112 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



conspicuously, like sold, in the sunbeams. Some-times 

 it may be seen alone or in small parties, seated near 

 each other, but hunting quite independently. It fre- 

 quently takes pwo </r three insects before it re-seats itself 

 on its perch, and in the morning and evening they 

 collect in considera>ble num'bere, and, often in company 

 with Swallows, hawk actively about for some time. I 

 ihave seen one occasion. illy pick an insect off a branch, 

 or a >ta!'x of grain or ura,<s ; and Mr. Blyth informs me 

 ;t'.iat he has seen a number of rhem assembled round a 

 ismall tank, seizing objects from the 'water, in the 

 manner of a. Kingfisher. 



"They rocst generally in seme special spot, sometimes 

 a, few together in one tree ; buit at some stations all the 

 birds for some miles around appear to congregate and 

 roost in one favoured locality. The bamboo tops at San- 

 gor is a celebrated spot of this kind. Here Crows, 

 Mynas. Parrakeets. Bee-eaters, Sparrows, etc., collect 

 from miks around, and the noise they make towards 

 sunset and early in the morning is deafening. 



"The Bee-eater has a loud, rait'heir pleasant, rolling. 

 whistling note, which it often repeats, especially in the 

 morning" and totwainJs the evening, and ciit/en whilst 

 hunting. They sometimes collect in small partu- 

 towards sun-tit on a road, and roll themselves about in 

 the sand and dust, evidently with great pleasure. 



"They 'breed in holes, in banks of ravines or of 

 rivers, 'and on road-sides, laying two to four white 

 eggs. Burgess mentions that in a nest that he examined 

 there were three young ones, all of different ages. They 

 breed from March to July, according to the locality, 

 earlier in the north of India, lat^r in the south. Mr. 

 Blyth observed them breeding near Moulmein as late 

 as 'the middle of August." 



Russ says that Emil Linden received one of these 

 birds from Miss Christiane Hagenbeck under the name 

 of " Bee-eater from the Cape," which he possessed for 

 a number of years, although he had not received it in 

 good condition. He fed it for a great part of the year 

 upon Tanager food, as well as mealworms and cur- 

 rants, of which it consumed a considerable amount 

 daily ; also for a short part of the year it received bees, 

 wasps, etc., wasps being particularly supplied in the 

 autumn, when they were abundant. He kept it in a 

 cage by itself, as he dared not trust so delicate a 'bird 

 with others. Its cage was placed in a lofty position, 

 and as soon as it saw him raise the ladder it became 

 aware that its master was bringing it fresh food, and 

 began to greet him with a very pleasing and loud 

 whistle, which it prolonged variously into certain har- 

 monies resembling the song of the Chinese Laughing- 

 Thrush (LciirnrJio/itrmi I'h'iio /'-/*). to which Mr. Linden 

 thought it might have listened. The bird was not shy, 

 but confiding, and would take a mealworm from his 

 fingers; it was not a greedy bird, and always left a 

 good deal of its food untouched. It is somewhat strange 

 ft' this Bee-eater actually mimicked the song of a Laugh- 

 ing-Thrush. I do not think the species of Merops are 

 usually regarded as imitative birds. 



Mr. PhilKpps, who offered a bee to his young Euro- 

 pean Bee-eaters, eays that the bird which accepted the 

 insect failed to cripple before swallowing it, and 

 ntly got stung inside in consequence, as it teemed 

 to be in "so me trouble afterwards : but probably an adult 

 bird would be more circumspect. 



TOUCANS (lih'niijili<txfiiJ(e). 



These are strikingly coloured arboreal New World 

 birds of bizarre appearance, perhaps more nearly re- 

 lated to the Capitonidne. than_ to any other family, 

 having enormous compressed bills almost like the claw 

 of a lobster, with arched culmen, terminating in a 



decurved tooth, the cutting edges sub-serrate or undu- 

 lated, and the tongue long and fringed or feather-like, 

 in which last characters they somewhat resemble UK-; 

 Motmote, though in other respects they differ greatly 

 from them. The bills of the sexes differ a good deal, 

 that of the male being usually veiy distinctly longer, 

 and, when viewed in profile, frequently narrower and 

 with the culmen less arched than in the female. The 

 wings are short, and appear weak, but the birds fiy 

 swiftly and in a direct line, and the feet have two toes 

 directed forwards, and two backwards. 



As might be expected, Toucans hop clumsily on the 

 earth, but move actively among the branches of trees. 

 They nest in holes in trees and lay white eggs. Their 

 food in a wild state consists <;f various fruits, insects, 

 small birds and mammals. In captivity grapes, soaked 

 sultanas, red or white currants, banana, pear, apple, or 

 the pulp of orange cut up small, irsects. a small bird 

 or mouse occasionally, and a good insectivorous soft 

 food, containing egg and ants' eggs, are most suitable. 

 They are fond of bathing, but should not be exposed 

 to extreme cold ; therefore in winter they should be 

 kept indoors. 



When at roost Toucans bury their huge 'bills in the 

 feathers of the back, and turn back their tails, which 

 are capable of remarkable vertical movement ; this gives 

 them a very strange appearance. 



GREAT-BILLED OB Toco TOTJCAX (Rhamphastos toco). 



General colour black ; rump, throat, and fore-neck 

 white, the latter slightly tinged with yellow and nar- 

 rowly margined behind with red ; lower tail-coverts 

 crimson ; bill orange, the upper mandible with a large 

 oval black blotch near the extremity ; irides green and 

 yellow with a broad blue orbit ; naked orbital skin 

 orange. Female with a much shorter ball, narrower at 

 base (which is unusual). Hab., Guiana, Lower Amazon, 

 Brazil, Bolivia. Paraguay, and N. Argentina. 



Mr. E. W.' White ('''Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," 1882, p. 620) pays: "This Toucan I shot 

 among the lofty forest-trees'; they go generally in large 

 flocks, and their flight is extremely swift, and in a 

 straight line. 



" They are wild, and by no means plentiful in this 

 neighbourhood ; but in Misiones I likewise met with 

 them in greater abundance, where they, in company 

 with the Parrots,' commit dreadful havoc amongst the 

 orange-groves." 



\\r'. .1. G. Kerr, writing on the "Birds of the Gran 

 Chaco" (The His, 1901, p. 217), says: "I must 'not 

 forget to mention the Toco Toucan (Khamphastos toco], 

 of which small companies were often noticed flying 

 across from one piece of woodland to another." Later 

 on he speaks of a " flock of five," seen at Villa Concep- 

 tion on September 28th. 



Schoinburgk stated that at times this species de- 

 voured the fruits of the various kinds of Spanish pepper 

 <<'fi//*irur) ; also, that in captivity it accepted all 

 varieties of human food, including flesh and fish ; never- 

 theless he doubted whether the bird itself ever cap- 

 tured fish, small lizards, and 'birds, as several other 

 writers have asserted. Burmeister also observed that 

 no authentic observation of the fact had come to his 

 knowledge; nevertheless, I have seen a much smaller 

 Toucan chasing Sparrows, and there can be no doubt 

 that these birds do vary their fruit diet in this manner. 



This species first reached the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1863, since which time, it has come to hand 

 fairlv frequently, the last recorded in the ninth edition 

 of the Society's List having been received in 1894: it 

 arrived at the Amsterdam Gardens as long ago as 1851. 

 From its great size (22 inches), it is hardly suitable for 



