PARROTS. 239 



of oiseaiix prechciirs, or preaching birds. They breed in the holes 

 of trees, usually taking possession of such as have been enlarged 

 by the woodpeckers. Here they lay two eggs, of a white colour 

 and roundish form. Toucans occur in vast numbers throughout 

 the forests along the course of the Amazon. When they alight, 

 and begin climbing the trees, one of them acts the part of a 

 sentinel, uttering a loud cry of tncdno, from which their name is 

 derived. When the whole flock raise their loud and not over- 

 melodious voices in concert, they produce a harsh scream that 

 may be heard at the distance of a mile. Mr. Edwards tells us 

 that these birds, when tamed, may be taught as many tricks as 

 a parrot, but they are destitute of the faculty of speech. 

 The type of this family is — 



The Aracara or Curl-crested Toucan {Ptcroglossns ulocomus), one of 

 the rarest and most beautiful of its tribe. The native country of this species 

 is probably the dense forest belt along the river Amazon, and the colours of its 

 plumage are gorgeous. Its most remarkable feature, however, is that the 

 crown of its head is covered with a crest of curled metallic-looking feathers, 

 without barbs and of intense glossy black, the structure of which appears to 

 consist in a dilatation of the shaft of each feather, or perhaps an agglutination 

 of the web into one mass. 



FAMILY II. 

 THE PARROTS. PSITTACID.E. 



General Characteristics. — Bill more or less large and strong, with the culmcn 

 arched to the tip, which is prolonged and acute, the lateral margins sometimes 

 dentated, and Ihe base covered Math a cere, of greater or less size, in which the 

 nostnls are placed ; the wings and the tail generally long ; and the tarsi usually 

 very short and robust. 



The feet of the Parrots are furnished with two toes pointing 

 forward and two backward, and, in most of the genera, are ex- 

 pressly formed for firm prehension and climbing, evidently in- 

 dicating that woods and trees are the appropriate and natural 

 habitat of the race. It is accordingly in those regions where the 

 trees are clothed with perpetual verdure, and where a constant 

 and never-failing succession of fruits and seeds can always be 

 procured, that the parrots are found in the greatest numbers. 

 Thus the recesses of the interminable forests of South America 



