Red- billed Toucan. 259 



Toucans are interesting and quaint birds, and their 

 general habits, characteristics, etc.. are as quaint as their 

 appearance, wliich is as droll when they are in restful slumber 

 as when actively disporting about their flight. As will be readily 

 imagined they make most interesting pets, but need a roomy 

 cage, whch nmst l)e frequeiUly cleansed, as they are large eater;> 

 of soft-food, fruit, etc. They well repay any trouble their care 

 involves, as they become very tame and familiar when kept 

 as pets. 



Tood. They are almost omnivorous, and very little 

 comes amiss to them. I found them to thrive on a mixture of 

 boiled rice, minced fruit and a little finely minced raw beef, well 

 kneaded together with the hand. 1 varied this with a mixture 

 of scalded biscuit meal, boiled i)otatoes and carrots, minced 

 fruit and raw beef, well kneading the whole together. The\' 

 are very fond of small fruit, such as cherries, damsons, plums 

 and the like, which they toss about to each other as if having 

 a game at ball, before swallowing same. The stones are 

 ejected. Any mouse or small l)ird they get hold of is eaten 

 with gusto. 



An ■' old pal " of mine. Parson, a Lesser Stilphur-breasted 

 Toucan, which died at the Zoo during the war, was a most 

 amusing bird — he tolerated any sort of familiarity save being 

 handled, and this he certainly did not appreciate, resenting same 

 by giving a playful nip with the point of his huge bill, and as 

 Toucans only lay hold of a \'ery small jiortion when so resenting 

 sucli familiarity, a small blood-ljlister was usually the result. 

 However, he never attempted to bite under any other conditions,, 

 and he was much missed when the dismantling of my Mitcham 

 aviaries in the autunm of 1916 compelled me to send him to 

 the Zoo. 



He received the cognomen " Parson " owing to his 

 food tab'e resembling a reading desk, and his habit of standing 

 thereupon and braying forth, with many grotesque gestures, 

 his unnmsical sotig (?). 



So much did he interest me that I am hoping, in the near 

 future, to have a pair in a small outdoor flight and give them an 

 oi)portun'ty to breed if they will. They should be housetl 



