The Barbets

Abstract

rAuk 542 RIPLEY, The Barbets tOct. LITERATURE CITED Ar • TER0 J. CEcIr • 1931. Climatic summary of the United States, section 21: Eastern Utah. U. Dept. Agr{. Weather Bur. 1931: 1-23. BENT; A. C. 1937. Life histories of North American birds of prey (part I). U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 167: 1-409, 102 pls. HARO¾, I ROss 1959. Nesting habits of the Western Red-tailed Hawk. Condor, 41: 79-80. TIDES. TROM, IVAR 1925. Flora of Utah and Nevada. Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb., 25: 1-665, 15 pls. TH • Capitonidae or family of barbets is found throughout the • opical regions known as the Ethiopian in Africa, the Indian, includ-ing the Indian, Indo-Chinese and Indo-Malayan subregions in Asia, and the NeDtropical region in the New World. The family is not easily defined. In general it may be said that the Capitonidae are zygodactylous perching birds with ten tail feathers. The wings and tail are rounded. The bill is stout and strong with the culmen having a tendency to curve and with the tip pointed. In most cases these birds present rather a squat, stubby appearance. The perching position tends to be straight up and down. Almost all the species are found in areas of high trees, either deep forest or old gardens. Some forms range high into the mountains over seven thousand feet. Others are exclusively lowland dwellers. Barbets excavate their nests after the fashion of woodpeckers, usually in rotten parts of tree trunks. However, one genus, Caloramphus, is said to excavate nesting holes out of termite nests, and an African form is reported to nest in holes in the ground--(T. margaritatus) vide Fried-mann (1930: 463). As in woodpeckers the bill is used in excavating, and the attitudes and climbing habits in trees often closely resemble those of the Picidae, even to the use of the tail as a support. As with most tropical birds, the nesting season tends to be variable and drawn out. Barbet's eggs are white and rounded, thin-shelled and rather glossy. The flight of these birds is fluttering, often ap-pearing clumsy, and not long sustained. Their calls are, for the most part, characteristic harsh monosyllables uttered over and over, i.e. the Asiatic "coppersmith," although other species utter low whistles or soft wailing notes. Vol. 62] l • S J P • ' • , • , The Barbets These birds are primarily fruit eaters with a secondary diet of insects, particularly during the breeding season. In captivity, barbets are great meat eaters. Most spedes are colonial in habit only inad-vertently at times of fruiting of certain trees. However, two dosely related genera--Caloramphus in Asia, and Gymnobucco in Africa--are colonial by preference. POSITION