Plantain-eaters 



453 



largest and most important genus being Turacus of tropical and southern Africa, 

 which embraces no less than twenty-three species. This genus is distinguished 

 by having the oval nostrils concealed, the green crest often tipped with white or 

 crimson, and the quills crimson and black, one of the handsomest and best-known 

 species being the White -breasted Plantain-eater (T. corythaix) of South Africa. 

 This bird, commonly called the Lori, is seventeen or eighteen inches long, and 

 mainly glossy greenish, marked on the back and wings with blue, while the large 

 crest is tipped with white and the eye is enclosed above and below by white 

 bands. When the wings are spread they show a brilliant carmine, glossed with 

 purple, while the bill is orange-brown, the legs and feet black. This species, 



FIG. 144. White-eared Plantain-eater, Turacus leucotis. 



according to Dr. Sharpe, feeds on fruits and frequents the highest trees, rarely 

 if ever descending to the ground, on which it can, however, travel with great 

 rapidity if brought down by a shot. Their motions are very graceful and light 

 and performed with a rapidity that delights the eye of the beholder. 



In the typical Plantain-eaters (Musophaga), of which there are two species, 

 both of West Africa, the base of the bill is prolonged backward over the fore- 

 head into a kind of shield, and the wing-quills are crimson as in the last genus. 

 The best-known species (M. violacea) is a beautiful bird about eighteen inches 

 long, with the general plumage a rich, glossy violet-purple, and the top of the 

 head and the bare space around the eye a deep crimson, the latter set off by a 

 broad white band beneath the eye. 



The largest member of the family is the Great Plantain -eater (Corythceola 

 cristata] of west and equatorial Africa, the only representative of its genus. The 



