UAMBOOTAX. 



KAMl'llA.STID.K. 



) i 



eooUn. wUk the Choopa, which U newly Billed to it, U abundant at 

 UM latter, but U not found at the former place. Tba fruit it that 

 of a tn called Pirrardia dulfit, of the natural order ot SapituUcta. 

 nnthsr species of the aam* genua u called P. tajMa, from iU alao 



yielding an edible fruit It i* found in the district of Tippers, to the 

 eastward of Calcutta, and alao in China, where it U cultivated for iti 

 aiixaliU fruit, according to information obtained by Dr. Roxburgh 

 from Chinese gardeners. It U remarkable that it should there be 

 called Lutqua, a* it U called Lutco by the Hindoos on the euteru 

 frontier of Bengal 



RAMBOOTAN, a Fruit [SAPIXDACEJK.] 



1( VMl'HA'sriD.-K, a family of Scanaorial Birds known by the 

 common name of Toucan*. 



BOoo, at th end of the 2Sth chapter of his third book ' De la 

 Nature des Oyaeaux riranta le long dea Riviere*, ayanta le Pied plat, 

 nommri en Latin Palmipedes Aes (A.D. 1555), Riven a wood-out of 

 UM bill of a Toucan, which, from the black patch at the end of it, 

 was probably that of Rampikattot Toco. He describes the bill as 

 belonging to a bird of the terres neufues,' which possesses that organ 

 half a foot long, large as a child's arm, pointed and black at the tip, 

 white elsewhere, and notched some little on the edges, hollow within, 

 and so finely delicate that it is transparent and thin as parchment Its 

 beauty, be observes, has caused it to be kept in the cabinets of the 

 curious. He further says that he has not seen the bird, but that he 

 suspects that it is ' de pied plat,' and therefore he has placed it with the 

 Hirer Birds. 



In the ' Portraits d'Oyseaux' alao, the cut of this bill is placed at 

 the end of ' Le Second Ordre dea Oyseaux au pied plat' Above it 

 appears the following description : 



" Bee d'un Oyseau aquatique apporte* des terres neufues. 



" Si qnelqu'un avoit fait un corps d'Oyseau it oe bee sans avoir gros- 

 aeor suffisante, qu'on le juge fait a discretion, car nous 1'avons micux 

 ym<5 laisser ainai, que luy en feindre un." 



Below the cut is the following quatrain : 



" Ce bte ett gros comme le bru d'un enfant, 

 Crrax par dedans, transparent comme Tenc ; 

 Tenne et legtr, Term d'ettrange terrc, 

 Xotr pmr le boot, et blanc au demcnrant." 



The birds tliemselres do not seem to have found their way to 

 England a century after the date of Bdlun's works, for, in the Museum 

 Tradescantianum, the standard collection of the time, and which, from 

 the list of contributors, appears to have been the great receptacle for 

 all curiosities, we read under the division (No. 2) of Beaks or Heads, 

 " Aracari of Brazil, his beak four inches long, almost two thick, like a 

 Turke's sword" (A.D. 1656). But if the bird iUelf had not been 

 brought forward, it is probable that Tradescant knew its nature, from 

 the description above given. Petiver (Tab. xliv. f. 1 3) gives a figure 

 of the bird complete, and though it bears all the marks of the imper- 

 fect state of the arts at that time, as far as engravings of subjects of 

 natural history are concerned, it in substantially correct, and the 

 L of the toes right Tho description is, ' Toucan Surina- 

 _ r, ex alba, flavo, rubroque mixta,' taken from a Dutch 

 painting in Mr. Clark's collection : this docs not exactly agree with any 

 authors I bava yet read. Willughby (Tab. xx.) gives a figure of a 

 Toucan (Raaplxulot Toco, probably) under the name of " the Brazilian 

 FU of Aldrovandua, the Toucan of Murcgrave and others, the Xochi 



the Mexicans : Nieremb." The figure is incorrect about 

 the feet, to which three anterior toes are given, though Willughby, 

 who dies Thevctua, Kaber, Dal Pozzo, Lerius, Oviedo, and John de 

 Laet, was evidently aware of the true organisation, namely two toes 

 before and two behind. 



Brissoo placed the form in his 13th order, consitting of those birds 

 which have four toes, two before and two behind. 



Linntvtti arranged the Toucans (Ramjiktutoi) at the bend of the second 

 division (Pedilnu Kmuoriu) of his second order, Piece. 



Latham alao assigned to them the same situation. 



places Rampkmtot at the head of the second order (Bee 

 M 



I/acepcde places 

 IVnteM) of Mi Qrimpeurs, or Climbers. 



Dumoril arranged the form at the head of the Levirostres, or Ceno- 

 nmphea, the second family of his third order, Grimpeun. 



Toe Seantortt form the first order in the method of Illiger, and 

 M*ttpkail<* and Plenylouia appear at the head of the second family, 

 Strrmli. 



In Cuvirr's system the Toucans are arranged in his third order, 

 Orimpeur*, between the Anis [CROTOIIIAOA] and the Parrots [Part- 



T V IP*). 



Tb* ZggodaelpH are the first tribe of M. Vieillofs second order, 

 Sflfinta, and the Toucans arc placrd in tho fourth family, PMro- 

 (UsM, between the Jaoamars and Barbate. 



1L Temminck arranges the form in the first family of his fifth order 

 ZyKodactylca. 



Tbs) Orandirostres form the fifth family of the Orimpcur*, the third 

 order in the system of M. Latreille, and embrace the genera Toucan 

 and Aracari, which are placed between the Proglowes (Wryneck, Wood- 

 pecker, Ac.) and UM Oalhfornxt (Mtuo^haya, Touraco). 



The Toooans appear M the fifteenth family of the Normal Birds of 

 U. De BUinville, and are placed between flucem and Pietu. 



In M. Lesson's ' Projet' the Rampluulida succeed the Picid,r, aud 

 are the last family of the first tribe of his Insessores or Uriinp<mr* 



The genera of the Ifympluutida, according to Mr. Swainson, are 

 Ramphailot, Ptenglotnu, Avlacorhynchiu, and Scythropt. 



Mr. O. It Gray (' Lint of the Genera of Birds') makes the J&mj./.oj- 

 tula; the first family of the Scansores, with the following genera : 



Ramphattot, Linn. (Pica, Gesn., Tacana, Briss.). 



Plerogtoma, III (Rami>h<ut<a, Linn.). 



Sdaudera, Qould (Ramptuutot, Linn.; Pterogloutu, WagL). 



Aularorampkiu (Ramphatlot, Linn.; Pteroglotnu, 8w. ; Aulacor. 

 AyncAuJ, Gould). 



Scylhropf, Lath. 



Mr. Gould, in his beautiful monograph of the Rimphastidir, divides 

 them into two great sections : 



1. CaucH breviore, quadrata; rostro maximo. Nigri, gutture 



caudicque tegminibus discoloribua. Jlamjiluutot. (The 

 Toucans.) 



Of these Mr. Gould records 11 species, arranged in four subdivisions, 

 according to the distribution of their colouring. 



2. Cauda longiore, graduata; rostra majore. Viridescentm; 



capite, gastnoo, tegtninibusque caudal superioribus in plu- 

 rimis discoloribus. Pteroglosiiu.. (The Arajaris.) 



Of these Mr. Gould records 22 species, arranged in twelve subsec- 

 tions, also according to the distribution of their colouring. 



The Toucans and Aracaris appear to be restricted in their geo- 

 graphical range to tropical America, and there they live retired in 

 deep forests, mostly in small companies. Their flight is straight l>ut 

 laborious, and not graceful ; while their movements, as they glide 

 rather than hop from branch to branch, are elegant. 



Mr. Vigors gives the following account of a Toucan (Rhamphattos 

 Arid, Vig.), which he kept in a state of domestication for many years. 

 After alluding to an account of an individual which ate animal food 

 in domestication by Mr. Broderip, he says, " I have not allowed it to 

 be indulged in that disposition to animal food which so strikingly 

 belongs to this family. I fiud in fact that it thrives sufficiently well 

 upon a vegetable diet; and I fear that if it should once be allowed any 

 other, it would be difficult to restrain its inclination for it within 

 moderate limits. Eggs are the only animal food with which it has 

 been supplied since it came into my possession. Of these it is parti- 

 cularly fond, and they are generally mixed up in hia ordinary i "I. 

 which consists of bread, rice, potatoes, German paste, and similar 

 substances He delights iu fruits of all kinds. During the period 

 when these were fresh, he fed almost exclusively on them ; and even 

 in the present winter months he exhibits great gratification in being 

 offered pieces of apples, oranges, or preserved fruits of any description. 

 These he generally holds for a short time at the extremity of his bill, 

 touching them with apparent delight with his slender aud feathered 

 tongue; and then conveying them by a sudden upward jerk to his throat 

 where they are caught and instantly swallowed. His natural propen- 

 sity to preying upon animals, although not indulged, is still strongly 

 conspicuous. When another bird approaches hia cage, or even a skiu 

 or preserved specimen is presented to him, he exhibits considerable 

 excitement. He raises himself up, erects his feathers, aud utters 

 that ' hollow clattering sound ' noticed by Mr. Broderip, which seema 

 to be tho usual expression of delight in these birds; the irides of his 

 eyes at the same time expand, aud he seems ready to dart upon big 

 prey, if the bars of bis cage permitted his approach. On one occasion, 

 when a small bird was placed by chance over his cage at night, he 

 showed great restlessness, as if aware of the neighbourhood of the bird; 

 and he would not bo composed until the cause of his anxiety wai 

 discovered and removed. 



" When in his cage, he is peculiarly gentle and tractable, suffers 

 himself to be played with, and feeds from the hand. Out of his cage, 

 ho is wild and timid. In general be is active and lively ; and, contrary 

 to what might be expected, from the apparent disproportion of the 

 bill and the seemingly clumsy shape of the birds of this genus, an they 

 are usually set up or represented in figures, his appearance is not only 

 graceful, but his movements, as he glides from perch to perch, are 

 light and sylph-like ; so much so as to have suggested to an intelligent 

 friend who witnessed them the specific? name which I have ventured 

 to assign him. He keeps himself ill beautiful plumage, his lighter 

 colours being strikingly vivid, and the deep black of his upper body 

 in particular being always bright and glossy. For this fine condition 

 he seems to be much indebted to his fondness for bathing. Every 

 day he immerses himself in cold water with apparent pleasure, even 

 iu this severe weather; and in no respect indeed docs be appear to 

 suffer by the transition from his own warm climate to our uncongenial 

 atmosphere. 



" Besides the ' hollow clattering noise,' 03 my friend Mr. Brodcrip 

 no cxpranively terms the usual sounds of these birds, he utters at 

 times a hoarse and somewhat discordant cry when ho happens to be 

 hungry, and to see his food about to be presented to him. On such 

 occasions he stands erect, raising hi* head in the air, and half opening 

 his bill as he emits this cry. These are the only sounds I bare heard 

 him utter; and in neither can I say that I have detected any 



