SCANSORI^. 147 



are subdivided by the forms of their tails and some other characters. To 

 these subdivisions belong the Macaws, Paroquets, Cockatoos, &c. 



There are two African birds, closely allied to each other, and 

 generally placed among the Scansorioe, which appear to me have 

 some analogy witli the Gallinacea^, and especially with the Hoccos. 



They have the tail and wings of the Hoccos, and like them perch 

 on trees; the beak is short, and the upper mandible gibbous; there 

 is a short membrane between the fore-toes, but the external one, it 

 is true, is often directed backwards like that of the Ululaj. Their 

 nostrils, also, are simply pierced in the horn of the beak, the edges 

 of the mandibles are dentated, and the sternum (at least that of the 

 Touraco) has not those large emarginations, so common in the Gal- 

 linacese. There are two genera of these birds: the first is, 



CoKYTHAIX, Illig. 

 Or the Touracos, in which the beak does not mount on the forehead, and 

 the head is furnished with an erectile tuft. The most common species, 



Cuculus persa, L., is found in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. It 

 is a beautiful green, witli part of the quills of the wings crimson. It builds 

 in hollow trees, and feeds on fruit. Tlie second is the 



MusoPHAGA, Isert. 

 Or the Plaintain-eaters, so called because their principal food is the fruit of 

 the banana. They are characterised by the base of the beak forming a 

 disk, which partly covers the forehead. The species known is 



J^f. violacea, Vieill. Circumference of the eyes naked and red; violet- 

 coloured plumage; occiput and primary quills of the wings, crimson; a white 

 line passes below the naked space round the eye. Inhabits Guinea and 

 Senegal. 



ORDER IV. 



GALLINACEtE.— GALLiNiE, Lin. 



These birds are so called from their affinity with the Domestic 

 Cock, and like it, generally have the upper mandible arched, the 

 nostrils pierced in a broad membranous space at the base of the beak 

 and covered by a cartilaginous scale; a heavy carriage, short wings, 

 and the bony sternum diminished by two emarginations, so wide and 



