628 ME. A. H. CHTJECH ON TUEAC1N, AN ANIMAL PIGMENT CONTAINING COPPEE. 
nearly white in the water left for them to drink !” In a subsequent letter Dr. Hinde 
gives some details concerning the different species of Plantain-eaters, and says, with 
reference to the feathers he had previously sent to England, “ all the feathers sent were 
from the same bird and grew in this house.” This fact negatives any idea of an artificial 
dye being present in the feathers, and is further referred to in the following memoranda 
by Mr. Hugh Owen: — “A pair of violet Plantain-eaters from the Gambia were sent 
over to a friend in Ireland by Dr. Hinde. The birds arrived in excellent condition, and 
were speedily provided with ample space and all appliances for cleanliness. For a while 
this splendid plumage, the deep crimson patch on the dark violet of the wing, Excited con- 
tinual admiration. After a day or two the crimson faded ; in a few more the colour 
changed to a pale and dirty grey. The disappointed owner wrote an account of this 
change to Bathurst, concluding, of course, that the natives had imposed on Dr. Hinde 
by selling him a pair of painted birds: this, however, was impossible; there was no 
mistaking the peculiar and shield-shaped bill or the legs of the Musophaga. Whatever 
change had taken place, the birds were genuine Touracous. Without delay another 
bird was procured, so young as to be only partly fledged, the wings only in the pin- 
feathers. As soon as these were sufficiently grown, the experiment was repeated, and 
the colour found to be inconstant and capable of extraction.” The data already given, 
and many others with which I have been subsequently furnished, incontestably prove the 
normal presence, in some of the feathers of the Plantain-eater, of a red pigment soluble 
in water, and still more readily dissolved by soap. I may now give my own results as 
to the preparation and physical and chemical properties of this new red animal pigment. 
Occurrence of Turacin. — The birds from which I have extracted this colouring- 
matter generally go under the designation of Plantain-eaters, from their favourite food. 
It would appear that the native name for them is represented by the word Touraco ; 
while the Dutch speak of one of the species as the Cape Lowry. These birds are entirely 
African. They belong to the Order Scansores and the Family Musophagidse ; they are 
closely related to the Cuculidas or Cuckoos. There are three genera of Touracos — Mu- 
sophaga, Corythaix , and Schizorhis — altogether including eighteen species. The red pig- 
ment occurs in twelve only of these birds, namely, in both the known species of Muso- 
phaga and in ten out of the eleven species of Corythaix. The eleventh species of Cory- 
thaix , in which it does not occur, is the Giant Touracou, which diverges in many other 
particulars from its brethren. The following is a list of the species from which I have 
actually obtained the pigment ; in the others, named above, I have merely recognized 
its presence by optical means : — 
Musophaga violacea. 
Corythaix ( Turacus ) porphyreolopha. 
erythrolopha. 
albocristata. 
The plumage of these birds does not present any great general brilliancy. The red 
pigment occurs in the primary and secondary pinion-feathers, from twelve to fifteen of 
