JACAMAR, a word formed by Brisson from Jacameri, the Brazilian name of a bird, as given by Marcgrave, and since adopted in most European tongues for the species to which it was first applied and others allied to it, forming the Family Galbulidmi of ornithologists, the precise position of which is uncertain, since the best authorities differ greatly thereupon. All will agree that the Jacamars belong to the great heterogeneous group called by Nitzsch Picariw, but further into detail it is hardly safe to go. The Galbulidx have zygodactylous feet, like the Cuculidte, Bucconidat, and Picidx, they also resemble both the latter in laying glossy white eggs, but in this respect they bear the same resemblance to the Hoznotidw, Alcedinidx, Heropida?, and some other groups, to which affinity has been claimed for them. In the opinion of Mr Sclater2 the Jacamars form two groups - one consisting of the single genus and species Jacamerops aurens (J. grandis of most authors), and the other including all the rest, namely, Urogalba with two species, Galbula with nine, Brackygalba with five, and Jacanzaralcyon and Galbalcyrhynclius with one each. They are all rather small birds, the largest known being little over 10 inches in length, with sharply pointed bills, and the plumage in every case more or less resplendent with golden or bronze reflexions, but at the same time comparatively soft. Jacamaralcyon tridactyla differs from all the rest in possessing but three toes (as its name indicates) on each foot, the hallex being deficient. With the exception of Galbula melanogenia-, which is found also in Central America and southern Mexico, all the Jacamars inhabit the tropical portions of South America eastward of the Andes, Galbula ruficauda, however, extending its range to the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.3 Very little is known of the habits of any of the species. They are seen sitting motionless on trees, sometimes solitarily, at other times in companies, whence they suddenly dart off at any passing insect, catch it on the wing, and return to their perch. Of their nidification almost nothing has been recorded, but the species above-mentioned as occurring in Tobago is said by Mr Kirk - apparently the only European observer of the mode of propagation in these birds - to make its nest in marl-banks, digging a hole about an inch and a half in diameter and some 18 inches deep. From the accounts received by other travellers we may possibly infer that more of the Family possess the same habit. (A. x.)