PLAIsTAI^^ EATEES. 
185 
the greater wiiig-coyerts margined with pinkish-Ayhite. 
The plumage of the female is much duller, and the 
chest has only a faiut tinge of the roseate hue. 
The next group of 
conirostral birds con- 
sists of the Plantain- 
eviteY^{Musopliagince) . 
In this family Mr. 
S\Yainson includes the 
Plant-cutters (P//y- 
iotomince^, the Colies 
(^Colince), and the Plantain-eaters (^JMtisophcigince) .. 
"With the exception of hut one genus, that naturalist 
observes, they all possess a short but very strong and 
thick bill, more or less curved at the top ; the cutting 
margins being minutely serrated like the teeth of a 
saw ; by this structure the Chilian JPlujtotoma, as we 
are informed by Mollini, cuts off the plants upoii 
which it feeds, close to the ground as if it had been 
done by a saw. 
The food of this remarkable division of birds seems 
to be purely vegetable, and of the most tender aud 
delicate description : the Violet Plantain-eater {Muso- 
pharjd) is stated by M. Isert, its first discoverer, to 
live principally on the fruit of the Musa, or plantain- 
tree ; while the Touracco birds, according to M. Le 
Vaillant, feed only upon soft fruits. 
In the feet of these birds we observe considerable di- 
versity of form. In the genus Colins all the four toes 
are directed forwards ; in the Touracco birds, the outer 
toe is capable of an outward direction, but with a 
more lateral or inward grasp than the inner one. In 
