214 On the breeding of Buffon's touracos in France.


the young ones were never maimed by their fall, and I think they

died from exposure and shock.


It seems to me certain that the first brood will never succeed

with their parents ; it is only the last one which they will rear when

the ardour of the male is tempered at the end of the season, as has

happened in the last two years.


To sum up, this is what my pair of touracos have produced :


1914. Three nests. Six eggs. Six young ones, one of which sur¬


vived for two months.


1915. Two nests. Four eggs. Four young ones, one of which


lived two months, the other has become adult.


* * * *


EDITOR’S NOTE.


Monsieur Delacourt most kindly sent a water-colour drawing,

painted by himself, shewing the two touracos (with the young bird

in the nesting-box), but as a coloured plate of the pink-crested

touraco had already been completed, and as our funds do not per¬

mit of two coloured illustrations, we have inserted the plate of the

pink-crested species as an accompaniment to Monsieur Delacour’s

article. The species he possesses have the crest, head, neck, and

body, green; the wings and tail being shot with violet, the flight

feathers being crimson as in the pink-crested touraco. In Buffon’s,

a white line runs under the eye and in front, divided by black.


We are not only glad to welcome Monsieur Jean Delacourt

as a member, but are also grateful to him for his most interesting

article, and hope to have further accounts of some of his birds, of

which he has an exceedingly fine collection, including 22 species of

waders, cranes, etc., 51 species of waterfowl, 46 species of pheasants,

20 of pigeons and doves, 17 species of parrots, and 95 species of

various passerine birds. Monsieur Delacourt’s property—Villers-

Bretonneux —near Amiens is a regular ornithological park, situated

on the hills of Santerre, and dominating the valley of the Somme.



