THK



53



Hvicultural flftagastne,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Third Series —VOL. It. — No. 2 .—All rights reserved. DECEMBER, 1910.



ROSS’ TOURACOU.


Musophaga rosso?.


By L. M. Seth-Smith.


This beautiful Touracou is by no means uncommon in

Uganda wherever patches of forest are found, and it spends most

of its time in the forest, coming out to feed on its favourite fruit

trees when they are bearing.


It has the habit—common, I think, with most Touracous—

of rapidly running up branches and taking hops from branch to

branch and thus is soon lost sight of among the thick trees. When

flying, the red on its wings is very conspicuous, but this colour¬

ing is quite covered by its dark blue coverts when at rest. It is

usually seen in pairs, and I never remember seeing it in flocks,

like one sees the large blue Touracou (Corythocola cristata). This

latter bird is frequently seen in companies of ten or more, flying

across some open space in the forest, one after another, at short

intervals.


About July 6th, this year, I called to see a friend, living

some twenty-five miles from Kampala, the native capital ot

Uganda, who kept a few birds, and among them a lovely pair

of M. rosso?. He had just received orders to move, and as he

was unable to take these birds with him, and I was shortly re¬

turning to England, he kindly gave them to me. The birds had

been reared from the nest which, I was-informed, had been built

in a comparatively low tree outside the forest. I have never

found their nests, but had imagined that they were placed in the

depths of the forest at the top of inaccessible trees. No natives

whom I have asked have ever been able to tell me anything



