338 AVES. 



but little extent^ their tail is tolerably long. They build in the hol- 

 lows of trees. 



The Toucans, properly so called, 



Have a beak larger than their headj they are generally black, with 

 lively colours on the throat, breast, and rump. These parts of their 

 plumage were employed, formerly, in a kind of embroidery.(l) 



Pteroglossus, Illig. Aracari, Buff. 



The beak not so thick as the head, and invested with a more 

 solid horn; their size is less, and the ground of their plumage green 

 with some red or yellow on the throat and breast. (2) 



PsiTTAcus, Lin. 



The Parrots have a stout, hard, solid beak, rounded on all sides 

 and enveloped at base by a membrane in which the nostrils are 

 pierced, and a thick fleshy and rounded tongue; two circumstances 

 which give them the greatest facility in imitating the human voice. 

 Their inferior larynx, which is complicated and furnished on each 

 side with its three muscles, also contributes to this facility. Their 

 vigorous jaws are set in motion by a greater number of muscles than 

 is. found in other birds. Their intestines are very long, and they 

 have no csecum. They feed on all sorts of fruit, climb among the 

 branches of trees by the aid of their beak and claws, and build in 

 hollow trees. Their voice is naturally harsh and disagreeable, and 

 they are almost universally ornamented with the brightest colours, 

 hardly any of them being found beyond the torrid zone. They exist 

 however in both continents, the species of course differing in each. 

 Every large island even has its peculiar species, the short wings of 

 these birds not allowing them to cross any great extent of water. 

 The Parrots, consequently, are very numerous: they are subdivided 

 by the forms of their tails and some other characters, 



(1) Ramphastos toco, Enl. 82, Vaill.2; carinatus, Wagler, Edw. 329; tucanus, 

 Enl. 307; piscivorus, L,. or Callorhynchus, Wagler, Edw., 64; mari'mus, Nob., 

 Vaill. Tone. pi. vi; pedoralis, Sh. or Tucai, Lich. Enl. 269; Mdrovandi, Sh., 

 Alb., II, 25;erythrorhynchos, Sh., Enl. 262, Vaill. 3;Valiantii, Wagler, Vaill. 

 4; Tocard, Id. Vaill. 9; vitellinus. Id. Vaill. 17, Swains. Zool. 111. 56; dicolorus, 

 Wagler, or chlororhynchosy Temm. Vaill. 8. 



(2) Ramph. viridis, Enl. 727, 728, Vaill. 16, 17 , aracari, Enl. 166, Vaill. 10, 

 11, Vieill. Galer. 30;p{perivorus, L. or Culik, Wagler, Enl. 577, 729, Vaill. 13- 

 and 14; Pterogl. sulcatus, Swains. Zool. 111. 44, Col. 356;p{caius, Albin. II, 

 25; Azzarse, Vaill. Suppl. A; inscriptus, Swains. Zool. 111. 90; bailloni, Ya.i\L 

 18; macalirostris, Vaill- 15, and Suppl. AA. 



