PLANTAIN-EATER. 341 



GENUS XIII —PLANTAIN-EATER. 



1. Violet Plantain-Eater. || 2. Touraco Plantain-Eater. 



DILL stout, triangular, the upper mandible elevated at the base 

 and bending at the tip ; both the mandibles dentated on the edges. 



Nostrils rounded at the ends, oval, placed in the middle of the 

 bill. 



Tongue short, thick, stout. 



Toes placed three before and one behind. 



1.— VIOLET PLANTAIN-EATER— Pl. XXXVII. 



Musophaga violacea, Ind. Orn. Sup. xxiv. Sck. d. Berl. Gesell. ix. s. 16. taf. i. Tern: 



Man. Ed. ii. Anal. p. lxxii. 

 Royal Cuckow, Lever. Mus. pl. in p. 167. 

 Violet Plantain-eater, Gen. Syn. Sup. ii. 104. pl. 125. Shaw's Zool. viii. p. 47. pl. 4, 



and 5. 



THIS curious, and hitherto little known bird, is nineteen inches 

 long. The bill from gape to tip one inch and a half; in shape very 

 singular, especially the upper mandible, being nearly triangular, 

 losing its attachment at the hind part, where it is elevated, and 

 hangs over the crown. The colour yellow, growing red towards the 

 end ; the edges of both mandibles dentated, more deeply so forwards, 

 and the under one shorter. The tongue formed not unlike that of 

 the Parrot ; eyelids purple, hides brown ; the top of the head purple, 

 Lore violet; beneath the eye a streak of white, passing far backwards; 

 neck, breast, and belly violet ;# wings the same, but the prime quills 



* In my copy of the Berlin Transactions, these parts are coloured pale brown, though 

 in the text they are said to be violet. 



