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Phytotoma, the four toes are arranged apparently like those of the Finches. One genus, Hyreus, possesses only three toes on each foot-two before and one behind. These various modifications of structure in the foot are adapted to different localities, plants, or shrubs, where their food is to be obtained, and where a peculiar grasping power is required.

Nearly all the species of this sub-family are natives of Africa, inhabiting chiefly close and rich woods or thickets by the banks of rivers, and nestling in the holes of decayed trees. Their habits are but imperfectly understood, their range being limited to the intertropical regions of that extensive and littleknown continent.

The Phytotoma, Plant-cutters, bear considerable resemblance to the Bullfinches, both in size and in their entire aspect; and from them we pass to the Colies (Colina), which have all the four toes capable of being directed forwards. All the known species are African birds, dwelling chiefly in bushes and thickets. They seldom venture out of the shade of the trees, being bad flyers, but they run along the branches with considerable dexterity. They are said to feed upon buds and fruit, and are attacked, therefore, with great hostility by cultivators. They live in societies, building their nests close to each other in the centre of some bush, as a security, it is supposed, from birds of prey.

No less attractive for their liveliness of colour, than the graceful agility of their motions, the Touracco birds are perhaps the most elegant of the Musophagine. The crest which ornaments their head and the nape of

the neck, and which is capable of being erected at pleasure, adds considerably to their attractive appearance. Le Vaillant, with natural enthusiasm, extols these birds, the Senegal Touracco (Corythaix Senegalensis), in a state of nature, as replete with charms in all their movements and attitudes-uniting the greatest agility with perfect elegance. The colours of this species are described by Mr. Swainson as "glossy purple; head, neck, breast, and crest, green; orbits naked, red; a snowy white stripe before and partly above the eye, with a black one beneath." The bill is crimson, and the legs black. The mature bird is about seventeen inches in length.

The Violet Plantain-eater (Musophaga violacea) is exceeded perhaps by no other bird in the richness, depth, and beauty of its colouring. Other birds, says Mr. Swainson, are pretty, handsome, splendid, gorgeous, beautiful; but the colouring of this is regal. The shining black purple of the general plumage contrasts in exquisite harmony with the deep lilaccrimson of its wings, the peculiar tint of which is certainly unequalled in any other known bird. The beak, although remarkably large, does not seem at all disproportionate: for it is neither fantastically formed, like the Hornbills; nor monstrously large, as those of the Toucans; while the rich yellow, passing into crimson, with which it is decorated, gives a relief to the dark colour of the plumage, and must add considerably to the beauty of the living bird.

The colouring of this species is thus described: The outer half of the upper and the whole of the under mandible are of a bright crimson, blending into

a fine deep yellow on the frontal or thickest part; the orbits are entirely naked, and, with the compact velvet-like feathers of the crown, are of a glossy crimson; the ears are bordered above by a pure white stripe; the whole of the secondary and part of the primary quills are of the richest carmine glossed with lilac, more or less margined and tipped with the blackish violet which spreads over all the rest of the plumage; this violet gloss, however, becomes very dark green on the under parts, and is particularly rich on the tail. The legs are strong and black.* The base of the upper mandible is very much dilated, and spreads, like a casque or helmet, over the fore part of the head as far as the crown, where its thickened sides form a semicircle. The gape is very wide, and extends beneath the eyes. Nostrils, oval, naked, pierced through the substance of the bill, and nearer to the tip than to the eyes. The total length of the bird is about twenty inches.

In the family Buceride, or Hornbills, there is only one genus, that of Buceros. These birds are characterized by a bill of enormous size, the upper mandible

*Birds of Western Africa.

being generally furnished with a protuberance or knob at its base, of various shapes. In some of the species this singular appendage to the upper mandible is almost as large as the bill itself. Its use has not been ascertained. The whole of the bill, large and formidable as it appears, is weak and brittle, being cellular and light in substance. The tomia are naturally jagged, and they are often chipped into notches in the using. Their food consists of small animals, reptiles, and vegetables; sometimes carrion. The prey is swallowed whole; but previous to its transmission to the stomach, it is ground or crushed between the jagged tomia. They are said to eat voraciously, and to cast up their food into the air, catching it in its descent. They are omnivorous

birds, and resemble in some respects the crows; but they are not endowed with the faculty of either perching or walking as those birds, and their feet are very different. The legs of the Hornbill are short, the tarsus being no longer than the middle toe. All the fore-toes are united at the base, and the outer is joined to the middle toe as far as the first joint. The hinder toe is the shortest, and the lateral ones unequal in size claws short and thick. The whole limb is robust and muscular. It is neither a perching foot nor a walking foot, but simply a foot by means of which the bird can stand firmly, either on the ground or a branch. It is a gressorial foot, as it is technically called, and of the same nature as that of the King'fisher, Bee-eater, and Tody. In these latter birds, whose feet are very small and weak, the deficiency or inferiority of form in the foot is counterbalanced by

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an unusual development of power in the wing; in the Hornbills, by their superior robustness and muscular conformation of their frame.

M. Lesson sums up the habits of the Hornbills in these words:- "Those of Africa live on carrion; those of the East Indies seek for fruits, especially nutmegs, and their flesh thence acquires a delicious flavour. Their flight is performed by repeated strokes of the wings; and the air which they displace, joined to the clattering of their mandibles, occasions a great and very disquieting noise in the forests, when the cause is unknown. This noise, capable of inspiring terror, does not ill resemble those flaws of rough and sudden winds (grains de vent brusques et subits') which arise so unexpectedly between the tropics, and blow so violently. The Europeans established at the Moluccas think that the furrows which are seen on the bill of the Hornbills are the result of age, and that each furrow signifies a year; whence the name of Jerarvogel, which they give to these birds." Mr. Swainson observes that Hornbills are gregarious noisy birds, generally of a very large size, and are restricted to the Old World; that they are omnivorous, feeding both on animals and vegetables; that some, however, seem only to partake of the latter food; while others, upon the authority of Le Vaillant, feed upon carrion. The Buceros cavatus, dissected by Mr. Owen, was observed to be more attached to animal than to vegetable food, and would quit any other substance if a dead mouse were offered to it. This it would swallow entire, after squeezing it twice or thrice with the bill; and no castings were noticed. Mr. Owen states, however,

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