2,60 



CUCULIFORMES 



CHAP. 



The wings are rather short and round, with ten primaries and 

 twelve or thirteen secondaries ; the rounded tail of varying length 

 has ten rectrices. The furcula is U-shaped ; the tongue sagit- 

 tate with bristly apex in Gallirex ; the nostrils hidden in 

 Turacus are usually oval, but are linear in Schizorhis and Gymno- 

 schizorhis ; the aftershaft is large ; the nestlings lack down. The 

 red or grey orbits are naked, save in Schizorhis; in Gymno- 

 schizorhis the cheeks and throat are bare and blackish. 



The six genera comprise two dozen or more species from about 



Fig. 71. Greeu-mantled Turaco. Gallirex chlorochlamys. x \. 



thirty to fifteen inches in length ; the general coloration being 

 metallic blue and green or greyish- brown, usually varied w4th 

 crimson, and in the large Corythaeola with yellow^ ; all have erectile 

 crests of different sizes, except Musophaga violacea. The bill is 

 red, yellowish, or black, the feet are black. The sexes are alike, 

 the young duller. The red feathers yield a peculiar pigment, con- 

 taining copper, called Turacin, which is reducible to a powder ; 

 this is so soluble that the colour is w^ashed away during rain or 

 in a bath, though regained subsequently.^ 



Plantain-eaters are found in pairs, or in small flocks of four to 

 ten, over wooded country near inland or tidal waters, reaching an 

 altitude of some ten thousand feet. The tops of high trees are 



1 See Church, Phil. Trans. 1869, pp. 627-636 ; op. cit. 1893, pp. 511-530. 



