976 TOUCAN 



TOUCAN, the Brazilian name of a bird,^ long .since adopted 

 into nearly all European languages, and apparently first given 

 currency in England (though not then used as an English word) in 

 1668^ by Charleton {Onomast. p. 115); but the bird, with its 

 enormous beak and feather-like tongue, was described by Oviedo 

 in his Sumario de la Natural Historia de las Indias, first published at 

 Toledo in 1527 {chap. 42),^ and indeed so remarkable a bird must 

 have attracted the notice of the earliest European invaders of 

 America, the more so since its gaudy plumage was used by the 

 natives in the decoration of their persons and weapons. In 1555 

 Belon {Hist. Nat. Oys. p. 184) gave a characteristic figure of its 

 beak, and in 1558 Thevet (Singidariiez de la France Antardique, pp. 

 88-90) a somewhat long description, together with a Avoodcut (in 

 some respects inaccurate, but quite unmistakable) of the whole 

 bird, under the name of "Toucan," which he was the first to 

 publish. In 1560 Gesner (Icones Avium, p. 130) gave a far better 

 figure (though still somewhat incorrect) from a drawing received 

 from Ferrerius, and suggested that from the size of its beak the 

 bird should be called Barhynchus or Ramphestes. This figure, with 

 a copy of Thevet's and a detailed description, was repeated in the 

 posthumous edition (1585) of his larger work (pp. 800, 801). By 

 1579 Ambroise Pare (GEuvres, ed. Malgaigne, iii. p. 783) had 

 dissected a Toucan that belonged to Charles IX. of France, and 

 about the same time L6ry {Foy. Bresil, chap, xi.), whose chief object 

 seems to have been to confute Thevet, confirmed that writer's 

 account of this bird in most respects. In 1599 Aldrovandus (Orn. 

 i, i^p. 801-803), always ready to profit by Gesner's information, 

 and generally without acknowledgment, again described and re- 

 peated the former figures of the bird ; but he corrupted his pre- 

 decessor's Ramphestes (which was nearly right) into Ramphastos, and 

 in this incorrect form the name, which should certainly he Rhamphestes 

 or Rhamphastas, was subsequently adopted by Linnaeus and has since 

 been recognized by systematists. Into the rest of the early history 



1 Commonly believed to be so called from its cry ; but Prof. Skeat {P)-oc. 

 Philolog. Soc. 15tli May 1885) adduces evidence to prove that the Guarani Tucd 

 is from ti, nose, and cd7ig, bone, i.e. nose of bone. 



^ In 1656 the beak of an " Aracari of Brazil," which was a Toucan of some 

 sort, was contained in the 3fusaium Tradescantianum (p. 2), but the word 

 Toucan does not appear there. 



^ I have only been able to consult the reprint of this rare work contained in 

 the Bihlioteca de Autores Espai'ioles (xxii. pp. 473-515), published at Madrid in 

 1852. To quote the translation of part of the passage in Willughby's Ornithology 

 (p. 129), "there is no bird secures her young oiies better from th.e, Monkeys, 

 which are vei-y noisom to the Young of most Birds. For when she perceives the 

 approach of those Enemies, she so settles her self in her Nest as to put her Bill 

 out at the hole, and gives the Monkeys such a welcom therewith, that they 

 presently pack away, and glad they scape so." 



