V 
AFRICA. 175 
Its colour IS a bright grafs green ; a beautiful 
tuft of the fame colour, bordered with white, 
ornaments its head ; its eyes, which are of a 
lively red, are crowned with eyebrows of a daz- 
zling white ; and its wings are of the moft 
beautiful purple, which changes to a violet, 
according to the attitudes it afTumes, or the 
point of view under which it is feen. 
Naturalifts have very improperly clafled this 
bird among the cuckows, with which it has 
no relation whatever. The cuckow, in every 
country of the world, is a bird that feeds only 
on caterpillars, Infeds, &c. but the touraco 
feeds on fruits. ; 
The cuckow, in every climate, never lays 
but in the nefts of other birds ; which, by 
thefe means, flie loads with the burden of 
hatching her young : the touraco, more affec- 
tionate and more careful of its family, con- 
ftrufts its own neft, where it lays its eggs and 
hatches them itfelf. 
Thefe two charadlers are fufEcient to form, 
St fpecies entirely diftind from the cuckow ; 
but I lhall refume this fubjeil, and enlarge 
upon it, in my ornithology. 
In thofe intervals when the heavy rains or 
exceffive 
