MUSOPHAGID,?:. 265 



Tliey are all handsome birds^ their dimensions 

 resembling those of the European Jay, and their 

 plumage glancing with violet, green, purple, and 

 red of different shades. 



The type of the race is — 



The Violet Plantain-eater (Musojyhaga violacea). This 

 bird is found about Senegal and the Gold Coast. It is 

 remarkable for the extraordinary shape and dimensions 

 of the beak, which is everywhere large and 2)rominent, 

 but especially swollen towards the base, where it expands 

 into a large shield-like mass of horny substance, which 

 spreads over the forehead as far as the crown, where it 

 termmates in a semicircular thickened line. The ridge 

 of the beak is greatly arched, and its sides are much com- 

 pressed. Its colour is as singular as its shape — a fine 

 golden yellow, passing into crimson on the upper part of 

 the base. The top of the head is crimson, not unlike 

 that of the beak, and the feathers are very soft and fine, 

 liavmg a velvety or plushdike aspect. The general colour 

 of the plumage is very deep violet, appearing black in the 

 shade, and glossed with rich green in certain lights. 



Another species found m Southern Africa and in the 

 extensive eastern forests, Le Vaillant represents as being 

 of so inquisitive a disposition, that it spontaneously 

 approaches a man or a quadnipecl, leaping from tree to 

 tree, and uttering a cry of satisfaction, which is expressed 

 by the syllable cor uttered with a prolonged and guttural 

 articulation, and with a quiver of the tongue. Its love- 

 call has been represented by the word corouw uttered 

 eight or ten times in succession, and its note of alarm has 

 been compared to the abrupt sounds of a nnlitary timmpet. 

 The female lays four bluish-white eggs in the large holes 

 of trees. 



