Toucans and other Picarians. 105 



Great Barbet (Megalcema virens). 



Unlike the preceding species, the female of M. virens is smaller 

 than the male, with slightly longer wing but shorter tail. 



Purple Barbet (Trachyphonus purpuratus). 



The bill of the female is much shorter and broader than that of 

 the male. 



I do not propose to consider the Cuckoos as cage-birds, as already 

 stated. 



The Touracous are large, showy birds, often kept in cage and aviary, 

 but more particularly in public gardens. They differ very little 

 sexually as regards plumage. In the Museum series I found com- 

 paratively few examples bearing sex-marks, but in each case I noted 

 that the beak of the female was quite conspicuously shorter than 

 that of the male. 



Senegal Touracou (Turacus persa). 

 The female appears to be larger than the male. 



Buffon's Touracou {Turacus buffoni). 

 I noted nothing beyond the much shorter beak of the female. 



Livingstone's Touracou (Turacus living stonii). 



In sexed examples from Nyassaland, the male was more golden 

 green on mantle and wings than the female ; the feathers of the 

 mantle fringed with gold instead of blue. 



I think it would be waste of space to mention more of these birds 

 in detail, as there will be no difficulty in sexing any of them by a 

 comparison of the beaks. 



Chapter XX. 



KA-KAS AND LORIES. 



We now come to the Psittaci, or Parrots, the sexes of which are 

 not always easy to recognise, though if the late Mr Abraham's 

 distinction is constant, and he showed it to me in the sexed skulls 

 of at least half a dozen widely different groups of Parrots, one ought 

 always to be able to tell the sex by feeling the hinder angle of the 

 lower jaw, which is more pointed, and developed farther backward 

 in the female than the male, thus giving space for the attachment 

 of a more powerful muscle, which will account for the fact that the 

 bite even of a female Budgerigar will draw blood, whereas that of a 

 male of the same species will not. 



