Some Tonrans. 4.3 



" One lias always read in books that Toucans cat the eggs and 

 " young of other birds. Although it may be true, I never personally 

 ■ saw anything to confirm this. On the coirrary there was a tree just 

 " b.' our hut. at Xanegal. to which the ToU' ans constantly resorted, and 

 "the small birds ne\-cr seemc 1 in the least alarmed at their presence 

 "among them. On the Xaoo I once saw, a flock of Toucans in a. tree, 

 " from every branch of which were hanging the nests of the Cassiciis 

 " pt-rxinis , the latter birds passed to an;l from their nests without 

 " taking any apjiarent notice of the Toucans ; and I never saw a nest 

 " of any of the Ictciidac but which was tar too long for a Toucan's 

 "bill to reach the eggs. I am aware in captivity these birds, as a rule 

 " evince a decided preference for mea% and I have knowit them to kill 

 " and eac a small bird, but it might be an unnatural taste caused by 

 " ixrfinement. My old .Sulphur-breasted Toucan was never a sinner m 

 " this way. His aviary was divided oft from the aviary of the smaller 

 ' fruit-eating birds b\ wire netting; they were constantly clinging to the 

 " wire and, had he been so minded, nothing could have been easier than 

 " for him to have pulled tliem through, but far from doing that, he 

 " used to pick out all the choicest morsels from his food pan, and 

 '' feed them thrcmgh the meshes. I am certain that one Bulbul relied 

 " solely on him for all it ate, and I never saw it feed fromi the pan 

 " itself. Often still smaller birds got into the aviary with the Toucan, 

 "ami whenever they did so he would offer them food." 



The above fascinating account forms a -fitting tintroduc- 

 tion to our notes of these interesting birds. My latest Toucan 

 was a Lesser Sulphur-breasted (a pair of this species nested 

 in their flight, in the Small Birds' House at the London Zoo 

 and fed a squab for a fortnight or longer, but did not fully rear 

 it), it lived with me for several years at Mitcham, and at the 

 present time is on deposit at the Zoo, pending the completion 

 of my aviary accommodation. I found it a most amusing and 

 interesting bird, it was nicknamed the Parson, from its food 

 table resembling a reading desk, and its habit of perching 

 thereupon and sending forth its harsh braying, trumpeting 

 sort of call. 



1 cannot give it so good a character as Mr. Good- 

 fellow does his bird, for in the next flight separated from the 

 Toucan by half-inch mesh netting, were a flock of Redpolls; 

 my Toucan damaged their toes considerably, and one or two 

 which found their way, "W/7 mice burrows, into the Toucan's 

 flight paid for their temerity with their lives, as also did many 



