TOUCANS. 



II.- 



in that year Miss Hagenbeck exhibited it at an exhibi- 

 tion of the ".Eginitha" Society at Berlin. 



Sun'HUR -VMD White Breasted Toucan 



(Ehamphastos v'Uellinus). 



Bla.Cik ; upper tail-coverts scai-le.t ; throat and sides of 

 nec-k white ; fore-neck yellow ; a broad pectoral band 

 and tihe under tiail-coverts scarlet ; bill black, with a 

 pa!e blue basal band on under mandible, tomiura white; 

 naked orbital pat'ch blue. Female smaller than male, 

 and with a considerably shorter bill. Hab., ''Trinidad, 

 Venezuela, Guiana, and Lower Amazonia." (Sclater). 



I have found no notes respecting the wild life of this 

 bird. Ifc was purchased by the London Zoological 

 Sooiety in 1872, and seems not to have reached any other 

 public garden-s. 



Gbken-billed Toucax (Ithamphastos dicolonts). 



Black; upper tail-covert« scarlet ; cheelvs, throat, and 

 breast pale brimstone-yellon- with a central orange 

 patch ; upjXT half of abdomen and under tad-coverts 

 scarlet ; bill pale green with a black basal band, toniium 

 bright red ; feet dark leaden grey with black claws ; 

 eyelids blue ; irides gi-ey-blue with green reflections ; 

 naked orbital patch vermilion. Female apparently with 

 longer and somewhat narrower bill than the male, the 

 .^exual differences being reversed in thie species. Hab., 

 ■■ S.E. Brazil and Paraguay." (Sclater.) 



Burmeister says (" Systemattsche TJebersicht," Vol. 

 II., p. 205) : "This Toucan is the commonest epecies in 

 the regions of the interior which I have visited. I re- 

 ceived it in Minas Geraes at all places where I stayed 

 for a moderate time ; one also hears its rattling voice 

 continuously in tilie woods, and not infrequently has the 

 <:pportunity of seeing the bird at roost in the distance, 

 its varied plumage making it easily recognisable. In 

 the neighbourhood of forest it apjjears to be absent, 

 since Prince Wied did not observe it. Its mode of life 

 presents nothing unique ; the trapped young bird which 

 I possessed for a long time prefen-ed to eat cooked pota- 

 toes and roots of manioc, which, however, had to be 

 offered to him. to induce him to accept them ; old birds 

 will neither let themselves be caught nor tamed." 



Tliis well-known Toucan first arrived at our London 

 Gardens in 1876, since when it has been exhibited in 

 many other public gardens, at bird shows, and has been 

 owned by vai-ious aviculturists. 



Cayenne Aracaki {Pterot/Iossus aracari). 

 Above dark, almost metallic, green; rump scarlet; 

 head and nape, throat and neck black ; ear-coverts with. 

 a wash of chestnut; below pale yellow; a scarlet ven- 

 tral band ; flanks and under tail-coverts rufescent 

 .green ; upper mandible yellowish white with a broad 

 black stripe on the ridge and a black basal streak; 

 lower mandible black with a nan-ow white bas^al line ; 

 feet greenish grey ; irides brown; naked orbital region 

 slate-black. Female not differentiated. Hab., " Guiana, 

 Cayenne, Surinam, and Lower Amazonia." (Sclater-.) 



Prince Maximilian of Wied met with it in primeval 

 ■forest, and describes its manner of life as similar to 

 • that of other Toucans; he saw it in numbers roosting 

 .J)n the uppemiost dry branches of forest trees, from 

 Vhich its short two-syllabled note, somewhat like 

 '• Kulik Kulik." sounded. As a rule it lives in paii-s, 

 but after the breeding season in small flocks, which 

 wander about in search of fruit«. In the cool part of 



the year, when most fruits are ripe, they often leave 

 the woods and approach the coasts and plantations, 

 where many of them are killed on aocotmt of their flesh, 

 which is pleasant tasting and also plump in the cool 

 sca.<on. They fly archwi.'^e and jerkily like the other 

 Toucans, and fl,ap little with their wings ; when at roost, 

 like the European Magpie, they beat up and down with 

 the tail. The nest is found in holes in trees or branches 

 with only two eggs. They pursue and drive off with 

 abuse birds of prey, and especially Owls {cf. Kues, 

 "Die Fremdlandischen Stubenvtigel," Vol. II., np. 650, 

 651). 



Russ says that this species reaches their market ex- 

 tremely rarely; it arrived at the Amsterdam Gardens 

 in 1882, and' ie at present in the Berlin Gardens. 



Maximilian's Aracari ,{Pleroglofsus u-ierm. 



Differs from the preceding in the rmrrow stripe on the 

 culmen and greener thighs. Female rather smaller than 

 male, with smaller bill, the culminal stripe often, but 

 perhaps not always, wider, especially at the base. Hab., 

 "Lower Amazonia and S E. Brazil." (P. L. vSclater.) 



Burmeister says ("Systematische Uebersicht," Vol. 

 II., pp. 207, 208) : "In the whole tract of Brazil which 

 I travelled over this bird is common ; one finds it 

 abundantly in pairs sitting quietly on isolated trees, 

 and from time to time hears its cry — Kulik, Kulik. Its 

 floclcs are not in gi-eat numbers, five to six, rarely more. 

 The bii-d is not very shy, and in its behaviour much re- 

 semWes the Magpie ; like it it beats with its tail and flies 

 in the same jerky manner, with short quick flaps of tlie 

 wing ; it also delights in attacking birds of prey, especi- 

 ally Owls, and abuses them like Jackdaws." 



The I/ondon Zoological Society first secured this bird 

 in 1872. after which others came to hand from time to 

 time. It seems to be merely a local race of P. aracari. 



Banded Aracari (Pteroijlossus lorquafus). 



Above dark green; a naiTOw chestnut collar on the 

 Ijack of neck; rump scarlet; head, throat, and neck 

 black ; below pale yellow ; a black spot on cliest ; breast 

 more or less washed with crimson ; a black abdominal 

 band more or less varied with crimson ; thighs chestnut ; 

 bill black, with the upper mandible pale yellow, except- 

 ing on culmen and towards tip, a nai-row white basal 

 line ; irides yellow ; naked orbital region, blue-green iu 

 front, red behind. Female slightly smaller, with a con- 

 siderably shorter bill having the tip less curved, the 

 culminal stripe sometimes naiTower than in the male. 

 Hab., "Southern Mexico and Central America down to 

 Panama; also Northern Columbia and Venezuela." 

 (P. L. Sclater.) 



Mr. C. F. Underwood {The Ihis. 1896, p. 445) savs 

 that this bird is not so common on the Volcano of Mira- 

 valles as lower down, and tliis is all I have been able 

 to discover respecting the bird in a state of freedom. 

 The birds of Tropical America generally have been 

 greatly neglected' so far as their life-histoay is concerned, 

 and I cannot but think that this is to a great extent 

 the fault of those who have made a special study of 

 Xeotropieal birds; they have not cared to know anv- 

 thing about the habits of the creatures brought home, 

 but have devoted all their efforts to securing large sei-ies 

 of skins of numerous species ; necrology (not biologj-) is 

 their delight. To me life has always been more impor- 

 tant than raiment, and to loioiv something of the habits 

 of an animal far more insti-uctive than to give it a name 

 and put it into its supposed proper rlace in a list of 



