Family64.—TODIDÆ. (1 Genus, 5 Species.)
The Todies are delicate, bright-coloured, insectivorous birds, of small size, and allied to the Motmots, although externally more resembling flycatchers. They are wholly confined to the greater Antilles, the islands of Cuba, Hayti, Jamaica, and Porto Rico having each a peculiar species ofTodus, while another species, said to be from Jamaica, has been recently described (Plate XVI. Vol. II. p.67).
Family65.—MOMOTIDÆ. (6 Genera, 17 Species.)
The Motmots range from Mexico to Paraguay and to the west coast of Ecuador, but seem to have their head-quarters in Central America, five of the genera and eleven species occurring from Panama northwards, two of the genera not occurring in South America. The genera are as follows:—
Momotus(10 sp.), Mexico to Brazil and Bolivia, one species extending to Tobago, and one to Western Ecuador;Urospatha(1 sp.), Costa Rica to the Amazon;Baryphthengus(1 sp.), Brazil and Paraguay;Hylomanes(2 sp.), Guatemala;Prionirhynchus(2 sp.), Guatemala to Upper Amazon;Eumomota(1 sp.), Honduras to Chiriqui.
Family66.—TROGONIDÆ. (7 Genera, 44 Species.)
The Trogons form a well-marked family of insectivorous forest-haunting birds, whose dense yet puffy plumage exhibits the most exquisite tints of pink, crimson, orange, brown, or metallic green, often relieved by delicate bands of pure white. In one Guatemalan species the tail coverts are enormously lengthened into waving plumes of rich metallic green, as graceful and marvellous as those of the Paradise-birds. Trogons are tolerably abundant in the Neotropical and Oriental regions, and are represented in Africa by a single species of a peculiar genus. The genera now generally admitted are the following:—
Trogon(24 sp.), Paraguay to Mexico, and west of the Andes in Ecuador;Temnotrogon(1 sp.), Hayti;Prionoteles(1 sp.), Cuba (Plate XVII. Vol. II. p.67);Apaloderma(2 sp.), Tropical and South Africa;Harpactes(10 sp.), the Oriental region, excluding China;Pharomacrus(5 sp.), Amazonia to Guatemala;Euptilotis(1 sp.), Mexico.
Remains ofTrogonhave been found in the Miocene deposits of France; and we are thus able to understand the existing distribution of the family. At that exceptionally mild period in the northern hemisphere, these birds may have ranged over all Europe and North America; but, as the climate became more severe they gradually became restricted to the tropical regions, where alone a sufficiency of fruit and insect-food is found all the year round.
Family67.—ALCEDINIDÆ. (19 Genera, 125 Species.)
The Kingfishers are distributed universally, but very unequally, over the globe, and in this respect present some of the most curious anomalies to be found among birds. They have their metropolis in the eastern half of the Malay Archipelago (our first Australian sub-region), from Celebes to New Guinea, in which district no less than 13 out of the 19 genera occur, 8 of them being peculiar; and it is probable that in no other equally varied group of universal distribution, is so large a proportion of the generic forms confined to so limited a district. From this centre kingfishers decrease rapidly in every direction. In Australia itself there are only 4 genera with 13 species; the whole Oriental region has only 6 genera, 1 being peculiar; the Ethiopian also 6 genera, but 3 peculiar; and each of these have less than half the number of species possessed by the Australian region. The Palæarctic region possesses only 3 genera, all derived from the Oriental region; but the most extraordinary deficiency is shown by the usually rich Neotropical region, which possesses but a single genus, common to the larger part of the Eastern Hemisphere, and the same genus is alone found in the Nearctic region, the only difference being that the former possesses eight, while the latter has but a single species. These facts almost inevitably lead to the conclusion that America long existed without kingfishers; and that in comparatively recent times (perhaps during the Miocene or Pliocene period), a species of the Old World genus,Ceryle, found its way into North America, and spreading rapidly southward along the great river-valleys has become differentiated in South America into the few closely allied forms that alone inhabit that vast country—the richest in the world infresh-water fish, and apparently the best fitted to sustain a varied and numerous body of kingfishers.
The names of the genera, with their distribution and the number of species in each, as given by Mr. Sharpe in his excellent monograph of the family, is as follows:—
Alcedo(9 sp.), Palæarctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental regions (but absent from Madagascar), and extending into the Austro-Malayan sub-region;Corythornis(3 sp.), the whole Ethiopian region;Alcyone(7 sp.), Australia and the Austro-Malayan sub-region, with one species in the Philippine Islands;Ceryle(13 sp.), absent only from Australia, the northern half of the Palæarctic region, and Madagascar;Pelargopsis(9 sp.), the whole Oriental region; and extending to Celebes and Timor in the Austro-Malayan sub-region;Ceyx(11 sp.), the Oriental region and Austro-Malayan sub-region, but absent from Celebes, and only one species in continental India and Ceylon;Ceycopsis(1 sp.), Celebes;Myioceyx(2 sp.), West Africa;Ipsidina(4 sp.), Ethiopian region;Syma(2 sp.), Papua and North Australia;Halcyon(36 sp.), Australian, Oriental, and Ethiopian regions, and the southern part of the Palæarctic;Dacelo(6 sp.), Australia and New Guinea;Todirhamphus(3 sp.), Eastern Pacific Islands only;Monachalcyon(1 sp.), Celebes;Caridonax(1 sp.), Lombok and Flores;Carcineutes(2 sp.), Siam to Borneo and Java;Tanysiptera(14 sp.), Moluccas New Guinea, and North Australia (Plate X. Vol. I. p. 414);Cittura(2 sp.), Celebes group;Melidora(1 sp.), New Guinea.
Family68.—BUCEROTIDIÆ. (12 Genera, 50 Species.)
The Hornbills form an isolated group of generally large-sized birds, whose huge bills form their most prominent feature. They are popularly associated with the American Toucans, but have no close relationship to them, and are now generallyconsidered to show most resemblance, though still a very distant one, to the kingfishers. They are abundant in the Ethiopian and Oriental regions, and extend eastward to the Solomon Islands. Their classification is very unsettled, for though they have been divided into more than twenty genera they have not yet been carefully studied. The following grouping of the genera—referring to the numbers in theHand List—must therefore be considered as only provisional:—
(1957 1958 1963)Buceros(6 sp.), all Indo-Malaya, Arakan, Nepal and the Neilgherries (Plate IX. Vol. I. p. 339); (1959—1961)Hydrocissa(7 sp.), India and Ceylon to Malaya and Celebes; (1962)Berenicornis(2 sp.), Sumatra and West Africa; (1964)Calao(3 sp.), Tennaserim, Malaya, Moluccas to the Solomon Islands; (1965)Aceros(1 sp.), South-east Himalayas; (1966 1967)Cranorrhinus(3 sp.), Malacca, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines, Celebes; (1968)Penelopides(1 sp.), Celebes; (1969—1971)Tockus(15 sp.), Tropical and South Africa; (1972)Rhinoplax(1 sp.), Sumatra and Borneo; (1973—1975)Bycanistes(6 sp.), West Africa with East and South Africa; (1976 1977)Meniceros(3 sp.), India and Ceylon to Tenasserim; (1978)Bucorvus(2 sp.), Tropical and South Africa.
Family69.—UPUPIDÆ. (1 Genus, 6 Species.)
The Hoopoes form a small and isolated group of semi-terrestrial insectivorous birds, whose nearest affinities are with the Hornbills. They are most characteristic of the Ethiopian region, but extend into the South of Europe and into all the continental divisions of the Oriental region, as well as to Ceylon, and northwards to Pekin and Mongolia.
Family70.—IRRISORIDÆ. (1 Genus, 12 Species.)
The Irrisors are birds of generally metallic plumage, which have often been placed with the Epunachidæ and near the Sun-birds, or Birds of Paradise, but which are undoubtedly allied to the Hoopoes. They are strictly confined to the continent of Africa, ranging from Abyssinia to the west coast, and southward to the Cape Colony. They have been divided into several sub-genera which it is not necessary here to notice (Plate IV. Vol. I. p. 261).
Family71.—PODARGIDÆ. (3 Genera, 20 Species.)
The Podargidæ, or Frog-mouths, are a family of rather large-sized nocturnal insectivorous birds, closely allied to the Goat-suckers, but distinguished by their generally thicker bills, and especially by hunting for their food on trees or on the ground, instead of seizing it on the wing. They abound most in the Australian region, but one genus extends over a large part of the Oriental region. The following are the genera with their distribution:—
Podargus(10 sp.), Australia, Tasmania, and the Papuan Islands (Plate XII. Vol. I. p. 441);Batrachostomus(6 sp.), the Oriental region (excluding Philippine Islands and China) and the northern Moluccas;Ægotheles(4 sp.), Australia, Tasmania, and Papuan Islands.
Family72.—STEATORNITHIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)
This family contains a single bird—the Guacharo—forming the genusSteatornis, first discovered by Humboldt in a cavern in Venezuela, and since found in deep ravines near Bogota, and also in Trinidad. Although apparently allied to the Goat-suckers it is a vegetable-feeder, and is altogether a very anomalous bird whose position in the system is still undetermined.
Family73.—CAPRIMULGIDÆ. (17 Genera, 91 Species.)
The Goat-suckers, or Night-jars, are crepuscular insectivorous birds, which take their prey on the wing, and are remarkable for their soft and beautifully mottled plumage, swift and silent flight, and strange cries often imitating the human voice. They are universally distributed, except that they do not reach New Zealand or the remoter Pacific Islands. The South American genus,Nyctibius, differs in structure and habits from the other goat-suckers and should perhaps form a distinct family. More than half the genera inhabit the Neotropical region. The genera are as follows:—
Nyctibius(6 sp.), Brazil to Guatemala, Jamaica;Caprimulgus(35 sp.), Palæarctic, Oriental, and Ethiopian regions, with the Austro-Malay Islands and North Australia;Hydropsalis(8 sp.), Tropical South America to La Plata;Antrostomus(10sp.), La Plata and Bolivia to Canada, Cuba;Stenopsis(4 sp.), Martinique to Columbia, West Peru and Chili;Siphonorhis(1 sp.), Jamaica;Heleothreptus(1 sp.), Demerara;Nyctidromus(2 sp.), South Brazil to Central America;Scortornis(3 sp.), West and East Africa;Macrodipteryx(2 sp.), West and Central Africa;Cosmetornis(1 sp.), all Tropical Africa;Podager(1 sp.), Tropical South America to La Plata;Lurocalis(2 sp.), Brazil and Guiana;Chordeiles(8 sp.), Brazil and West Peru to Canada, Porto Rico, Jamaica;Nyctiprogne(1 sp.), Brazil and Amazonia;Eurostopodus(2 sp.), Australia and Papuan Islands;Lyncornis(4 sp.), Burmah, Philippines, Borneo, Celebes.
Family74.—CYPSELIDÆ. (7 Genera, 53 Species.)
The Swifts can almost claim to be a cosmopolitan group, but for their absence from New Zealand. They are most abundant both in genera and species in the Neotropical and Oriental regions. The following is the distribution of the genera:—
Cypselus(1 sp.), absent only from the whole of North America and the Pacific;Panyptila(3 sp.), Guatemala and Guiana, and extending into North-west America;Collocalia(10 sp.), Madagascar, the whole Oriental region and eastward through New Guinea to the Marquesas Islands;Dendrochelidon(5 sp.), Oriental region and eastward to New Guinea;Chætura(15 sp.), Continental America (excluding South Temperate), West Africa and Madagascar, the Oriental region, North China and the Amoor, Celebes, Australia;Hemiprocne(3 sp.), Mexico to La Plata, Jamaica and Hayti;Cypseloides(2 sp.), Brazil and Peru;Nephæcetes(2 sp.), Cuba, Jamaica, North-west America.
Family75.—TROCHILIDÆ. (118 Genera, 390 Species.)
The wonderfully varied and beautiful Humming-Birds are confined to the American continent, where they range from Sitka to Cape Horn, while the island of Juan Fernandez has two peculiar species. Only 6 species, belonging to 3 genera, are found in the Nearctic region, and most of these have extended their range from the south. They are excessively abundant in the forest-clad Andes from Mexico to Chili, some species extending up to the limits of perpetual snow; but they diminish in number and variety in the plains, however luxuriant the vegetation. In place of giving here the names and distribution of the numerous genera into which they are now divided (which will be found in the tables of the genera of the Neotropical region), it may be more useful to present a summary of their distribution in the sub-divisions of the American continent, as follows:—
The island of Juan Fernandez has two species, and Masafuera, an island beyond it, one; the three forming a peculiar genus. The island of Tres Marias, about 60 miles from the west coast of Mexico, possesses a peculiar species of humming-bird, and the Bahamas two species; but none inhabit either the Falkland Islands or the Galapagos.
Like most groups which are very rich in species and in generic forms, the humming-birds are generally very local, smallgeneric groups being confined to limited districts; while single mountains, valleys, or small islands, often possess species found nowhere else. It is now well ascertained that the Trochilidæ are really insectivorous birds, although they also feed largely, but probably never exclusively, on the nectar of flowers. Their nearest allies are undoubtedly the Swifts; but the wide gap that now separates them from these, as well as the wonderful variety of form and of development of plumage, that is found among them, alike point to their origin, at a very remote period, in the forests of the once insular Andes. There is perhaps no more striking contrast of the like nature, to be found, than that between the American kingfishers—confined to a few closely allied forms of one Old World genus—and the American humming-birds with more than a hundred diversified generic forms unlike everything else upon the globe; and we can hardly imagine any other cause for this difference, than a (comparatively) very recent introduction in the one case, and a very high antiquity in the other.
General Remarks on the Distribution of the Picariæ.
The very heterogeneous mass of birds forming the Order Picariæ, contains 25 families, 307 genera and 1,604 species. This gives about 64 species to each family, while in the Passeres the proportion is nearly double, or 111 species per family. There are, in fact, only two very large families in the Order, which happen to be the first and last in the series—Picidæ and Trochilidæ. Two others—Cuculidæ and Alcedinidæ—are rather large; while the rest are all small, seven of them consisting only of a single genus and from one to a dozen species. Only one of the families—Alcedinidæ—is absolutely cosmopolitan, but three others are nearly so, Caprimulgidæ and Cypselidæ being only absent from New Zealand, and Cuculidæ from the Canadian sub-region of North America. Eleven families inhabit the Old World only, while seven are confined to the New World, only one of these—Trochilidæ—being common to the Neotropical and Nearctic regions.
The Picariæ are highly characteristic of tropical faunas, forwhile no less than 15 out of the 25 families are exclusively tropical, none are confined to, or have their chief development in, the temperate regions. They are best represented in the Ethiopian region, which possesses 17 families, 4 of which are peculiar to it; while the Oriental region has only 14 families, none of which are peculiar. The Neotropical region has also 14 families, but 6 of them are peculiar. The Australian region has 8, the Palæarctic 9 and the Nearctic 6 families, but none of these are peculiar. We may see a reason for the great specialization of this tropical assemblage of birds in the Ethiopian and Neotropical regions, in the fact of the large extent of land on both sides of the Equator which these two regions alone possess, and their extreme isolation either by sea or deserts from other regions,—an isolation which we know was in both cases much greater in early Tertiary times. It is, perhaps, for a similar reason that we here find hardly any trace of the connection between Australia and South America which other groups exhibit; for that connection has most probably been effected by a former communication between the temperate southern extremities of those two continents. The most interesting and suggestive fact, is that presented by the distribution of the Megalæmidæ and Trogonidæ over the tropics of America, Africa, and Asia. In the absence of palæontological evidence as to the former history of the Megalæmidæ, we are unable to say positively, whether it owes its present distribution to a former closer union between these continents in intertropical latitudes, or to a much greater northern range of the group at the period when a luxuriant sub-tropical vegetation extended far toward the Arctic regions; but the discovery ofTrogonin the Miocene deposits of the South of France renders it almost certain that the latter is the true explanation in the case of both these families.
The Neotropical region, owing to its enormous family of humming-birds, is by far the richest in Picariæ, possessing nearly half the total number of species, and a still larger proportion of genera. Three families, the Bucerotidæ, Meropidæ and Coraciidæ are equally characteristic of the Oriental andEthiopian regions, a few outlying species only entering the Australian or the Palæarctic regions. One family (Todidæ) is confined to the West Indian Islands; and another (Leptosomidæ) consisting of but a single species, to Madagascar; parallel cases to the Drepanididæ among the Passeres, peculiar to the Sandwich Islands, and the Apterygidæ among the Struthiones, peculiar to New Zealand.
Order III.—PSITTACI.
The Parrots have been the subject of much difference of opinion among ornithologists, and no satisfactory arrangement of the order into families and genera has yet been reached. Professor Garrod has lately examined certain points in the anatomy of a large number of genera, and proposes to revolutionize the ordinary classifications. Until, however, a general examination of their whole anatomy, internal and external, has been made by some competent authority, it will be unsafe to adopt the new system, as we have as yet no guide to the comparative value of the characters made use of. I therefore keep as much as possible to the old groups, founded on external characters, only using the indications furnished by Professor Garrod's paper, to determine the position of doubtful genera.
Family76.—CACATUIDÆ. (5 Genera, 35 Species.)
The Cacatuidæ, Plyctolophidæ, or Camptolophidæ, as they have been variously termed, comprise all those crested parrots usually termed Cockatoos, together with one or two doubtful forms. They are very abundant in the Australian region, more especially in the Austro-Malayan portion of it, one species inhabitingthe Philippine Islands; but they do not pass further east than the Solomon Islands and are not found in New Zealand. The distribution of the genera is as follow:—
Cacatua(18 sp.), ranges from the Philippine Islands, Celebes and Lombok, to the Solomon Islands and to Tasmania;Calopsitta(1 sp.), Australia;Calyptorhynchus(8 sp.), is confined to Australia and Tasmania;Microglossus(2 sp.), (perhaps a distinct family) to the Papuan district and North Australia;Licmetis(3 sp.), Australia, Solomon Islands, and (?) New Guinea;Nasiterna(3 sp.), a minute form, the smallest of the whole order, and perhaps not belonging to this family, is only known from the Papuan and Solomon Islands.
Family77.—PLATYCERCIDÆ. (11 Genera, 57 Species.)
The Platycercidæ comprise a series of large-tailed Parrots, of weak structure and gorgeous colours, with a few ground-feeding genera of more sober protective tints; the whole family being confined to the Australian region. The genera are:—
(1996 1999 2000)Platycercus(14 sp.), Australia, Tasmania, and Norfolk Island;Psephotus(6 sp.), Australia;Polytelis(3 sp.), Australia;Nymphicus(1 sp.), Australia and New Caledonia; (2002 2003)Aprosmictus(6 sp.), Australia, Papua, Timor, and Moluccas;Pyrrhulopsis(3 sp.), Tonga and Fiji Islands;Cyanoramphus(14 sp.), New Zealand, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, and Society Islands;Melopsittacus(1 sp.), Australia;Euphema(7 sp.), Australia;Pezoporus(1 sp.), Australia and Tasmania;Geopsittacus(1 sp.), West Australia. The four last genera are ground-feeders, and are believed by Professor Garrod to be allied to the Owl-Parrot of New Zealand (Stringops).
Family78.—PALÆORNITHIDÆ. (8 Genera, 65 Species.)
I class here a group of birds brought together, for the most part, by geographical distribution as well as by agreement in internal structure, but which is nevertheless of a very uncertain and provisional character.
Palæornis(18 sp.), the Oriental region, Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Seychelle Islands, and a species in Tropical Africa, apparently identical with the IndianP. torquatus, and therefore—considering the very ancient intercourse between the two countries, and the improbability of thespeciesremaining unchanged if originating by natural causes—most likely the progeny of domestic birds introduced from India.Prioniturus(3 sp.), Celebes and the Philippine Islands; (2061)Geoffroyus(5 sp.), Bouru to Timor and the Solomon Islands;Tanygnathus(5 sp.), Philippines, Celebes, and Moluccas to New Guinea;Eclectus(8 sp.), Moluccas and Papuan Islands;Psittinus(1 sp.), Tenasserim to Sumatra and Borneo;Cyclopsitta(8 sp.), Papuan Islands, Philippines and North-east Australia;Loriculus(17 sp.), ranges over the whole Oriental region to Flores, the Moluccas, and the Papuan island of Mysol; but most of the species are concentrated in the district including the Philippines, Celebes, Gilolo, and Flores, there being 1 in India, 1 in South China, 1 in Ceylon, 1 in Java, 1 in Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo, 3 in Celebes, 5 in the Philippines, and the rest in the Moluccas, Mysol, and Flores. This genus forms a transition to the next family.
Family79.—TRICHOGLOSSIDÆ. (6 Genera, 57 Species.)
The Trichoglossidæ, or Brush-tongued Paroquets, including the Lories, are exclusively confined to the Australian region, where they extend from Celebes to the Marquesas Islands, and south to Tasmania. The genusNanodes(=Lathamus) has been shown by Professor Garrod to differ fromTrichoglossusin the position of the carotid arteries. I therefore make it a distinct genus but do not consider that it should be placed in another family. The genera here admitted are as follows:—
Trichoglossus(29 sp.), ranges over the whole Austro-Malay and Australian sub-regions, and to the Society Islands; (2047)Nanodes(1 sp.), Australia and Tasmania;Charmosyna(1 sp.), New Guinea (Plate X. Vol. I. p. 414);Eos(9 sp.), Bouru and Sanguir Island north of Celebes, to the Solomon Islands, and in Puynipet Island to the north-east of New Ireland; (2039 2040)Lorius(13 sp.), Bouru and the Solomon Islands; (2041 2043)Coriphilus(4 sp.), Samoa, Tonga, Society and Marquesas Islands.
Family80.—CONURIDÆ. (7 Genera, 79 Species.)
The Conuridæ, which consist of the Macaws and their allies, are wholly confined to America, ranging from the Straits of Magellan to South Carolina and Nebraska, with Cuba and Jamaica. Professor Garrod placesPyrrhura(which has generallybeen classed as a part of the genusConurus) in a separate family, on account of the absence of the ambiens muscle of the knee, but as we are quite ignorant of the classificational value of this character, it is better for the present to keep both as distinct genera of the same family. The genera are:—
Ara(15 sp.), Paraguay to Mexico and Cuba;Rhyncopsitta(1 sp.), Mexico;Henicognathus(1 sp.), Chili;Conurus(30 sp.), the range of the family;Pyrrhura(16 sp.), Paraguay and Bolivia to Costa Pica;Bolborhynchus(7 sp.), La Plata, Bolivia and West Peru, with one species in Mexico and Guatemala;Brotogerys(9 sp.), Brazil to Mexico.
Family81.—PSITTACIDÆ.—(12 Genera, 87 Species.)
The Psittacidæ comprise a somewhat heterogeneous assemblage of Parrots and Paroquets of the Neotropical and Ethiopian regions, which are combined here more for convenience than because they are believed to form a natural group. The generaChrysotisandPionushave no oil-gland, whilePsittaculaandAgapornishave lost the furcula, but neither of these characters are probably of more than generic value. The genera are:—
Psittacus(2 sp.), West Africa;Coracopsis(5 sp.), Madagascar, Comoro, and Seychelle Islands;Pæocephalus(9 sp.), all Tropical and South Africa; (2063—2066)Caica(9 sp.), Mexico to Amazonia;Chrysotis(32 sp.), Paraguay to Mexico and the West Indian Islands;Triclaria(1 sp.), Brazil;Deroptyus(1 sp.), Amazonia;Pionus(9 sp.), Paraguay to Mexico;Urochroma(7 sp.), Tropical South America;Psittacula(6 sp.), Brazil to Mexico;Poliopsitta(2 sp.), Madagascar and West Africa;Agapornis(4 sp.), Tropical and South Africa.