T U 



TOUCAN (Ramphastros}. A genus of zygodactylic 

 or climbing birds, having the following characters : 

 the bill cellular, very large, and much longer than 

 the head, broader than the forehead, and higher than 

 the profile of the head, nearly straight in the greater 

 part of its length, but a little curved toward the tip 

 of the upper mandible, with a very conspicuous ridge 

 on the culmen, and the tomia, or cutting edges of the 

 mandibles, in general toothed. In the living bird 

 the bill is generally beautifully coloured with bril- 

 liant prismatic reflections ; but the colours fade^ 

 and the reflections go off entirely after the bird is 

 dead. The nostrils near the base of the bill, partly 

 covered by a horny lamina of it, and surrounded by 

 membrane ; the feet stout, with four toes, two to the 

 front and two to the rear, the front ones united as far 

 as the first articulation, and the external one longer 

 than the tarsus ; the wings of mean length, concave, 

 and rounded, the third and fourth quills being the 

 longest ; the tail feathers ten in number. 



The bill of the toucan seems so very large that the 

 bird must be burdened by the weight of it ; but it is 

 in general very thin, and the parts of it which are 

 thickened for giving it strength are not solid bone, but 

 two very thin lamina;, very finely united by cross 

 partitions, which give the maximum of strength with 

 the minimum of substance, and the cellular openings 

 which they form are filled with air, in the same man- 

 ner as the cells of the hollow bones of birds ; the food 

 is seized with the sides of the bill, and before it can 

 be swallowed the bill must be vented, and the food is 

 kept in its place against the hollow of the upper man- 

 dible, by means of the feathered or barbed tongue. 

 The action of the wind upon the bill appears to be that 

 which is the most inconvenient to the birds, as they 

 never fly or perch but with the bill to the wind. They 

 eat fruits and insects, and in the summer they are 

 great destroyers of the eggs of other birds. They 

 nestle in the holes of trees, and keep very closely to 

 the woods in the richest and warmest parts of the 

 American continent, the only part of the world in 

 which they are to be found. There are two sections 

 or sub-genera of them, Aracaris, and Toucans, properly 

 so called, which do not appear to differ very much in 

 their manners. Some account of the whole, and of 

 the place which they occupy in nature, will be found 

 on reference to the article AKACARI, so that here we 

 shall only have very briefly to notice the leading mem- 

 bers of the toucans, properly so called. 



The two sections inhabit the same regions, or, at 

 all events, regions which are very similar. The 

 toucans have the bills considerably broader than the 

 head ; the aracaris not quite so broad, and the horny 

 covering of the bill is less compact and strong in the 

 toucans than the others. Toucans are, in so far, social 

 birds, for they are in general seen in small troops of 

 about ten or a dozen ; they are usually seen upon the 

 wing or on trees, and rarely upon the ground, where 

 their action is rather awkward. They do not walk 

 but leap, and their hopping is ungainly, as their feet 

 are very wide apart ; this, however, gives them some 

 advantage when they perch. On the wing their 

 flight is straight forward, and the great bill is elevated 

 so that it is rather above the axis of the body. 

 Though zygodactylic they do not climb, either upon 

 the boles of the trees like the woodpeckers, or upon 

 the twigs like the parrots ; they leap from one branch 

 to another, using the wings for support, whether the 

 leap be for a shorter distance or a longer. This dif- 



C A N. 809 



ference of action upon the trees shows at once the 

 difference of habit between the toucans and the other 

 tree birds which we have mentioned. The food of 

 the woodpeckers and other bark birds consists of 

 substances which they obtain from the crevices of 

 the bark, in small portions at a time, and that of the 

 parrots of fruits which the birds must range for among 

 the twigs. The characteristic food of the toucans 

 being the eggs and young of birds which build in 

 trees, is found in much larger quantities, and therefore 

 it is sought for by more extended and energetic action 

 than that of the others. 



Like the nest-plundering birds of our own countrv, 

 the toucans have no song, but only a harsh grating 

 cry, bearing some resemblance to that of the raven ; 

 they are also very easily tamed if taken young, and 

 far from particular in their food, though they require 

 a good deal of it. 



After the aracaris are separated, there is a pretty 

 strong family likeness among all the true toucans, and 

 the specific differences are in reality little more than 

 differences of marking; for in them all the general 

 colour is black, and the other colours, which are often 

 very rich, are on the throat, breast, and rump. The 

 following are the leading species. 



WHITE-THRCMTED TOUCAN (T. crythrorhynchus}. 

 The upper parts black, the upper tail-coverts greenish 

 yellow, the foreneck and upper part of the breast 

 pure white, the rest of the 'under parts dead black ; 

 the upper mandible of the bill black, with a band of 

 grey surrounding the base ; the lower mandible red, 

 with a band of blackish grey, and the feet greenish. 

 This species is abundant in Guiana. The length is 

 seventeen inches ; it is, however, to be borne in mind 

 that the tails of the toucans are long, and that the 

 bodies are not quite so heavy as the length compared 

 with that of the majority of other birds would indicate. 



YELLOW-THROATED TOUCAN (R. discolor'). The 

 upper parts black with green reflections ; the cheeks 

 and throat greenish yellow; the breast, the upper 

 part of the belly, and the coverts of the tail, bright 

 red ; the bill black at the base, grey in the distal 

 parts, and red on the margins, and" the feet blackish. 

 This species is about the same length as the preceding, 

 and found abundantly in some parts of Brazil. 



TACO TOUCAN (R. Taco). Upper parts dead black, 

 with the exception of the w ings and tail, which have 

 some lustre in the colour ; the upper part of the neck 

 white ; a large gorget on the breast, and the under 

 coverts of the tail, crimson ; the bill curved in the 

 form of a scythe-blade ; the upper mandible yellow 

 and greenish brown, these shades of colour separated 

 diagonally by a black line ; the lower mandible en- 

 tirely of a greenish brown ; the feet olive ash ; the 

 length twenty inches. This species has been met 

 with in Paraguay. 



TINAI TOUCAN (R. tucanus}. Black on the upper 

 part, with bronze reflections ; cheeks, throat, and 

 foreneck orange yellow; coverts of the tail sulphur 

 yellow ; the bill very long ; the upper mandible green, 

 with three large triangular spots of orange-yellow on 

 the sides, a yellow streak on the culmen, and the tip 

 blue ; the lower mandible blue, clouded with green 

 about the middle of its length ; the feet bluish ash. 

 The length twenty inches, and the native country 

 Brazil. 



There have been various other species mentioned, 

 but they have little difference except in colour ; so 

 that when one is mentioned all the rest may be 



