Cuap. XII. CUVIER’S TOUCAN. 347 
rest, as though led away by some will-o’the-wisp. The native women, 
even the white and half-caste inhabitants of the towns, attach a super- 
stitious value to the skin and feathers of the Papd-uird, believing that if 
they keep them in their clothes’ chest the relics will have the effect of 
attracting for the happy possessors a train of lovers and followers. 
These birds are consequently in great demand in some places, the 
hunters selling them at a high price to the foolish girls, who preserve 
the bodies by drying flesh and feathers together in the sun. I could never 
get a sight of this famous little bird in the forest. I once employed 
Indians to obtain specimens for me ; but after the same man (who was a 
noted woodsman) had brought me at different times three distinct species 
of birds as the Papd-uird, I gave up the story as a piece of humbug. The 
simplest explanation appears to be this, that the birds associate in flocks 
from the instinct of self-preservation, and in order to be a less easy prey 
to hawks, snakes, and other enemies, than they would be if feeding 
alone. 
Toucans.— Cuvier’s Toucan.—Of this family of birds, so conspicuous 
from the great size and light structure of their beaks, and so character- 
istic of Tropical American forests, five species * inhabit the woods of 
Ega. ‘The largest of all the Toucans found on the Amazons, namely, 
the Ramphasto toco, called by the natives Tocdno pacova, from its beak 
resembling in size and shape a banana or pacova, appears not to reach 
so far up the river as Ega. It is abundant near Para, and is found also 
on the low islands of the Rio Negro, near Barra, but does not seem to 
range much farther to the west. The commonest species at Ega is 
Cuvier’s Toucan, a large bird, distinguished from its nearest relatives by 
the feathers at the bottom of the back being of a saffron hue instead of 
red. It is found more or less numerously throughout the year, as it 
breeds in the neighbourhood, laying its eggs in holes of trees, at a great 
height from the ground. During most months of the year it is met 
with in single individuals or small flocks, and the birds are then very 
wary. Sometimes one of these little bands of four or five is seen 
perched, for hours together, amongst the topmost branches of high 
trees, giving vent to their remarkably loud, shrill, yelping cries, one 
bird, mounted higher than the rest, acting, apparently, as leader of the 
inharmonious chorus ; but two of them are often heard yelping alter- 
nately, and in different notes. These cries have a vague resemblance 
to the syllables Tocadno, Tocano, and hence the Indian name of this 
genus of birds. At these times it is difficult to get a shot at Toucans, 
for their senses are so sharpened that they descry the hunter before he 
gets near the tree on which they are perched, although he may be half- 
concealed amongst the underwood, 150 feet below them. - They stretch 
their necks downwards to look beneath, and on espying the least move- 
ment amongst the foliage, fly off to the more inaccessible parts of the 
forest. Solitary Toucans are sometimes met with at the same season, 
hopping silently up and down the larger boughs, and peering into 
crevices of the tree-trunks. They moult in the months from March to 
* Ramphastos Cuvieri, Pteroglossus Beauharnaisii, Pt. Langsdorffi, Pt. castanotis, 
Pt. flavirostris. Further westward, namely, near St. Paulo, a sixth species makes its 
appearance, the Pteroglossus Humboldtii. 
