Chap, vi.] THE TURACOU. I jQ 



specimen under an old cart-wheel at AVynberg. Immediately 

 that I opened this one I saw its tracheae and the fully-formed 

 young within it. Had my colleague lighted on the specimen 

 he would no doubt have made the discovery instead. 



Peripatus capensis is nocturnal in its habits. Its gait is 

 exactly like that of a caterpillar, the feet moving in pairs, and 

 the body being entirely supported upon them. The animals 

 can move with considerable rapidity. They have a remarkable 

 power of extension of the body, and when walking stretch to 

 nearly twice the length they have when at rest.* 



Had I not been engaged for so long a time in working at 

 Peripatus, I should have certainly paid a visit to the Knysna 

 Forest, accessible by steamer from Cape Town, which contains 

 wild elephants preserved by Government, and numerous ante- 

 lopes and other large animals. My principal object in going, 

 however, would have been to see the curious bird, the Turacou 

 {Turaais albocristatus), one of the Plantain-eaters. This bird 

 has bright red feathers in its wings, the red colouring matter of 

 which is soluble in water, so that the birds are apt to wash 

 their red feathers white when in confinement. 



The colouring matter, " Turacin," as was discovered by 

 Prof. A. H. Church,! is distinguished by yielding a remarkable 

 absorption spectrum, and contains a considerable quantity of 

 copper. The bird is very common in the Knysna, and I was 

 told by sportsmen who had shot it, that in rainy weather it 

 will hardly fly, but crouches down under the bushes, and may 

 sometimes be knocked down with a stick. 



A most extraordinary statement concerning these birds, to 

 the effect that the red colour, when washed out of the feathers, 

 becomes restored, is made by M. Jules Verreaux.:]: It is 

 impossible to understand how this can happen, since there are 

 no apparent means by which the colouring matter can be con- 

 ducted from the body of the bird to the web of the feather. 

 Such a result seems only possible in Horn-bills, some of which, 

 as is well known, paint their feathers yellow by rubbing in a 

 yellow secretion discharged from glands under the wing. 



M. Verreaux states that in rainy weather, just as I was 

 informed, the Turacous get their feathers wet through, and 

 are, in consequence, unable to fly, but crouch on the ground, 

 instead of resting on the tree-tops as usual. He caught several 

 with the hand, the colour came out on his hands from the wet 



* For a detailed account of the anatomj', and development of Peripatus 

 Capensis, see H. N. Moselej', " On the Anatomy and Development of 

 Peripatus Capensis." Phil. Trans. R. Soc, 1874, p. 757- 



f "Researches on Turacin,'' Phil. Trans., 1870, p. 627. 



\ M. Jules Verreaux, " Proc. Zool. Soc," 1871, p. 40. 



