416 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



jerk of the tail by Kuddcnly cDmbiiiiiig with tlie elevator muscles. The peculiar 

 structure of the tail is also manifested by its unusual elongation, as is evident from an 

 inspection of Fig. 172 (p. .370). 



Tlie toucans are confined to the warmer portions of the Neotropical region, and 

 do not occur in the West Indies. They are ecjually characteristic of the tro])ical 

 jmrts of America as are the two foregoing families, and have no near relatives among 

 the Old World birds, though their enormous large and serrated bills ofTer an analogy 



Fig. 207. — Pteroglossus tcictlii, Maximilian's ara^ari. 



to the honibills, with which they arc often confoutulcd in the popular mind. There 

 arc a little niori' than lifty species, varying in size from that of a robin to that of a 

 jcrow, the sm;iller forms having proportionately smaller bills than the larger ones. The 

 former are usually more or less greenish, with lirown and yellow ; while the latter have 

 the greater ])art of the plumage black, relieved by the gorgeous coloration of the 

 foreneck, upjier and under tail-coverts in red, yellow, and white. The naked eye-space 

 and the huge bill are also i)ainted most vividly and characteristically. The ara9aris 



