ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE MOTMOTS AND TODIES
The Todies
(Subfamily Todina), which are comprised in a single genus (Todus) and five or six species, are curious, very tame, and unsuspicious little green and red plumaged birds, mostly under four inches in length, and in appearance quite like miniature Kingfishers.
They have a relatively long, flattened but not serrated bill, rather short, rounded wings, and a square tail of twelve feathers. They differ structurally from the Motmots in having the four notches to the breast-bone open, and large functional caeca; their feet are like those of Kingfishers. Their food consists exclusively of insects, which they capture mainly on the wing after the manner of the Flycatchers or Bee-eaters, although they have occasionally been observed to glean among the branches of trees like the Wood-warblers. Of the feeding habits of the Cuban Tody (T. multicolor), Daniel says:
“Its favorite haunts are the low bushes covering the hillsides and the tropical growth fringing the small streams of the ravines and valleys. . . . Sitting listlessly on a twig, while I stood a few feet away, it now and then suddenly darted out after insects, catching them with a quick snapping of its bill and returning to its perch to swallow them. The agility with which it pursued an insect, the suddenness and quickness of the sally, was very much in contrast with the air of stupidity it assumed while at rest, showing that in spite of its apparent laziness it was nevertheless on the alert for its prey.”In nesting habits the Todies accord with the other members of the great group to which they belong, since they excavate burrows in banks and lay pure white eggs, in appearance exactly like small Kingfishers' eggs.
Taylor, in speaking of the Green Tody (T. viridis) of Jamaica, says: “The tunnels are very rarely, if ever, in high situations, but on the contrary may frequently be found at the sides of shallow ditches and hollows that are commonly formed in soft soil during heavy rains. I have often surprised the Todies at work. In beginning a tunnel they cling in an awkward manner to the face of the cliff or bank, fluttering the wings frequently as if for support. So far as I have been able to observe, in digging they appear to employ the beak only.
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