THE



297



Hvicultural flfcagastne,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCI ETY.



New Series —VOL. VI. — No. 11 .—All rights reserved. SEPTEMBER, 1908.



NESTING OF THE WHITE-CRESTED TURACO.


Turacus corythaix.


By Hubert D. Astley, M.A.


I commenced in 1907 with four specimens of these beauti¬

ful birds, and all of them wintered successfully out of doors,

with a warm roosting house to go into, but the windows of it

were always open, by night as well as by day.


I11 the early Spring one Turaco was found dead, in splen¬

did plumage and condition. From a bruise on its forehead, it

looked as if it had flown against the wire.


Not long after two of the Turacos began to bully the

remaining third, a fact of which I was unaware until it was too

late, and the poor thing succumbed to it’s injuries. It had been

chased constantly, and not allowed to eat, and at length it

became paralysed. This persecution was entirely because the two

that are left are a male and female ; who had evidently made up

their minds that they must have the place to themselves, as far as

their own species was concerned. They never offered to touch or

molest any of the other birds, such as Stanley and Black-tailed

Parrakeets, Palm Doves, Red Cardinal, etc.


Then in June began much ‘ Touracooing,’ by which I

mean much frog-like croaking on the part of the male, whose

voice could be heard quite half a mile away. When strawberries

were thrown in he would call to his mate to come down, and he

then picked a berry up and placed it before her, or else she

would take it from his beak. I placed a large hamper lid amongst

some branches in a secluded corner of the aviary, in the inner

part of the roosting house, and both birds carried up a quantity

of sticks. It was not until about the 15th of July that the heir



