418 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



the bill. On either side of the uj>]ier in;iiiilil)k', immediately in front of the blood-red 

 basal band, is a buff-colored plate or lamina, continuous with the structure of the bill 

 at its base, but soj)aratc and dctaehed in front, thin on its upper edge, but thiciit-r and 

 jirojfcting beyond the edge of the mandible below. 



We will not tax the patience of the reader further by enumerating the names of 

 the various s|»ecies, jireferring to introduce some notes on their habits by travelers 

 who have watched these beautiful and interesting binls in their native haunts. The 

 following is from Edward's 'Voyage up the Amazon ' : — 



"Most noticeable of all these birds, both for size and peculiarity of form, are the 

 toucans. There are many varieties at different seasons, but tlie rod-billed (li. erijthro- 

 rhijiichus) and the ariel {H. arid) arc the largest and most abundant, seen at every 

 season, but towards autumn j)articularly, in v.ast numbers throughout the forest. 

 Their large beaks give them a very awkward a])pearance, more especially when fly- 

 ing ; yet, in the trees, they use them with as much aj)parent ease as though they were, 

 to our eyes, of a more convenient form. Alighted on a tree, one usually acts the jiart 

 of sentinel, uttering constantly the loud cry tucano, whence they derive their name. 

 The others dis])erso over the branches in seairh of fruit. 



"We had been told tliat these birds wei-e in the habit of tossing uj) their food to 

 a considerable distance, and catching it as it fell ; but, as far as we could observe, 

 they merely threw back the head, allowing the fruit to fall down the throat. We saw, 

 at different times, tamed toucans, and they were never seen to toss their food, although 

 almost invari.ably throwing back the head. The habit is rendered necessary by the 

 length of the bill and the stiffness of the tongue, which prevent their eating as do 

 otln'r birds. All the time when feeding a hoarse chattering is kept up, and at inter- 

 vals they unite with the noisy sentry, and scream a concert that may be heard a mile. 

 Having appeased their apj)etites, they fly towards the deeper forest, and quietly doze 

 away the noon. Often in the very early morning a few of them may bo seen sitting 

 silently upon the branches of some dead tree, a]>parontly awaiting the coming sunlight 

 before starting for their feeding-trees. When roosting, they have a habit of elevating 

 their tails over their backs." 



Azara rojxirts that the toco "builds in the holes of trees, and hatches two young 

 ones, closely resembling the adults, whicli ficd them until they are able to fly." 



Toucans are easily kept in cajitivity, and become very tame, making most interest- 

 ing ]>ets. They are now rather coninion in the zoological gardens, where their singular 

 aspects and glorious colors are among the greatest attractions. In captivity they are 

 completely omnivorous, and some authorities assert that they are equally so in the 

 wild state, Init the bulk of evidence goes to show that in their native forests they feed 

 chiefly on fruit. 



Though usually confounded with the puff-birds by earlier writers, and during the 

 first d.ays of ornitliology even united with thom in the same genus, the Megalaimid^, 

 or barbets, are only distantly rel.ated to them, approaching, in fact, in such a way the 

 toucans and the woodj]eckors, th.at their jiosition in the linear system between these 

 two families seems to be indisputable. The characters separating them from the puff- 

 birds liave already been given, and their chief distinctions from the families mentioned 

 are apparent from the table hoadiiig tho supor-faniilv. 



Both in the texture of the feathers and in the arrangement of the feather-tracts, 

 the barbets agree well with the toucans, and, except in the bill, their anatomy is not 

 very different. It may be incutioned esiHTially that also in the barbets the two clavi- 



