146 Practical Bird-Keeping. — XIII. Tour aeons, cfc.


The Touracous stand alone for grace of movement and

beauty of form of colouring; in fact, there are no other birds

living, as far as I know, that resemble them. The first specimen

I ever had was a young bird, hand-reared from the nest and

almost bare of feathers, with the exception of flight feathers and

tail. She—for she turned out to be a hen Fraser’s Touracou—

was absurdly and delightfully tame and in the best of health.

What her age was I could only conjecture, but now on looking

back and comparing the ways of her baby son I should say she

was about six months old.


I remember she filled me with amazement by the way she

bolted large pieces of cuttle fish, she had evidently been denied

grit or lime in any form. Later I was able to secure a mate for

this bird, and the pair were installed in one of my aviary

divisions, about twelve feet square with a larger outside flight

beyond.


I cannot speak too highly of Touracous as aviary birds.

I consider they take the first place, both for beauty, hardiness,

and great intelligence. I may have been fortunate in my par¬

ticular pair, but a pair of another variety I possessed were

equally charming. They are easily kept on banana—it must be

ripe, given whole , with a small strip of the skin peeled off—this

will be entirely cleared out and the fruit keeps so much fresher

than when cut up. A bunch of sweet, sweet-water grapes (these

can be very sour) are also much liked, and elderberries, haw¬

thorn berries and blackberries are much appreciated, also a

lettuce, placed in a pan of water to keep it fresh. A few meal¬

worms given daily are good, but at the best these are indigestible

things. Silkworm eggs allowed to hatch, and the worm given

when about an inch long, is worth a dozen mealworms and really

not much more trouble. My tame hen was very fond of an earth

worm, and it was a curious sight to see her dispose of a really

large, strong worm. Nothing can wriggle like a worm, unless it

is an eel, and yet the Touracou would walk slowly round it and

catch one end and in a few quick gulps it was gone. It was

amazing that this extremely lively creature did not upset her, or

at least cause inconvenience, but she would spring lightly to her

perch, cleanse her beak, and commence to caw or scold in her

usual conversational manner.



