Identifier: royalnaturalhist47lyde (find matches)
Title: The royal natural history
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915 Sclater, Philip Lutley, 1829-1913 Frostick, W. B., former owner. DSI Brooks, W. T., former owner. DSI
Subjects: Zoology Natural history
Publisher: London and New York : Frederick Warne & Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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eks are likewise black,the latter being ornamented witha band of turquoise-blue aboveand below; the under surfaceis olive-brown, becoming greeneron the abdomen, and incliningto emerald-green on the throat;while on the fore-neck is a tuftof black feathers edged withgreenish blue. In length thishandsome bird measures about15; inches from the beak to thetip of the tail. Writing of itshabits, Mr. A. K. Cherrie observesthat • the nests are built in theground, some bank, such as theside of a stream, being selected.The entrance tunnel extendsback horizontally sometimes fora distance of six feet. At abouthalf its length there is a sharpbend upward for some sixinches, then tlie course is againhorizontal as far as the chamberoccupied by the nest. The nestspace is twelve or fourteeninches in diameter, being round,and about six inches high, withlevel floor ami ceiling. A fewrather coarse dry twigs arestrewn over the floor. The eggsI am not acquainted with. Mr. bu.vzilian .motmot (.\ uat. size).
Text Appearing After Image:
52 PICARIAN BIRDS. Jose C. Zeledon, to whom I am indebted for the above notes, also tells me thatif one of these nests be opened at about the time the young are ready to leavethe nest, it is found to be one of the dirtiest, most foul-smelling places that canbe imao-ined. At the time the young leave the nest, they are able to flypretty well. They have the same colours as the adults, but the bill is muchshorter, more depressed, and the edges without serration. The tail is shorterthan the wings, and nearly square. The eye is sepia-brown, not chestnut, asin the old bird. . . . With the first utterances of the notes of the adults, thepeculiar jerky motions of the tail commenced. It was most amusing to watch thefour birds sitting in a row together, almost motionless, only giving the tail firsta jerk to this side, then to that, now up and now down, to see it hold for thespace of a minute almost at right angles to the body, and then go \vith a whiskto the other side, the birds all the time ut

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