Musopiiagid^. BIRDS. The Green Touuaco. 
3(J9 
THE ANGOLA WHYDAH-BIRD ( Vidua paradisea).— 
Several species of Fiiiclies, inhabitants of Africa, and 
nearly allied to the Weaver-birds, are remarkable for the 
great development of some feathers of the tail-coverts in 
the males during the breeding season. In the male of 
the Angola Whydah-bird, which is about the size of the 
Canary, the tail exhibits two feathers nearly a foot in 
length, drooping at the extremity like those of the 
domestic cock, and two others, which are considerably 
shorter, but furnished with very broad webs; these 
form a singularly elegant appendage. After the breed- 
ing season is over, these ornamental plumes are shed, 
and the two sexes are then very similar in appearance. 
The Angola Whydah-bird is black, with the breast 
and belly orange-red. It is an inhabitant of Western 
Africa, and was originally brought to Europe from the 
kingdom of Whydah, whence the name Whydah-bird 
is commonly applied to it and its allies. This name 
has been corrupted into Widow-bird, and the French 
also call the birds of this genus Veuves, or Widows. 
The Latin generic name Vidua has the same significa- 
tion. Other species inhabit different parts of Africa, 
living in considerable troops, usually in marshy places, 
where they build their nests close together in tufts of 
reeds and rushes. 
Family V.— MUSOPHAGIDiE. 
We have now only two other families of Passerine 
birds to illustrate, and these include comparatively few 
species. In both the characters seem to lea^l us to- 
wards the more typical forms of the following order, 
namely, the Parrots and Toucans. 
The birds of the present family are all natives of 
Africa. They have a bill of moderate length, but of 
considerable thickness, broad at the base, compressed 
at the sides, and strongly arched along the ridge of the 
upper mandible, which has its edges notched near the 
tip ; their tarsi are stout, scaled in front, and terminated 
by long and powerful toes, of which the outer one is 
versatile, a character which has induced many writers 
to place these birds amongst the Scansores. 
THE VIOLET PLANTAIN-EATER {MusopTiaga vio- 
lacea), the type of this family, is a large and hand- 
some bird, about twenty inches in length, which in- 
habits the Guinea coast. It has a large bill, of which 
the base extends far up on the forehead ; the nostrils 
are simple oval apertures placed on the sides of the 
upper mandible, considerably nearer to its apex than to 
its base ; the tip of the upper mandible is much curved 
downwards, or somewhat hooked, and its margins are 
not only strongly toothed near the apex, but denticu- 
lated for a considerable distance from the point. The 
general colour of the plumage is a deep violet, tinged 
with blue on the ujiper parts, and dark-green on the 
breast and belly. From beneath each eye a curved 
white streak runs .towards the back of the head, and 
the feathers of the latter part are short and of a deep 
crimson colour. The primaries are of a violet-crimson 
colour, and the large bill is orange-yellow at the base, 
gradually deepening in tint until it becomes red. This 
beautiful bird frequents the banks of the rivers of 
Western Africa, and feeds upon the fruits of the ])lan- 
VoL.. L ^ y 
tain and banana, whence the names of Plantain-eater 
and Musophaga applied to it. 
THE GREEN TOURACO [Curythaix persa) .— 'nia 
Touracos are readily distinguished from the preceding 
form, to which, however, they are closely allied, by the 
smaller size of the bill, which does not advance upon 
the forehead; by the position of the nostrils at the 
base of the bill ; and by the presence of a large and 
handsome crest upon the top of the head. The present 
species is of a grass-green colour, with the tips of the 
crest-feathers red ; beneath each eye is a white streak ; 
the wing-coverts are steel-blue, the quill-feathers 
bright red, margined with black, and the tail-feathers 
steel-blue. This, according to Messieurs Verreaux, 
is the bird described by Linnaeus under the name 
of Cuculus persa. Our figure represents the follow- 
ing species, which is found, with the present one, in 
Southern Africa. 
THE LOURI TOURACO {Corythaix albocrisiaius ) — 
Plate 12, fig. 41 {C. persa ) — exhibits the same general 
arrangement of colours as the preceding species, but 
has the tips of the crest-feathers white instead of red, 
and the eye surrounded with white. This bird, which 
inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, has little fear of man, 
and indeed allows itself to be impelled, by its curiosity, 
to approach any human intruders on its domain, and 
follow them from tree to tree, uttering what Le Vaiilant 
regards as a ciy of pleasure, resembling the syllable 
cor, with the r greatly prolonged. Its call-note is like 
the word coruw, uttered eight or ten times in succession ; 
and it has also a cry of fear, compared by Le Vaiilant 
to the rapid sounds of a trumpet. The food of this 
bird, and of the allied species, consists exclusively of 
fruits, which it swallows whole when small enough. 
Its nesting-place is the hole of some large tree, in 
which the female deposits four bluish eggs. The male 
and female sit alternately, and both sexes bestow much 
care upon the young, which accompany their parents 
for some time after leaving the nest. 
THE GIANT TOURACO {Schizorhis gigantea). — In this 
bird the bill is large, and much hooked at the tip, the 
margins of the upper mandible are undulated towards 
the apex, and the nostrils are placed at a short distance 
from the base of the bill, near the ridge of the upper 
mandible. The head is furnished with a crest of long 
feathers, which hang down at the back of the neck in 
repose. The plumage of the upper parts is brilliant 
blue ; the crest is black, with a blue lustre ; the breast 
is bright green, and the rest of the lower surface cin- 
namon-brown. The bill is orange colour. This hird, 
which measures about two feet in total length, is a 
native of the tropical parts of W estern Africa, where 
it feeds, like the Musophaga, upon plantains and 
bananas. Several other species are met with in the 
same regions. 
THE CAPE COLY (Colius capensis). — Several species 
of small crested birds, forming the genus Colius, are 
placed in this family by Mr. G. R. Gray ; by others 
they have been arranged with the Fringillidae. They 
have the hinder toe somewhat versatile, so that ail 
four toes may be directed forwards, and the margins ol 
tlie upper mandible are smooth. They are found at 
the Cape of Good Hope, and throughout Eastern Africa 
