122 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



the earth ; they nest on a platform built of sticks or 

 twigs, upon wliich tliey lay two to three, oi- even" five," 

 pure white, greenish, or blui£.h--n-hite eggs.* Tlieir flight 

 is easy and graceful, but probably not sustained. 



These birds have sliort stout bills, usually prominent 

 crests ; short and rounded wings, and a long rounded 

 tail, consisting of ten feathers ; the feet are short in 

 the shank, and the toes are semi-zygodactyle, the outer 

 toe being capable of movement both backwards and 

 forwards. 



One interesting pecniliarity of these birds seems to me 

 to be a conclusive answer to those who 'assert that a 

 feather when once perfected is incapable of change, since 

 the crimson colouring in the feathers of Touracous is 

 soluble in water, leaving the webs pale and washed out 

 in appearance ; nevertheless aftei- the feathers have be- 

 come dry the pigment is gradually replaced. This pig- 

 ment, which has beeji called " Turacin," has been proved 

 to contain copper.t 



It has been asserted that the Touraicous do not differ 

 sexually, and so far as plumage goes this statement is 

 tolerably correct, hut a comparison of the beaks of the 

 two sexes shows that „he male invariably has a decidedly 

 longer and narrower beak than the feniale. 



Mrs. Johnstone fed her Touracous upon cut-up banana, 

 soaked biscuit squeezed dry, sweet-water grapes, and 

 )nealworms, catei-pillars, including silkworms, and later 

 bread and milk, not made sloppy. As she was success- 

 ful in breeding with these birds we may take it that 

 this food is satisfactory. 



Senegal Toukacgi; {Tiiracus persa). 



Back, ibody ol wing, and tail glossy violet ; flights, 

 e.xcept the outer one, Ibrigiht cainisoai, with (black edges 

 and shaifts; head, neck, -lixMit amd centre of chesit grass- 

 .green ; Ibare otiular patch scarlet, wiith la 'band of white 

 feathers in front land helow, which is divided on the 

 cheek iby a black patch ; mil of hody ibelow iblack with 

 a v.olet shade ; under wing-ooverts ilark ibroi-vra, partly 

 Wiished with igreen ; flighits Ibelow las ahove ; bill deep 

 o'ive, yello'wisli on edges; feet Iblack; irides hazel. 

 Female appareotly Jargeir, and with short'er, stouter 

 bill. Hab., West Aifnca, [from :Sene.gaimibia to tJie 

 Comgo. 



All iwe know abouit the wild life of this species is that 

 it .probably oorresponds with that of its allies. It is 

 riirc in the market, but the London Zoological Society 

 lias received a good many examples, the first specimen 

 exhibited in their Gaidens having (been presented ns 

 long ago as 1858. Euss evidcritly confounds it wiith 

 some sioutlheim species, so that, it seems douibtful whether 

 the species rece ved at AmisteTdam in 1851, those owned 

 by Ban'on von Oomiely in 1864, eitc., were really this 

 species, though it is extremely pixuhaible that they were. 



Buffon's Toiteacou (Turacus buffoni). 



Differs from T. persa in having a broiad iet-iWack 

 band (below the eye and no white (band beneath it. but 

 sometimes a narix>w white line. Female with a noitioe- 

 a.bly sihoiiter Ibiill. Ha.b., "Wieat Ajfrica from the Congo 

 to Senegal." (Shelley.) 



ilr. R, Kemp, in aji article on the " Birds of South- 

 easte-m Sierra Leone (77ie Ibis, 1905, p. 226) says : 

 "Irides dark hazel; bill dull blood -red ; oo^bit scarliet ; 

 feet and claiws tolack. This Touraco prolbaWy ibreeds in 

 iliay and June, as a hen obtiained on the labtex month 

 contained in its ovary an almost fuJly-deveJoped egg." 



• Five is a number given by Dr. Stark, but must, I think, be 

 an error; two is certainly the usual number of eggs laid, 

 t The green plumage contains iron, but not copper. 



Caiptain Shelley ("Catalogue of Buvis," Vol. XIX., 

 p. 439) throws some doubt upon the validity of this 

 species ; (but if his account of the soft pai'its lin T. -persa- 

 is correct, theie should be no ditftculty in distinguish- 

 ing the living birds lirom each other. 



T. persa T. buffoni. 



Bill deep olive, yellow isJi Bill dull blood-Ted. 



on edges. 

 Feet black. Feet black. 



Irides hazel. Iricles dark hazel. 



Orbital ring soaxlot Orbital ring scarlet. 



The totally differemt colouring of the (bill should (b© 

 amply sufficient to indicate at least a right to sab- 

 specihc rank for T. hufl'oni. It first reached the London 

 Zoological Hardens in 1862, since fwhich time speciimens 

 have been occasionally received up to 1892 at d«asl, as. 

 also in the Berlin Gardens. 



iScH.iLow's TouE.iCOU [Turacus schaloioi). 



Back and body cf wing glossy ga-eeai paMially shaded 

 with blue ; flights crimison and Iblack as usual ; t>ail 

 Violet ; head, neck, and chest grass-green ; feathers of 

 crest land nape tipped with white ; haire orbital skin, 

 bright red, bounded in (front by a white (band from tJie 

 lores and ibeloiw by black feathers exiianded into a patch 

 acro.ss the cheek ; (behind the latter a second white (band 

 extends to beyond the ear-coverts ; lower brerast amd 

 remainder of under parts dusky slate-coJoui' wasJied with 

 glossy green ; bill orange ; feet biack ; drides ba'own. 

 Female not diifferemtiated, but doubtless with shorter 

 and stouter bill. Hab., " Mossamcdes and Benguela to 

 the western shores ol Lake Tanganiyika" (Shelley); 

 Geirman E. AiErica (Neumann). 



Im Layard's " Bilrds of South Africa," p. 143, we read : 

 "This beautiful species was first discovered by the 

 Zambe.*i EspCoriug Expedition."* "It likewise occurs 

 in South-Western Africa, where Blonteiro discovered it. 

 in Benguela. He gives the following notes concerning 

 it : " They .are sometimes birought to Benguela for s;ile 

 by the negroes fi'om Bibe. Appeal's to be much rarer 

 than the C. erifthrolopha. I have seen both pi'etty 

 .ibtuidantly to the interior of Novo Redondo." 



The Zoological Society of London acquired this bird 

 by presentation in 1899, and it was still living in 1901. 



Livingstone's Ttjracgu {Turacus liviiig-tvuii). 



Difiers from the preceding in its shorter crest and 

 greener tail. Hab., " East Africa fronv the Ugogo to the 

 Zambesi" (Shelley); Zululand (Woodward). 



In the ^luseum there are sexed examples from Nyassa- 

 land, in which the male is more golden-green on tho 

 mantle and wings than the female ; the feathers of the 

 mantle fringed with gold instead of blue. Oddly enough, 

 in a paper on birds collected in Nyas.saland {The Ibis, 

 1893, p. 9), Captain Shelley says: "Twelve specimens 

 of both sexes, showing tliat they ai'e perfectly alike in 

 plumage. ' ' 



Messrs. R. B. and J. D. S. Woodward {The Ibis, 

 1898, p. 225) say : " We were repaid for our trouble in 

 coming here, as we obtained some very interesting 

 birds, one of wliich was Livingstone's Plantain-eater 

 {Turacus livingslonii), the finest of the three South 

 African Louries. We knew it to be an unusual species 

 by its cry before we shot it; it mtich resembles Turacus 

 persa, but has a taller and more conspicuous crest." 



According to Lieut.-Col. W. H. Manning, the native 



* He confounds it with T, Z/riHosio/iit; "therefore I quote no 

 further respecting this locality. 



