HOMES OF TOUCANS 189 



Two days later one of the birds spent considerable time 

 in the nest, appearing only when its mate approached. At 

 such times she (thus sexed by courtesy) sat with projecting 

 bill, and chattered in low, raucous accents, or accepted offer- 

 ings in the shape of berries of sorts from her mate's bill. 

 A week later she seemed even more preoccupied and seldom 

 was seen outside. The male now flew direct to the hole and 

 fed her as she sat inside the nest. When within hearing he 

 occasionally uttered a low cicada-like note, repeated three 

 times, deweeda-deweeda-deweeda, given with the bill either 

 open or shut. 



The tree was a favorite perching place for birds of 

 many species and besides the nest of the toucans, two other 

 holes were occupied, both by red-fronted woodpeckers {Mel- 

 anerpes ruhrifrons) , whose brilliant black and scarlet forms 

 flashed about the tree all day, or clung like dark shadows 

 to the side of the whitened bole. One of the woodpeckers' 

 nests was only two feet above that of the toucans. 



Two weeks after the discovery of the birds' nesting ac- 

 tivities we felled the tree. It was an all-day job, and it took 

 our arboreal, all but quadrumanous negro boy Sam several 

 hours to ascend to the first branch and attach a guy rope. 

 His method of climbing was unique and effective, but most 

 laborious. He made two loose slip nooses about the trunk 

 of the tree, and a small hanging loop in each in which he 

 put his feet. With a guy rope tied to his belt, he put his 

 full weight on one loop, and clasping the trunk with one 

 arm, he hitched the second rope up a foot or two and shifted 

 his weight to its loop, the force of the oblique downward pull 

 holding the noose in place on the trunk. Then rope number 

 one had to be pulled and jerked up to the level of the sec- 

 ond. And so, foot by foot, this wonderfully muscled and 

 persistent youth hitched and caterpillared his way over sixty 

 feet upward to the lowest branch, guyed it and slid down. 



The iron quality of the seasoned trunk turned the edge 

 of two axes, but at last the topmost branch, one hundred 



