100 



BIRD GALLERY. 



White Ams(Guira) (1422) and the Black Anis (Crotophaga) (1421). The 

 latter are remarkable on account of their nesting-habits, the females 

 forming huge co-operative nests, in which they deposit their eggs 

 and sit in company. The eggs are blue, with a peculiar overlying 

 chalky incrustation. 



Family II. MUSOPHAGID^:. TOURACOS. 



[Case 63.] These birds, often called Plantain-eaters, and locally known as 

 " Lowries," include about twenty-five species grouped in six genera. 

 All are peculiar to the forests of Africa, generally frequenting the 

 highest trees, and feeding on various fruits and insects. Like the 

 Pigeons they build a flat nest of twigs, and lay rounded greenish- or 

 bluish- white eggs. Many of the species are beautifully coloured, while 

 others are mostly grey. To the former category belong the numerous 

 species of Turacus (1425), and a few included in Gallirex (1428) and 

 Musophaga ( 1 429). Ail these birds have the flight-feathers mostly crimson 

 and yield a peculiar pigment called Turacin, which contains copper 

 and may be reduced to a powder. [See preparation in Case.] This 

 is so soluble that the colour is washed out of the quills during heavy 

 rains, though subsequently renewed. The green colour in these birds 

 is also of peculiar interest, being due to the actual presence of green 

 pigment in the feathers. This colour is not found in any other bird 

 (see p ; 207) . The Violet Touraco {Musophaga violacea) (1 429) represents 

 the only species lacking a well- developed crest, but possesses an orna- 

 mental frontal shield somewhat similar to that found in the Common Coot. 

 The Great Crested Touraco (Corytheeola cristata) (1430), the largest 

 member of the family, is also a very handsomely-coloured bird, but the 

 species of Schizorhis (1 43 1 ) anAGymnoschizorhis ( 1 432) , the two remaining 

 genera, are dull-coloured and mostly of a grey or greyish-brown tint. 



A remarkable fossil form (Necrornis] occurs in the Middle Miocene 

 of France, indicating that the family is one of great antiquity. 



Order XXVIII. PICIFORMES. WOODPECKERS AND ALLIES. 



The Toucans, Barbets, Honey-Guides, and Woodpeckers representing 

 this order possess many structural characters in common, such as their 

 zygodactylous foot, with the first and fourth toes directed backwards 

 and the second and third forwards. 



Family I. RHAMPHASTID.E. TOUCANS. 



[Case 65.] The Toucans are a large and brightly-coloured group, plentifully 

 represented in the forests of Central and South America, especially in 



