. Birds: the elements of ornithology . The Bee-eater (Merops apiaster). all confined to the West Indies. With their short tails andstraight, rather long biU, they have somewhat the aspect ofKingfishers. The Green Tody {TodAxs viridis) may stand as arepresentative of this small group. Birds named—^from their habits—Bee-eaters are found INTEODTJCTIOIT. 83 throughout the warm and temperate regions of the Old are beautiful creatures, from which the common species(Merops apiaster)—a Bird which is occasionally found in thiscountry—may be selected as a type. Altogether there arethirty-five
. Birds: the elements of ornithology . The Bee-eater (Merops apiaster). all confined to the West Indies. With their short tails andstraight, rather long biU, they have somewhat the aspect ofKingfishers. The Green Tody {TodAxs viridis) may stand as arepresentative of this small group. Birds named—^from their habits—Bee-eaters are found INTEODTJCTIOIT. 83 throughout the warm and temperate regions of the Old are beautiful creatures, from which the common species(Merops apiaster)—a Bird which is occasionally found in thiscountry—may be selected as a type. Altogether there arethirty-five species more or less closely allied to it. Theyexcavate, with their long bill, a cavity in some sandy bank, Kg. The Motmot {Momotw Tnomofue). preferentially the bank of some river, and therein make theirnest. They like the open country rather than the shade ofwoods, and they are conspicuous from their bright coloration. Birds which much resemble the Bee-eaters, but which are en-tirely confined to Central and South America, are the Motmots,of which the Motmot jjar excellence {Momotus momotus) may serve G 2 84 ELEMENTS OE OENITHOLOGT. as the representative. There are nineteen species in thisgroup, arranged in seven genera. These Birds go aboutalone or in pairs, often sitting inotionless on a branch till theydart off to snatch some insect. They appear to have a singularhabit of cutting away vfith their toothed bill, in a regular sym-metrical manner, certain parts of the feathers of the tail. Another very small group, numbering about eleven species,consists of Birds which are called Honey-guides or Indi-cators, the majority of which come from Africa—about a Fig. 86.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpubl, booksubjectornithology
