Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/175

162 imports, is a native of West Africa. The general hue of its plumage is pearl-grey, with greenish reflections; the forehead is yellow, and the abdomen ruddy: a naked reddish skin surrounds the eye.

This also is a Family of very limited extent, but its members are birds of unusual elegance and richness of plumage. They have a short beak, with the upper mandible high, and much arched in its superior outline, the edges cut into minute saw-like teeth; the lower mandible thin and narrow. The feet are short, and formed for climbing, the outer toe being capable of a partial reversion; it is, however, connected with the middle toe by a short membrane. The tail, as in the last Family, consists of but ten feathers. The nostrils are simply pierced in the horny substance of the beak. The plumage is, for the most part, adorned with brilliant colours, and the head is generally clothed with a long and elegant crest. The Plantain-eaters have been, by some ornithologists, supposed to approach the Gallinaceous birds; but this affinity seems not to be borne out by their anatomical structure. Mr. Yarrell having dissected a Touraco (Corythaix persa) which had died in the menagerie of the Zoological Society, found the general appearance of its internal anatomy inclining rather to the Passerine than to the Gallinaceous type. In their habits they display some affinity to the Toucans among the