Alfred Newton

“ To take first the Plantain-eaters proper, or the genus Musophaga, of which only two species are known. One, about the size of a crow, is comparatively common in museums, and has the horny base of its yellow bill prolonged backwards over the forehead in a kind of shield. The top of the head and the primaries, except their outer edge and tip, are deep crimson; a white streak extends behind the eye ”

“ They seem to be all fruit-eaters, and to frequent the highest trees, seldom coming to the ground. Very little can be confidently asserted as to their nidification, but at least one species of Schizorrhis is said to make a rough nest and therein lay three eggs of a pale blue colour. An extraordinary peculiarity attends the crimson coloration which adorns the primaries of so many of the Musoghagidae. ”

“ In 1788 Isert described and figured (Beobacht. Gesellsch. naturf. Freunde, iii. 16–20, pl. 1) a bird, also from Guinea, which he called Musophaga violacea. Its affinity to the original Touracou was soon recognized, and both forms have been joined by modern systematists in the family Musophagidae, commonly Englished Plantain-eaters or Touracous. ”