Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS

THE UNITED-TOED PERCHING BIRDS

THE BROAD-BILLS

Broad Bill distribution

The Broad-bills are forest-loving birds, haunting the tops of the highest trees and usually going about in small parties. In disposition they are very tame and unsuspicious, not to say stupid, in which respect at least they resemble the Puff-birds, and like them permitting several members of a flock to be killed one after another without those remaining taking alarm. Their food consists largely of insects, although one species is said to subsist entirely on fruits. Their nests are among the marvels of bird architecture, being large, round affairs woven of slender grasses, rootlets, and various fibers, and suspended by a slender thread from the ends of slender branches, often overhanging water. The entrance is on the side and is often provided with a rude porch or protected by an overhanging portico, while some are supplied, perhaps for purposes of ornament, with a long tail sometimes three feet in length. The eggs are three or four in number, white or cream-colored, either spotless or more frequently much speckled, especially on the larger end.
The sixteen species of Broad-bills disposed among seven genera are confined to the Oriental region, ranging from the western Himalayas over the Malay Peninsula to the Philippines, Sumatra, and Borneo. Many of them are very bright colored birds, each genus exhibiting a distinct coloration. In the typical genus (Eurylmmus) the bill is large, broad, and flat, with the sides of the upper mandible convex and overhanging, — characters which it shares with the monotypic genus Corydon, but from which it differs in having the region below the eye feathered. In Eurylcemus, which embraces two species, the plumage above is mainly black and yellow, while the lower parts are chiefly vinaceous red. In Horsfield's Broad-bill (E. javanicus) the breast in the male is crossed by a narrow black band, which is absent in the female; the length of the bird is nine inches. This species is said to feed on insects and small reptiles, but otherwise exhibits the typical habits of the group. A nest found by Mr. Davison was a”massive structure composed of moss, fibers, roots, dry leaves, bits of wood and small twigs, suspended to the extreme tip of a very tall bamboo overhanging water.”The other species, the Black-and-Yellow Broad-bill (E. ochromelas), is much smaller, being only six and a half inches long. In the Dusky Broad-bill (Corydon sumatranus) the plumage is mainly black throughout, the exception being a white wing-bar, a subterminal spot of white on all but the middle pair of tail-feathers, and a concealed patch of crimson in the interscapular region; its length is ten and a half inches. This species is described as being somewhat crepuscular, remaining quiet during the day and becoming more active at dusk.

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