418 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS, 



the bill. On either side of the upper mandible, immediately in front of the blood-red 

 basal band, is a buff-colored plate or lamina, continuous with the structure of the bill 

 at its base, but separate and detached in front, thin on its upper edge, but thicker and 

 projecting beyond the edge of the mandible below. 



We will not tax the patience of the reader further by enumerating the names of 

 the various species, preferring to introduce some notes on their habits by travelers 

 who have watched these beautiful and interesting birds in their native haunts. The 

 following is from Edward's 'Voyage up the Amazon ' : 



" Most noticeable of all these birds, both for size and peculiarity of form, are the 

 toucans. There are many varieties at different seasons, but the red-billed (It. erythro- 

 rhynchus) and the ariel (7?. ariel) are the largest and most abundant, seen at every 

 season, but towards autumn particularly, in vast numbers throughout the forest. 

 Their large beaks give them a very awkward appearance, more especially when fly- 

 ing ; yet, in the trees, they use them with as much apparent ease as though they were, 

 to our eyes, of a more convenient form. Alighted on a tree, one usually acts the part 

 of sentinel, uttering constantly the loud cry tucano, whence they derive their name. 

 The others disperse over the branches in search of fruit. 



" We had been told that these birds were in the habit of tossing up their food to 

 a considerable distance, and catching it as it fell ; but, as far as we could observe, 

 they merely threw back the head, allowing the fruit to fall down the throat. We saw, 

 at different times, tamed toucans, and they were never seen to toss their food, although 

 almost invariably throwing back the head. The habit is rendered necessary by the 

 length of the bill and the stiffness of the tongue, which prevent their eating as do 

 other birds. All the time when feeding a hoarse chattering is kept up, and at inter- 

 vals they unite with the noisy sentry, and scream a concert that may be heard a mile. 

 Having appeased their appetites, they fly towards the deeper forest, and quietly doze 

 away the noon. Often in the very early morning a few of them may be seen sitting 

 silently upon the branches of some dead tree, apparently awaiting the coming sunlight 

 before starting for their feeding-trees. When roosting, they have a habit of elevating 

 their tails over their backs." 



Azara reports that the toco " builds in the holes of trees, and hatches two young 

 ones, closely resembling the adults, which feed them until they are able to fly." 



Toucans are easily kept in captivity, and become very tame, making most interest- 

 ing pets. They are now rather common in the zoological gardens, where their singular 

 aspects and glorious colors are among the greatest attractions. In captivity they are 

 completely omnivorous, and some authorities assert that they are equally so in the 

 wild state, but the bulk of evidence goes to show that in their native forests they feed 

 chiefly on fruit. 



Though usually confounded with the puff-birds by earlier writers, and during the 

 first days of ornithology even united with them in the same genus, the MEGALAIMID^E, 

 or barbets, are only distantly related to them, approaching, in fact, in such a way the 

 toucans and the woodpeckers, that their position in the linear system between these 

 two families seems to be indisputable. The characters separating them from the puff- 

 birds have already been given, and their chief distinctions from the families mentioned 

 are apparent from the table heading the super-family. 



Both in the texture of the feathers and in the arrangement of the feather-tracts, 

 the barbets agree well with the toucans, and, except in the bill, their anatomy is not 

 very different. It may be mentioned especially that also in the barbets the two clavi- 



