TOUCANS. AAI 
Toucans is-their enormous beak. This is much- longer than the 
head, is curved at its extremity, dentated at its edges, and possesses 
a projecting bone at the middle of the upper mandible.. It is not so 
heavy to bear, and incommodes the movements of the birds less 
than might be supposed, for it-is formed of a spongy tissue, the 
numerous cells of which are filled with air. Thus it is very weak, 
and does not serve to break or even to bruise fruits, notwith- 
standing the idea one forms at first sight of its strength, for it is not 
even capable of breaking off the bark of trees, as certain authors 
WEAN 
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Fig. 169.—Leadbeater’s Cockatoo. 
have urged. This wonderful bill encloses a still more strange 
tongue; very straight and as long as the beak, which is covered on 
each side with closely-packed barbs, similar to a feather, the use of 
which remains to us a complete mystery. This curious instrument 
so struck the naturalists of Brazil, where many Toucans are found, 
that it furnished them with a name. In Brazilian fowcan means 
“feather.” 
Toucans feed on fruits and insects; they live in bands of from 
six to ten in damp places where the palm-tree flourishes, for its fruit 
is their favourite food. In eating they seize the fruit with the ex- 
tremity of the beak, make it bounce up in the air, receive it then 
