Ml'Sophagid.e.- 



-BIRDS.- 



-The Green Tour-VCO. 



36D 



THE ANGOLA WHYDAH-BIRD {Vidua paradisea). — 

 Several species of Finches, inliabitants of Africa, and 

 nearly allied to the Weaver-birds, are remarkable for the 

 great development of some feathers of the tail-coverts in 

 the males during the breeding season. In the male of 

 the Angola Whydah-bird, which is about the size of the 

 Canary, the tail exhibits two feathers nearly a foot in 

 length, drooping at the extremity like those of the 

 domestic cock, and two others, which are considerably 

 shorter, but furnished with very broad webs; these 

 form a singularly elegant appendage. After the breed- 

 ing season is over, tliese ornamental plumes are shed, 

 and the two sexes are then very similar in appearance. 



The Angola Whydah-bird is black, with the breast 

 and belly orange-red. It is an inhabitant of Western 

 Africa, and was originally brought to Europe from the 

 kingdom of Whydah, whence the name Whydah-bird 

 is commonly applied to it and its allies. This name 

 has been corrupted into Widow-bird, and the French 

 also call the birds of this genus Vcuws, or Widows. 

 The Latin generic name Vidua has the same significa- 

 tion. Other species inhabit different parts of Africa, 

 living in considerable troops, usually in marshy places, 

 where they build their nests close together in tufts of 

 reeds and rushes. 



Family V.— MUSOPHAGID^. 



We have now only two other families of Passerine 

 birds to illustrate, and these include comparatively few 

 species. In both the characters seem to lead us to- 

 wards the more typical forms of the fullowiiig order, 

 namely, the Parrots and Toucans. 



The birds of the present family are all natives of 

 Africa. They have a bill of moderate length, but of 

 considerable thickness, broad at the base, compressed 

 at the sides, and strongly arched along the ridge of the 

 upper mandible, which has its edges notched near the 

 tip ; their tarsi are stout, scaled in fi-ont, and terminated 

 by long and powerful toes, of which the outer one is 

 versatile, a character which has induced many writers 

 to place these birds amongst the Scansores. 



THE VIOLET PLANTAIN-EATEE {Musopha/ja vio- 

 lacea), the type of this family, is a large and hand- 

 some bird, about twenty inches in length, which in- 

 iiabits the Guinea coast. It has a large bill, of which 

 the base extends far up on the forehead ; the nostrils 

 are simple oval apertures placed on the sides of the 

 upper mandible, considerably nearer to its apex than to 

 its base ; the tip of the upper mandible is much curved 

 downwards, or somewhat hooked, and its margins are 

 not only strongly toothed near the apex, but denticu- 

 lated for a considerable distance from the point. The 

 general colour of the plumage is a deep violet, tinged 

 with blue on the upper parts, and dark-gi'een on the 

 breast and belly. From beneath each eye a curved 

 white streak runs towards the back of the head, and 

 the feathers of the latter part are short and of a deep 

 crimson colour. The primaries are of a violet-crimson 

 colour, and the large bill is orange-yellow at the base, 

 gradually deepening in tint until it becomes red. This 

 beautiful bird frequents the banks of the rivers of 

 Western Africa, and feeds upon the fruits of the plan- 



VOL. I. 



tain and banana, whence the names of Plantain-eater 

 and Mnsiipharja applied to it. 



THE GREEN TOUEACO {Corijthaix pcrBa).— 'y\ia 

 Touracos are readily distinguished from the preceding 

 form, to which, however, they are closely allied, by the 

 smaller size of the bill, which does not advance upon 

 the forehead ; by the position of the nostrils at the 

 base of tlie bill ; and by the presence of a lai^e and 

 handsome crest upon the top of the head. The present 

 species is of a gi'ass-green colour, with the tips of the 

 crest-featliers red ; beneath each e3-e is a white streak ; 

 the wuig-coverts are steel-blue, the quill-feathers 

 bright red, margined with black, and the tail-featheis 

 steel-blue. This, according to ]\Iessieurs Verreaux, 

 is the bird described by Luiuajus mider the name 

 of Ciiculus persa. Our figm'e represents the follow- 

 ing species, which is found, with the present one, in 

 Southern Africa. 



THE LOUEI TOURACO {Caryl/mix albocrislaltm)— 

 Plate 12, fig. 41 (C ;)((■«<()— exhibits the same general 

 arrangement of colours as the preceding species, but 

 has the tips of the crest-feathers white instead of red, 

 and the eye surrounded with white. This bird, which 

 inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, has little fear of man, 

 and indeed allows itself to be impelled, by its curiosity, 

 to approach any human intruders on its domain, and 

 follow them from tree to tree, uttering what Le Vaillant 

 regards as a cry of pleasure, resembling the syllable 

 cor, with the r greatly prolonged. Its call-note is like 

 the word corow, uttered eight or ten times in succession ; 

 and it has also a cry of fear, compared by Le Vaillant 

 to the rapid sounds of a trumpet. The food of this 

 bird, and of the allied species, consists exclusively of 

 fruits, which it swallows whole when small enough. 

 Its nesting-place is the hole of some large tree, in 

 which the female deposits four bluish eggs. The male 

 and female sit alternately, and both sexes bestow much 

 care upon the young, which accompany their parents 

 for some time after leaving the nest. 



THE GIANT TOUKACO {Schizorhis yipantca).— In this 

 bird the bill is large, and much hooked at the tip, the 

 margins of the upper mandible are undulated towards 

 the apex, and the nostrils are placed at a short distance 

 from the base of tlie bill, near the ridge of the upper 

 mandible. The head is furnished with a crest of long 

 feathers, which hang down at the back of the neck in 

 repose. The plumage of the upper parts is brilliant 

 blue ; the crest is black, with a blue lustre ; the breast 

 is bright green, and the rest of the lower surface cin- 

 namon-brown. The bill is orange colour. This bird, 

 which measures about two feet in total length, is a 

 native of the tropical parts of Western Africa, wheie 

 it feeds, like the Musopihatja, upon plantains and 

 bananas. Several other species are met with in the 

 same regions. 



THE CAPE COLY {CoUus capensis). — Several species 

 of small crested birds, forming the genus Colius, are 

 placed in this family by Mr. G. R. Gray ; by others 

 they have been an-anged with the Fringillidte. They 

 have the hinder toe somewhat versatile, so that all 

 four toes may be directed forwards, and the margins of 

 the upper mandible are smooth. They are found at 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and throughout Eastern Africa 



3 A 



