TOUCANS. 



other birds of their cgc^s, and even occasionally making a meal 

 upon fish, worms, and the larva; of insects. 



Even when in motion among the branches of the trees, the large 

 beaks of the toucans give them a certain air of gravity ; but this 

 is vastly increased by the attitude they assume in repose. When 



Fic;. 124.— The Red-beai:ed Toucan (^Rampliastos crythrorhynchus). 



they perch quietly, they puff out their plumage until they look 

 like a round ball of feathers ; at the same time the tail is thrown 

 up over the back, the head is retracted, and the enormous bill laid 

 sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, or moved from 

 side to side, and raised and depressed in a manner resembling so 

 much the gesticulations of an orator addressing a numerous as- 

 sembly, that, coupled with the serious aspect of the birds, it has 

 obtained for them, from the French Creoles in Guiana, the name 



