When this cannibal came into my possession he was confined in a smaller cage than that in which he had at first been secured. This seemed to displease him, and he went to work to find some means of escape. He narrowly examined every side and corner to discover a weak spot, and having detected one, applied himself vigorously to bore a hole through it, as a Woodpecker would have done. Grasping the bars with his feet, he swung himself round, bringing his whole weight to bear upon his bill, which he used as a pickaxe, till the house resounded with his rapid and well-aimed blows. On being checked from exercising his ingenuity in this manner, he became sulky, and refused to eat or offer his call of recognition when I approached him. In a day or two, however, he apparently thought better of the matter, resumed his labours upon another spot, and fed as voraciously as ever, devouring huge slices of bananas, jungle fruits, the bodies of any small birds I skinned, &c.”
THE SECOND ORDER.—PICARIAN BIRDS. SUB-ORDER II.—FISSIROSTRES.
CHAPTER IX.
THE JACAMARS, PUFF BIRDS, KINGFISHERS, HORNBILLS, AND HOOPOES.
[THE JACAMARS]—[THE PUFF BIRDS]—[THE KINGFISHERS]—Characters—[THE COMMON KINGFISHER]—Distribution—Its Cry—Habits—After its Prey—Its own Nest-builder—Mr. Rowley’s Note on the Subject—Nest in the British Museum—Superstitions concerning the Kingfisher—Colour—Various Species—[CRESTED KINGFISHER]—[PIED KINGFISHER]—Dr. Von Heuglin’s Account of its Habits—New World Representatives—[OMNIVOROUS KINGFISHERS]—[THE AUSTRALIAN CINNAMON-BREASTED KINGFISHER]—Macgillivray’s Account of its Habits—[THE LAUGHING JACKASS] of Australia—Its Discordant Laugh—The “The Bushman’s Clock”—Colour—Habits—[THE HORNBILLS]—Character—Their Heavy Flight—Noise produced when on the Wing—Food—Extraordinary Habit of Imprisoning the Female—Native Testimony—Exception—Fed by the Male Bird—Dr. Livingstone’s Observations on the point, and Mr. Bartlett’s Remarks—Strange Gizzard Sacs—Dr. Murie’s Remarks—Mr. Wallace’s Description of the Habits of the Hornbills—Capture of a Young One in Sumatra—[THE GROUND HORNBILLS]—South African Species—Kaffir Superstition regarding it—Habits—Mr. Ayres’ Account of the Natal Species—How it Kills Snakes—The Call—Habits—Mr. Monteiro’s Description of the Angola Form—Turkey-like Manner—Wariness—Food—[THE HOOPOES]—Appearance—Distribution—[THE COMMON HOOPOE]—Habits—The Name—How does it Produce its Note?—[THE WOOD HOOPOES]—Habits.
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.
THE JACAMARS (Galbulidæ).[263]
THESE birds are usually of metallic green plumage, with long beaks and wedge-shaped tails, and are found only in Central and Southern America, where they seem to represent the Bee-eaters of the Old World. Not many notices have appeared of their habits, the best being that given by Mr. Waterton, in his “Wanderings” in Demerara:—“A bird called Jacamar is often taken for a Kingfisher, but it has no relationship to that tribe: it frequently sits in the trees over the water, and as its beak bears some resemblance to that of the Kingfisher, this may probably account for its being taken for one. It feeds entirely upon insects. It sits on a branch in motionless expectation, and as soon as a Fly, Butterfly, or Moth passes by, it darts at it, and returns to the branch it had just left. It seems an indolent, sedentary bird, shunning the society of all others in the forest. It never visits the plantations, but is found at all times of the year in the woods. There are four species of Jacamar in Demerara; they are all beautiful, the largest rich and superb in the extreme. Its plumage is of so fine a changing blue and golden green, that it may be ranked with the choicest of the Humming Birds. Nature has denied it a song, but given a costly garment in lieu of it. The smallest species of Jacamar is very common in the dry savannas. The second size, all golden green in the back, must be looked for in the Wallaba Forest; the third is found throughout the whole extent of these wilds; and the fourth, which is the largest, frequents the interior, where you begin to perceive stones in the ground.”
THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.
THE PUFF BIRDS (Bucconidæ).
In general form the Puff Birds are not unlike Kingfishers, some of which they resemble in their habits, feeding chiefly on insects, which they catch in the air. In many respects also they resemble the Bee-eaters (Meropidæ), and may be considered as representing the last-named family in South and Central America, to which countries they are entirely confined. Of the Long-winged Puff Birds (Chelidoptera tenebrosa) the late Prince Maximilian of Neuwied gives the following account:—“It is not rare in most provinces of South Brazil, and very common in many of them. It is found in certain spots sitting still and immovable upon the high isolated branches of the forest trees. From time to time it flies after an insect in the air, and falls back again to its place like a true Fly-catcher. It is a stupid, still, melancholy bird, but likes to sit high, and not low and near the ground, like other Puff Birds. As in form and colour it rather resembles a Swallow, the Brazilians call it Andurinha do mato (Wood Swallow). The resemblance is greatest when the bird sits upon the ground, for its feet are little adapted for walking, and it consequently shuffles along as a Swallow does. Its flight is light and undulating. Sitting upon a high point, whence it can overlook the neighbourhood, it often emits a short call-note. It is anything but timid, and very easy to shoot. It is usually found where the woods are varied with open country, on the edges of the woods, but likewise in the interior of them. The food of these birds consists of insects, of which I have found the remains in their stomachs. On the Rio Grande del Belmonte I observed how these birds nest. In the month of August I saw them enter a round hole in a perpendicular sand-bank on the river, like a Kingfisher’s. After digging about two feet in a horizontal direction, we found two milk-white eggs upon a bad lining of a few feathers.”[264]