362 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XXIX 
A touraco thoroughly deserves the name of “ noisy 
bird ” (Larmvogel) which Germans have given it. 
These birds have short serrated beaks, eat bananas, 
the fruit of papaw trees, insects, worms, and grubs. 
The heads of touracos are decorated with conspicuous 
crests ; many years ago on this account they were 
called ‘‘ crowned birds.” Touracos fly with clumsy 
undulating flight, usually alighting with the crest erect 
and the tail upturned. As they hop about the branches 
of trees the tail is in constant motion, the rectrices 
being expanded and depressed. The crest in some 
touracos is a feathery mop, but the Great Crested 
Touraco has an abundant feathery top-knot. 
Touracos are remarkable for their colouration, which 
is the same in both sexes. Some of them are as 
brilliantly coloured as parrots. In many the flight 
feathers are crimson and yield a peculiar pigment, 
called turacin, which contains copper and may be 
reduced to powder. The colour is so soluble that it is 
washed out of the quill feathers by heavy rains, but it 
is renewed. The green in these birds is due to the 
presence of green pigment in the feather. 
The most remarkable crest among birds belongs to 
the Crowned Crane. This is a very common bird around 
the Victoria Nyanza. The crowned crane is a purely 
African form and is common in South as well as East 
Africa. In winter the crowned crane frequents the 
banks of the White Nile in thousands. The crest of this 
beautiful bird is present in both sexes and differs from 
those of other crested birds in the peculiar character of 
the feathers composing the crown. The quills of the 
feathers are small and thin ; each shaft (or vane) is 
twisted spirally and bears a few hair-like barbs, which, 
owing to the torsion of the shaft, project on all sides of 
the axial line. The shaft is flat so that the twist gives 
the feather the appearance of being banded alternately 
light and dark. The tips of the vanes are dark. At 
Fashoda I had an opportunity of examining two chicks 
