362 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xxix 



A touraco thoroughly deserves the name of " noisy 

 bird " (Larmvogel) which Germans have given it. 



These birds have short serrated beaks, eat bananas, 

 the fruit of papaw trees, insects, worms, and grubs. 

 The heads of touracos are decorated with conspicuous 

 crests ; many years ago on this account they were 

 called " crowned birds." Touracos fly with clumsy 

 undulating flight, usually alighting with the crest erect 

 and the tail upturned. As they hop about the branches 

 of trees the tail is in constant motion, the rectrices 

 being expanded and depressed. The crest in some 

 touracos is a feathery mop, but the Great Crested 

 Touraco has an abundant feathery top-knot. 



Touracos are remarkable for their colouration, which 

 is the same in both sexes. Some of them arc as 

 brilliantly coloured as parrots. In many the flight 

 feathers are crimson and yield a peculiar pigment, 

 called turacin, which contains copper and may be 

 reduced to powder. The colour is so soluble that it is 

 washed out of the quill feathers by heavy rains, but it 

 is renewed. The green in these birds is due to the 

 presence of green pigment in the feather. 



The most remarkable crest among birds belongs to 

 the Crow r ned Crane. This is a very common bird around 

 the Victoria Nyanza. The crowned crane is a purely 

 African form and is common in South as well as East 

 Africa. In winter the crowned crane frequents the 

 banks of the White Nile in thousands. The crest of this 

 beautiful bird is present in both sexes and differs from 

 those of other crested birds in the peculiar character of 

 the feathers composing the crown. The quills of the 

 feathers are small and thin ; each shaft (or vane) is 

 twisted spirally and bears a few hair-like barbs, which, 

 owing to the torsion of the shaft, project on all sides of 

 the axial line. The shaft is flat so that the twist gives 

 the feather the appearance of being banded alternately 

 light and dark. The tips of the vanes are dark. At 

 Fashoda I had an opportunity of examining two chicks 



