Barbet

Barbet (Bucco), a genus of birds typical of a family generally placed beside the Picidae, or Woodpeckers (q.v.), and also exhibiting points of resemblance to the cuckoos. They have a large conical beak, bearing at the angle of the mouth tufts of stiff bristles directed forwards—a characteristic from which the name barbet is derived (Lat. barba, 'a beard'). They prey on insects, some of them also on young birds, and some at least partially frugivorous. They inhabit warm parts both of the eastern and western hemispheres, and most of them are birds of gay plumage. The Barbicans (Pogonias), the American Puff-birds (Tamatia), and other genera, are included along with the barbets in the family Bucconidae; but it must be noted that not a few forms once referred to the genus Bucco are now known under different titles. See PUFF-BIRDS.