Chap. V. TAME TOUCAN. 341 



which tends to link the two families together ; the 

 superior length of the Toucan's bill gives it an advan- 

 tage over the Barbet, with its small, conical beak ; it 

 can reach and devour immense quantities of fruit 

 whilst remaining seated, and thus its heavy body and 

 gluttonous appetite form no obstacles to the prosperity 

 of the species. It is worthy of note, that the young of 

 the Toucan has a very much smaller beak than the 

 full-grown bird. The relation between the extraor- 

 dinarily lengthened bill of the Toucan and its mode of 

 obtaining food, is precisely similar to that between the 

 long neck and lips of the Giraffe and the mode of 

 browsing of the animal. The bill of the Toucan can 

 scarcely be considered a very perfectly-formed instru- 

 ment for the end to which it is applied, as here ex- 

 plained ; but nature appears not to shape organs at 

 once for the functions to which they are now adapted, 

 but avails herself, here of one already-existing structure 

 or instinct, there of another, according as they are 

 handy when need for their further modification arises. 



One day, whilst walking along the principal pathway 

 in the woods near Ega, I saw one of these Toucans 

 seated gravely on a low branch close to the road, and 

 had no difficulty in seizing it with my hand. It turned 

 out to be a runaway pet bird ; no one, however, came 

 to own it, although I kept it in my house for several 

 months. The bird was in a half-starved and sickly con- 

 dition, but after a few days of good living it recovered 

 health and spirits, and became one of the most amus- 

 ing pets imaginable. Many excellent accounts of the 

 habits of tame Toucans, have been published, and 



