THE



55



Bvicultural fllbagastne,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. —VOL. III. — NO. 2 .—All rights reserved. DECEMBER, 1904.



ON THE NESTLING OF FRASER'S TOURACOU.


Turacus macrorhynchus .


By W. P. Pycraft, A.T.S., F.Z.S., &c.


I. Introduction.


So far as I am aware, until the publication of Mrs.

Johnstone’s account of the partial rearing of the nestling of

Fraser’s Touracou in her aviaries, in the November issue of our

Magazine, nothing was known of the condition of the young of

the Touracou at birth.


For the unique opportunity of describing the pterylologi-

cal characters of the nestling Touracou, as represented by the

present species, I am indebted to the kindness of my friend, Mr.

D. Seth-Smitli.


Before I proceed with my description I would remark that,

although, as I have said, nothing was hitherto known of the

condition of the young at birth in this group, yet certain definite

statements have appeared on this subject which now turn out to

have been mere conjectures.


Thus Seebohm, in his “ Classification of Birds ” placed the

Touracous with the Cuckoos in one order, “ Coccyges,” which he

diagnosed by the possession of four characters in common. Of

these four, one was based on the condition of the nestling, which,

he asserted was “ born helpless, and not passing through a downy

stage before acquiring feathers.” This definition now proves to

be true only of the Cuckoos.


Dr. Gadow, in Bronn’s Thier-reichs (Systematischer theil)

appears to have followed Seebohm in this matter, since, in a table



