^6 A VOYAGE TO Book L 



nothing remarkable excel in the úvcefnefs of ihcir 

 notes. This is particularly evident in the guacamayo, 

 the beauty and 1 u ft re of w bofe colours are abfolutely 

 iniaiitable by painting ; and yet there is not a more 

 ihrill and difagrccabie found than the noile it makes : 

 this is in a great meaiurc common to all other birds, 

 whofe bills are hard and crooked, and their tongue 

 thicker than ufual, as the parrots, the cotorras, and 

 the periquitos. All thet'e birds fly in troops, fo that 

 the air often founds with their cries. 



But of all the ñngularities among the feathered 

 race, nothing is more remarkable than the bill of the 

 tulcan. or preacher I'his bird is about the lize of a 

 common pigeon, but its legs much larger ; its tail is 

 ihort, and it» plumage of a dark colour, but fpotted 

 with blue, purple, yellow, and other colours ; which 

 have a beautiful eftect on the dark ^I'ound, Its head 

 is beyond all proportion to its body, but otherwife he 

 would not be able to fupport his bill, which, from the 

 root to the point, is at leaft lix or eight inches, and the 

 upper mandible has, at its root, a bafe of at leaft an 

 inch and a half, of a triangular iigure, whofe apex is 

 at the point of the bill. The two lateral fuperficies 

 form a kind of elevation on the upper part; and the 

 third receives the lower mandible, which clofes wiih 

 the upper through the whole length ; to that the two 

 parts arc every where perfeilly equal, and from their 

 root nar. o\^ s infeniibly, till near the top, where it fud- 

 denly becomes mcurvated, and terminates in a ftrong 

 and fliarp point. The tongue is formed like a lea- 

 ther, and 01 a de^p red colour, like the whole infide 

 of its mouth. The bill is variegated with all tliofe 

 bright colours which adorn the plumage of other 

 birds. At the bate, and alfo at the convexity, it is 

 generally of a light yellow, forming a. kind of riband 

 half an inch in breadth. The rel't is of a fine deep 

 purple, except two fireaks near the root, of a rich 

 fcarlctj an inch diilant from each other. Tiie iur 



ward 



