PLANTAIN-EATERS. 163 



Scansores, with which they are probably con- 

 nected by the intervention of the Hornbills, the 

 Family which will next come under our notice. 

 Mr. Swainson places them here, immediately 

 before the Scansores, intermediate between the 

 Finches and the Hornbills. He remarks that 

 those which shew an affinity to the Bullfinches 

 are small (referring here, we presume, to the 

 Chilian Plant-cutter, Phytotoma); while others, 

 whose size and peculiar structure assimilate them 

 more to the Hornbills, are of a size proportionate 

 to those birds; observing that they possess a 

 short, but very strong and thick bill, more or 

 less curved on the top, the cutting margins being 

 min^^ly serrated like the teeth of a saw. Their 

 food is stated to be entirely vegetable, and that 

 of the most tender and delicate description ; and 

 Mr. Swainson remarks that it is singular to ob- 

 serve that the beak in this Family (in outward 

 appearance much stronger than that of the Finches) 

 should yet be employed in procuring the softest ve- 

 getable food ; while the short beak, posterior nos- 

 trils, hopping gait, and purely vegetable food, are 

 all exerc.^3$fr in such birds as Buceros galeatus, 

 and proclaim the affinity of the Plantain-eaters to 

 the Hornbills. 



These birds are confined to Africa, where they 

 subsist almost exclusively on fruits : their move- 

 ments are light and elegant in the extreme, in 

 this respect, differing greatly from the Colies ; 

 they pass with an easy gliding flight from tree to 

 tree. The first and fourth toes being directed 

 laterally, they are said to perch, for the most 

 part, lengthwise on the horizontal branches, along 

 which they walk, clasping the bough with their 



