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MOTMOT
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MOTMOT . According to Hernandez in his Historia avium Novae Hispaniae (p. 52), published at See also:Rome in 1651, this is the Mexican name of a See also:bird which he described well enough to leave no doubt as to what he meant; but the word being soon after printed Momot by See also:Nieremberg and others gave rise to the Latinized Momotus, invented by M. J. See also:Brisson as a generic See also:term, which has since been generally adopted by ornithologists, though motmot has been retained as the See also:English See also:form. See also:Linnaeus knew of only one See also:species of motmot, and referred it to his genus Ramphastos (properly Rhamphastus) under the name of R. momota. This is the Momotus brasiliensis of See also:modern ornithologists, and from its See also:geographical range cannot be the See also:original Motmot of Hernandez, but is most likely the " Guira guainumbi " of Marcgrave.
The motmots form the sub-See also:family Momotinae, which with the Todinae (see Tom() form the family Momotidae of Coraciiform birds, the nearest See also:allies being rollers (q.v.) and kingfishers (q.v.). In outward See also:appearance the motmots have an undoubted resemblance to See also:bee-eaters, but, though beautiful birds, various shades of See also:blue and See also:green predominating in their plumage, they do not exhibit such decided and brilliant See also:colours; and, while the bee-eaters are only found in the Old See also:World, the motmots are a purely Neotropical form, extending from See also:southern See also:Mexico to See also:Paraguay, and the See also:majority of species inhabit Central See also:America. Their See also:ordinary See also:food is small See also:reptiles and fruits, and See also:insects caught on the wing. The See also:nest of one species, as observed by See also:Robert See also:Owen, is at the end of a hole bored in the See also:bank of a watercourse, and the eggs are pure See also: Little else has been recorded of their ways. The Momotidae form but a small See also:group, containing about six genera, of which the best known are: Momotus, Baryphthengus, Hylomanes, Eumomota, Aspatha and Prionorhynchus, and the number of species is very small. While all have a See also:general resemblance in the serrated edges of the See also:bill and many other characters, Momotus has the normal number of twelve rectrices, while the See also:rest have only ten, which in Hylomanes have the ordinary configuration, but in adult examples of all the others the See also:shaft of the median pair is devoid of barbs for the space of about an See also:inch a little above the extremity, so as to produce a spatulate appearance, such as is afforded by certain humming-birds known as " racquet-tails " (see HUMMING-BIRD), kingfishers of the genus Tanysiptera (see See also:KINGFISHER), and parrots of the group Prioniturus. C. See also:Waterton (Wanderings, See also:Journey 2, See also:chap. iii.), mentioning the species M. brasiliensis by its native name " houtou," See also:long ago asserted that this peculiarity was produced by the motmot itself nibbling off the barbs, and this extraordinary statement, though for a while doubted, has since been shown by O. Salvin (Prot. Zool. Society, 1873, pp. 429-433), on A. See also:Bartlett's authority, to be perfectly true. (A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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