SCANSORIJE. 



139 



climb among the branches of trees by the aid of their beak and claws, and 

 build in hollow trees. Their voice is naturally harsh and 

 disagreeable, and they are almost universally ornamented 

 with the brightest colours, hardly any of them being found 

 beyond the torrid zone. They exist, however, in both con- 

 tinents, the species of course differing in each. Every large 

 island even has its peculiar species, the short wings of these 

 birds not allowing them to cross any great extent of water. 

 The parrots, consequently, are very numerous: they are 

 subdivided by tlie forms of their tails and some other 

 characters. Among those which have a long cuneiform 

 tail, we may distinguish the maccaws (Aras), whose cheeks 

 are divested of feathers, as in the first figure ; the second 

 figure represents the cockatoos, marked by a crest which 



can be raised or depressed at pleasure. 



There are two African birds, closely allied to each other and generally 

 placed among the Scansorse, which appear to me to have 

 some analogy with the Gallinaceae, and especially with the 

 Hoccos. 



They have the tail and wings of the hoccos, and like 

 them perch on trees ; the beak is short, and the upper man_ 

 dible gibbous ; there is a short membrane between the fore 

 toes, but the external one, it is true, is often directed back- 

 wards like that of the ululae. Their nostrils, also, are 

 simply pierced in the horn of the beak, the edges of the 

 mandibles are dentated, and the sternum (at least that of 



the touraco) has not those large emarginations, so common in the gallinacese. 



There are two genera of these birds : the first is, 



CORYTHAIX, Illiger, 



Or the Touracos,'m which the beak does not mount on the forehead, and the 

 head is furnished with an erectile tuft. The most common species, 



Cuculus pcrsa, Lin., is found in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. It 

 is a beautiful green, with part of the quills of the wings crimson. It builds 

 in hollow trees, and feeds on fruit. The second is the 



MUSOPHAGA, Isert, 



Or the Plantain-eaters, so called because their principal food is the fruit of 

 the banana. They are characterised by the base of the beak forming a disk 

 which partly covers the forehead. The species known is 



M. Violacea, Viell. Circumference of the eyes naked and red; violet- 

 coloured plumage; occiput and primary quills of the wings, crimson ; a white 

 one passes below the naked space round the eye. Inhabits Guinea and 

 Senegal. 



