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JACAMAR

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 106 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JACAMAR , a word formed by See also:

Brisson from Jacameri, the Brazilian name of a See also:bird, as given by Marcgrave, and since adopted in most See also:European See also:tongues for the See also:species to which it was first applied and others allied to it, forming the See also:family Galbulidae 1 of ornithologists, the precise position of which is uncertain, since the best authorities differ. All will agree that the jacamars belong to the See also:great heterogeneous See also:group called by See also:Nitzsch Picariae, but further into detail it is hardly safe to go. The Galbulidae have zygodactylous or pair-toed feet, like the Cuculidae, Bucconidae and Picidae, they also resemble both the latter in laying glossy See also:white eggs, but in this respect they hear the same resemblance to the Momotidae, Alcedinidae, Meropidae r Galbula was first applied to Marcgrave's bird by Moehring. It is another See also:form of Galgulus, and seems to have been one of the rpany names of the See also:golden See also:oriole. See See also:IcTERUS.and some other See also:groups, to which See also:affinity has been claimed for them. In the See also:opinion of Sclater (A Monograph of the Jacamars and Puff-birds) the jacamars form two groups—one consisting of the single genus and species Jacamerops aureus (J. grandis of most authors), and the other including all the See also:rest, viz. Urogalba with two species, Galbula with nine, Brachygalba with five, and Jacamaralcyon and Galbalcyrhynchus with one each. They are all rather small birds, the largest known being little over 10 in. in length, with See also:long and sharply pointed bills, and the plumage more or less resplendent with golden or See also:bronze reflections, but at the same See also:time comparatively soft. Jacamaralcyon tridactyla differs from all the rest in possessing but three toes (as its name indicates), on each See also:foot, the hallux being deficient. With the exception of Galbula melanogenia, which is found also in Central See also:America and See also:southern See also:Mexico, all the jacamars inhabit the tropical portions of See also:South America eastward of the See also:Andes, Galbula ruficauda, however, extending its range to the islands of See also:Trinidad and'See also:Tobago 2 Very little is known of the habits of any of the species. They are seen sitting motionless on trees, some-times solitarily, at other times in companies, whence they suddenly dart off at any passing See also:insect, catch it on the wing, and return to their See also:perch. Of their See also:nidification almost nothing has been recorded, but the species occurring in Tobago is said by See also:Kirk to make its See also:nest in See also:marl-See also:banks, digging a hole about an See also:inch and a See also:half in See also:diameter and some 18 in. deep.

(A. N.) JAtcANA, the Brazilian name, according to Marcgrave, of certain birds, since found to have some See also:

allies in other parts of the See also:world, which are also very generally called by the same appellation. They have been most frequently classed with the See also:water-hens or rails (Rallidae), but are now recognized by many systematists as forming a See also:separate family, Parridae,3 whose leaning seems to be rather towards the Limicolae, as apparently first See also:Pheasant-tailed Jacanae suggested by See also:Blyth, a view which is supported by the osteological observations of See also:Parker (Prot. Zool. Society, 1863, p. 513), though denied by A. Milne-See also:Edwards (Ois. See also:foss. de la See also:France, ii. p. rto). The most obvious characteristic of this group of birds is the extraordinary length of their toes and claws, whereby they are enak,led to walk with ease over water-lilies and other aquatic See also:plants growing in See also:rivers and lakes. The family has been divided into four genera—of which Parra, as now restricted, inhabits South America; Metopidius, hardly differing from it, has representatives in See also:Africa, See also:Madagascar and the See also:Indian region; Hydralector, also very nearly allied to Parra, belongs to the 2 The singular See also:appearance, recorded by See also:Canon Tristram (Zoologist, p. 3906), of a bird of this species in See also:Lincolnshire seems to require See also:notice. No instance seems to be known of any jacamar having been kept in confinement or brought to this See also:country alive; but See also:expert aviculturists are often not communicative, and many importations of rare birds have doubtless passed unrecorded. a The classic Parra is by some authors thought to have been the golden oriole (see IcTERUS), while others suppose it was a See also:jay or See also:pie.

The word seems to have been imported into See also:

ornithology by Aldrovandus, but the See also:reason which prompted See also:Linnaeus to apply it, as he seems first to have done, to a bird of this group, cannot be satisfactorily stated. See also:northern portion of the Australian region; and Hydrophasianus, the most extravagant form of the whole, is found in See also:India, See also:Ceylon and See also:China. In habits the jacanas have much in See also:common with the water-hens, but that fact is insufficient to See also:warrant the affinity asserted to exist between the two groups; for in their osteological structure there is much difference, and the resemblance seems to be only that of See also:analogy. The Parridae See also:lay very See also:peculiar eggs of a See also:rich See also:olive-See also:brown See also:colour, in most cases closely marked with dark lines, thus presenting an appearance by which they may be readily known from those of any other birds, though an approach to it is occasionally to be noticed in those of certain Limicolae, and especially of certain Charadriidae. (A.

End of Article: JACAMAR

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