488 Mr. Broderip on the Manners of a Toucan. 



I have observed him frequently scratching his bill with his foot, 

 which may be considered as furnishing additional evidence of the 

 sensibility of this organ. While taking his prey, he never used 

 his foot for the purpose of conveying it either to his bill or else- 

 where. The bill was the sole vehicle, and the organ actively 

 employed : the foot merely confined the prey on the perch. 



But there is yet another of the peculiarities of this bird, which 

 must not be passed over in silence. When he settles himself on 

 his roost, he sits a short time with his tail retroverted, so as to 

 make an acute angle with the line of his back; he then turns his 

 bill over his right shoulder, nestling it in the soft plumage of his 

 back, (on which last the under mandible rests,) till the bill is so 

 entirely covered that no trace of it is visible. When disturbed, 

 he did not drop his tail, but almost immediately returned his bill 

 to the comfortable nidus from which, on being disturbed, he had 

 withdrawn it. He broke, a short time ago, some of his tail fea- 

 thers, and the proprietor informed me, that before that accident, 

 the bird, when at roost, retroverted his tail so entirely, that the 

 upper surface of the tail feathers lay flat over, and came in contact 

 with the plumage of the back ; so that the bird bore the appear- 

 ance of a ball of feathers, to which, indeed, when I saw him at 

 rest, after his accident, he bore a very considerable resemblance. 

 The proprietor informs me that he always roosts in the same way. 



I cannot conclude this memoir, without bearing testimony to the 

 very great civility and attention of the possessor of the bird, which 

 has furnished the subject of it, and recommending his little mena- 

 gerie to the attention of the curious. 



I have the honour to be, &c. 



YV. J. Bkoderip. 



