All Rights Reserved. 
May, 1920. 
BIRD NOTES: 
THE 
JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 
The Successful Breeding of Turacus persa. 
By Jf.an Delacour, M.B.O.U. 
Tlie following" experiences liappened in 1915, 1916, and 
1917. 
This fine Touraco inlial)its the forests of West Africa. 
It is an arl)oreal l)ir(l, whose size is that of a magpie. I will 
not enter into details of description, wild-life, etc., as I do not 
possess any new information. 
For its form the ilhistration will suffice, its colouration 
being sketchily as follows : Head, neck, breast, and uppei 
abdomen green: back, wing, tail, sides, fianks and ventral 
region steely purple ; flights carmine; two pure white streaks 
adorn each side of the face, and an erectile crest on the top of 
the head; bare skin round eyes red. 
I wish simply to state here observations which I, as well 
as my mother, have been able to make on this magnificent 
bird in captivity. 
It was in the spring of 1914 that my colleague, Robert 
Pauwells, kindly gave me a pair of these birds, which he had 
kept after the dispersal of his superb collection of Everberge 
(Belgium). They were brought to me at V'illers-Bretonneaux, 
in the month of May. 
These birds had lived for several years in Belgium, where 
they had never laid eggs. 
I installed them in an open-air aviary, length 12 metres 
breadth 4 metres, planted with shrubs, and having walls on the 
north, east and west fronts; in the centre of the north wall a 
