356 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



they liop and run along the branches of trees like Monkeys, it is 

 said, leaping with great activity and having a loud discordant note. 

 Their eggs are deposited in hollow trees. The true MusophagcR 

 are rich red and blue, the species of Touracos are green with splen- 

 did crimson on tlie quills, and those of Chizaeris are birds of 

 plain and sombre plumage, evidently very closely linked to the next 

 family, the Colies, if, indeed, the Jatter is worthy of being separated 

 as such. One species of Chizaeris is named Cacatua by the Somalis, 

 who, says Speke, look on it as a kind of Parrot. Mr. Blyth has 

 called my attention that the beak and feet of this bird, as well 

 as its plain colouring, are the same as in the Colies. 



CoLiiDJi;, Colies. 



Like the last, these are peculiar to Africa, although a Callus has 

 been described by the name of Tndicus. They comprise a little 

 group of plain-coloured birds, with small thick beaks, which led 

 to their being, at one time, classed with the Finches. Their wings 

 are weak, they fly badly, and the tail is long and of ten feathers. 

 The toes are three in front, the fourth directed laterally inwards, 

 and the short side-toe is said to be capable of being directed forwards. 

 They l^ve on fruit, do not [terch, but walk or climb with their whole 

 tarsus applied to the surface, creeping as it were on the belly; 

 hence, as well as from their colour, they are called ' Mouse-birds' at 

 the Cape. They climb well, one foot after the other, a good deal 

 in the manner of the Parrots, help themselves on with their beaks, 

 and sle^p pendently like the Lorikeets. Unlike the preceding 

 family, these birds are builders of nests, breeding in society, and 

 producing white eggs. 



These particularly interesting birds thus serve, in some degree? to 

 relieve the isolation of the Parrots, which they tend somewhat 

 to connect with Musophaga ; on the other hand, they have a remote 

 tendency towards some of the Weaver-birds {PloceiJce), one Afri- 

 can group of what is named Coliasj)asser, and has a lengthened tail ; 

 and the breeding in company, moreover, is another ti'ait of most 

 of the Weaver-birds. 



