362 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



of this family of enormous bill, laj^s its eggs in tlic hollow trees. They are social, hut 

 not gregarious. You luaj' sometimes see eight or ten in company, but you will find it 

 has onh^ beeu a dinner party, wliich breaks up and disperses towards roosting time." 



" The bill of the toueau," says Mr. Jesse, "is out of all proportion to the size of the 

 body of the bird. In fact, it appears an enormous excrescence, equally uuwiekh' and 

 useless. This, however, is not the case. In endeavouring to ascertain the utility of the 

 long beak of the toucan, we must refer to its food, the means of procuring it, the enemies 

 it has to encounter, and the peculiar habits of the various animals of the country in which 

 it is found. The toucan, like the v.'oodpecker, deposits its eggs in the holes of trees. 

 The bird itself, as well as its eggs, would become the prey of the numerous monkeys 

 which inhabit the country if it had not so large a bill to defend itself. Tlie toucan feeds 

 much on the eggs of other birds. Hy means of its long bill, it is enabled to seai'ch for 

 and reach them in the holes of trees, and also in the pendant nests of tropical birds. 

 Tliese nests are suspended from the extremity of branches of trees, as a security against 

 monkeys, and ha-se a hole in the side, into A\'hich the toucan is enabled to thrust its long- 

 bill. It is evident that this powei'ful bill is not required to break the food, since the 

 bird seizes fruit or eggs at the extremity of it, and, bj' throwing back the head, deposits 

 the food in its throat at once. We thus see, that what at first appears a deformity, is, 

 on the contrarj^, a kind and useful provision of nature to enable the bird both to feed and 

 defend itself." Other naturalists have been led to differ from llr. Jesse, as to the food 

 of these remarkable birds. • . . 



Mr. Swainson, who had seen them in their native forests, informed Mr. liroderip that 

 he had frequently observed them perched on the tops of lofty trees, where they remained 

 as if watching. This circumstance, joined to others connected with the remains of food 

 found in the stomachs of such as were dissected, led to the suspicion that these birds were 

 parti}' carnivorous, feeding on eggs and young bii'ds, as well as fruits and berries ; and 

 that while perched upon these high trees, the toucans were, in fact, busily employed in 

 watching the departure of the parent birds from the nest. Mr. Swainson could never 

 catch the toucans in the fact, nor did an3^thiug apjDear in his dissections to determine 

 with certainty on what they fed. Mr. Such informed JMr. Broderip that he had seen 

 these birds in Brazil feed on the toucan-berry, that he had frequently observed them in 

 quarrels with the monkej's, and that he was certain that the toucans fed on eggs and 

 nestlings. 



In the year 1824, a living toucan was exhibited in St. Slartin's-lanc, Ijondon. Jlr. 

 Vigors stated at a Zoological Club, that the bird had been fed on a vegetable diet ; but 

 that the pi'oprietor had told him, that on the occasion of a J'oung canary-bird having 

 escaped and gone near the toucan, the latter instantly seized and devoured the canary 

 bird. 



Mr. Broderip determined to bring the matter to the test on a A'isit to this bird, wliicli 

 was, apparently, in the highest state, of health. A goldfinch, introduced into tlie toucan's 

 cage, was seized and compressed so suddenly, that the poor little songster had only time 

 to utter a short squeak before it was dead, with its bowels protruding. The toucan then 

 hopped with it to another jjerch, and began to strip ofi' its feathers. AMieu it was nearly 

 naked, it broke the bones of the wings and legs, taking them in its bill, and giving tlieni 

 a strong lateral wrench. Having reduced the little Aictini to a shapeless mass, it first 

 swallowed the viscera, and then the remaining parts, piece after piece, not even rejecting 

 the legs and bill. Mr. Broderip adds that ho has sometimes observed it return its food 

 from its. crop, and swallow it again after a second mastication. " The food on whicli I 

 observed him so employed," he says, "was a jtiece of beef, which had evidently been 

 macerated for some time in the crop. While masticating it, he nuide the same hollow 

 clattering noise as he made over tlio remains of the goldfinch. Previous to this operation, 



