316 VERTEBRATA. AVES. 



Musophagaf the Plantain-eater. 



Likewise an African genus, whose single species 

 is marked with crimson on a violet ground. 



These two birds, closely resembling each other, 

 having the bright plumage of the Parrots, with 

 the short, thick, conical bill of the Finches, form, 

 according to Mr. Swainson,-)- one of the links which 

 connect the Climbers with the Perchers, through 

 the Conirostres. They have several characters pecu- 

 liar, however, to themselves ; the thick bill is toothed 

 at the edges like a saw, by which structure a kindred 

 genus is said to cut off the plants on which it feeds 

 close to the root, as if it were done with a saw. In 

 the Violet Plantain-eater, (M. Violacea^) the base of 

 the bill is enlarged so as to spread like a helmet over 

 the forehead as far as the crown. 



* Musa, the botanical name of the Plantain, and Qu.yu, phago, to eat. 

 f Cab. Cyc. Birds, vol. ii. p. 126. 



