STR ARTHUR H. CHURCH OX TURACIN, 639 



42. Notes on Turacin and the Turacin-Bearers. 

 By Sir Aetpiur H. Church, K.C.V.O., F.R.S.* 



[Received May 26, 1913 : Read June 3, 1913.] 



In bringing, at the suggestion of the Secretary, these notes 

 before the Zoological Society I have a threefold object. • First, 

 to give a sumniaiy histoi-y of our knowledge of the occurrence in 

 the Plantain-eaters of turacin, the remarkable (I may say, the 

 unique) decorative pigment which is distinctive of the three genera 

 Musophaga, Taracus, and Gallirex ; secondly, to describe the 

 properties of the pigment ; and, thirdly, to correct some prevalent 

 errors on the subject of turacin — errors due in part to initial 

 mistakes made by observers, and in part to incoriectness in the 

 transmission of facts by copyists. 



Although the earliest observation as to the occurrence in 

 certain Tui'acoes of a singular i-ed pigment seems to be assignable 

 to the year 1818, yet I have not found any publication of the fact 

 by the original observer until more than half a century later. 

 Then, on January 17th, 1871, a Corresponding Member of this 

 Society, M. Jules Yerreaux, described at a meeting his observa- 

 tions and experiments on the subject, referring them back to 

 the year 1818. Verreaux's remarks are to be found in the 

 ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society ' for 1871 (pp. 40 et seq.) ; 

 they refer to the Corythaix albia'istata of Strickland. Many of 

 these Turacoes were met with in the Knysna district of the Cape 

 of Good Hope, and were carefully observed by Verreavix. He 

 noticed that, in the torrential rains that prevailed at the time, 

 these birds left the tree tops and sought refuge in the dense lower 

 branches. One bird, which he had seized by the wing, escaped, 

 and he says that great was his surprise to see the inside of his 

 hand coloured a blood-red. Some days later the experiment was 

 repeated with three more specimens caught in a soaked condition ; 

 it was easy to remove the pigment from the feathers by friction 

 and to reduce them to a pale rose hue. What M. Verreaux here 

 adds to his observation as to the solubility of the red pigment in 

 rain-water is, I venture to think, hard to believe. He wrote in 

 French, and I give his own words : — " Mais ce qui nous surprit 

 le plus, fut de voir cette meme coloration rouge vif revenir d^s 

 que I'oiseau etait compl^tement seche. Nous avons renouvele 

 cette operation deux fois par jour, et chaque fois nous avons eu 

 le meme resultat." M. Verreaux further extends his observa- 

 tions to other species of Turacoes, finding in them the same 

 colouring-matter, possessed of the same mobility and of the same 

 power of renewal when the feathers became dry. He even 

 affirms such recovery of colour in the case of birds that have been 

 killed as well as of those that have been captured. One cannot 



* Communicated bv the Secketakt. 



