Liberia *- 



however, recently bred in confinement in England, but no 

 information seems to have been secured as to the following 

 points : Are the nestlings born naked, or are they (as it has 

 seemed to the present writer) covered with a dark grey or 

 slate-coloured down ? Are they helpless when first born, like 

 young pigeons, or do they evince soon after leaving the egg 

 the power to move about and a restlessness which leads them 

 to scramble out of the nest ? In these movements do they 

 make use of the hand (i.e. the wing) to assist them in loco- 

 motion ? Do they at this stage show any signs of possessing 

 claws on the thumb and index- finger ? 



Even if any or all of these points have been noted in the 

 case of the one species of turaco which has bred in captivity, 

 it would be interesting to know how far they apply to the 

 other genera and species of the family. The most interesting 

 of these birds to be studied in its life habits would certainly 

 be the largest example, the magnificent Corytheola crlstata^ the 

 great blue plantain-eater. This beautiful bird extends in its 

 range through the forest region of West Africa from the 

 vicinity of the Gambia River on the west to the Uganda 

 Protectorate on the east, and from the basin of the Congo on 

 the south to the Bahr-al-Ghazal on the north. It is very 

 common in the Liberian forests, and is known by the Americo- 

 Liberians as "the peacock." As this bird was illustrated in 

 colour in my work on the Uganda Protectorate, it is hardly 

 necessary to give a detailed description of it here. Its colours 

 range from purple-black to verditer and ultramarine-blue, yellow- 

 green, and chestnut-red. It is a very bold bird, and nests in 

 trees, probably gathering together a rough platform of twigs. 

 The eggs are said by the natives to be white, but we have no 

 precise information on this subject. I believe the e^qs ot this 

 plantain- eater do not exist in any collection. 



776 



