696 



(Errantry 0f Datura! 



only extends half its length, and the upper 

 mandible is slightly arcuated towards the 

 tip. Their form is slight, and the legs very 

 long. 



There are four or five British species ; 

 among these are Totanus ochropus, the GREEN 

 SANDPIPER, called by sportsmen the Whist- 

 ling Snipe from the shrill note it utters when 

 first flushed : Totanus glarcola, the WOOD 

 SANDPIPER, which sometimes visits us in 

 winter : Totanus calidris, the REDSHANK, 

 which is resident in this country : and To- 

 tanus fitscus, the SPOTTED SXIPE of Montagu, 

 which is found on our coasts during winter. 



One of the most singular species, which is 

 described by Wilson as a native of America, 

 is his Scolopax vocifenis, but it belongs 

 properly to the genus Totanus, and is the 

 Totanus meJatioleucus of modern authors. 

 He tells us that this species and the Totanus 

 flavipes are " both well known to our duck- 

 gunners along the sea coast and marshes, 

 by whom they are detested, and stigmatized 

 with the names of the greater and lesser tell- 

 tale, for their faithful vigilance in alarming 

 the ducks with their loud and shrill whistle, 

 on the first glimpse of the gunner's approach. 

 Of the two, the present species is by far the 

 most watchful ; and its whistle, which con- 

 sists of four notes rapidly repeated, is so 

 loud, shrill, and alarming, as instantly to 

 arouse every duck within its hearing, and 

 thus disappoints the eager expectations of 

 the marksman. Yet the cunning and ex- 

 perience of the latter are frequently more 

 than a match for all of them ; and before the 

 poor tell-tale is aware, his warning voice is 

 hushed for ever, and his dead body mingled 

 with those of his associates. 



" The tell-tale seldom flies in large flocks, 

 at least during summer. It delights in 

 watery bogs, and the muddy margins of 

 creeks and inlets ; is either seen searching 

 about for food, or standing in a watchful 

 posture, alternately raising and lowering the 

 head, and, on the least appearance of danger, 

 | utters its shrill whistle, and mounts on 

 wing ; generally accompanied by all the 

 feathered tribes that are near. It occasion- 

 ally penetrates inland along the muddy 

 shores of our large rivers, seldom higher than 

 tide water, and then singly and solitarily. 

 They sometimes rise to a great height in the 

 air, and can be distinctly heard when be- 

 yond the reach of the eye. In the fall, when 

 they are fat, their flesh is highly esteemed, 

 and many of them are brought to our 

 markets." [See GAMBET.$ 



TOUCAN. (Ramphastos : Rhamphastidcc.') 

 A genus and family of Scansorial birds, dis- 

 tinguished by the enormous size of the bill, 

 which in some of the species is nearly as 

 long and as large as the body itself, but 

 which is light, cellular, and irregularly 

 notched at the edge, having both mandibles 

 arched towards the tip. The tongue is also 

 of a highly singular form, being narrow and 

 elongated, and laterally barbed like a fea- 

 ther. The structure of the bill renders it 

 necessary for these birds to throw eacli mor- 

 sel of their food up into the air, and catch 

 it as it descends, in the throat ; a habit ob- 



served in many others whose tongue is of a 

 form unfavourable to assist in deglutition. 

 The Toucans are only found in tropical 

 America, where they live in small flocks, in 

 the recesses of the forests. They subsist on 

 fruit and insects, and during the nesting 

 season on the eggs and young of other birds. 

 Their feet are rather short, their wings but 

 moderate, and a rather long tail, which, 

 when the bird is at rest, it commonly holds 

 erect. They nestle in the trunks of trees, 

 and uniformly produce two delicately white 

 eggs, of a rotund form. Their flight is 

 straight, but laborious ; among the branches 

 of trees, however, their movements are easy 

 and active ; with such lightsome ngility, 

 indeed, do they leap from bough to bough, 

 that the beak has then no appearance of 

 being disproportionately large. 



In Mr. Swainson's ' Classification of Birds ' 

 he states that the fourth family of the Scan- 

 sores, or Climbing Birds, is represented by 

 the Toucans, whose enormous bills give to 

 these birds a most singular and uncouth 

 appearance. He remarks that their feet are 

 formed, like those of the Parrots, more for 

 grasping than climbing, and that they do 

 not appear to possess the latter faculty ; but 

 as they always live among trees, and proceed 

 by hopping from branch to branch, their 

 grasping feet are peculiarly adapted to such 

 habits. He also observes, that the apparent 

 disproportion of the bill is one of the innu- 

 merable instances of that beautiful adapta- 

 tion of structure to use which the book of 

 Nature every where reveals. It is now uni- 

 versally believed that the Ramphastidoe. are 

 decidedly omnivorous ; and although, as 

 Mr. Gould remarks, their elastic bill and 

 delicately feathered tongue would lead us to 

 conclude that fruits constituted the greatest 

 proportion of their diet, we have abundant 

 testimony that they as readily devour flesh, 

 fish, eggs, and small birds ; to which, in all 

 probability, are added the smaller kinds of 

 reptiles, caterpillars, and the larvae of insects 

 in general. We shall now briefly describe 

 a few species. 



The RED-BREASTED TOUCAN. (Ram- 

 phastos dicolorus.) This bird is a native of 

 Brazil and other parts of South America. 

 Its length is about eighteen inches : colour 

 black, with a gloss of green : cheeks, throat, 

 and fore part of the breast, in some sulphur- 

 yellow, in others orange-yellow : across the 

 lower part of the breast is a broad crimson 

 bar, sometimes extending nearly to the 

 thighs, and sometimes falling far short of 

 those parts ; so that, according to this varia- 

 tion, the belly appears either black or crim- 

 son : thighs black ; vent feathers crimson ; 

 rump either crimson or orange-yellow ; bill 

 darkish olive-green, with pale yellow base, 

 bounded by a black bar : legs dusky. 



We are told in Mr. Edwards's entertaining 

 ' Voyage up the Amazon,' that there are 

 many varieties of Toucans, appearing there 

 at different seasons ; but the Red-billed 

 (R. erythrorynchos\ and the Ariel (R. ariel), 

 arc the largest and most abundant, seen at 

 every season, but towards autumn particu- 

 larly in vast numbers throughout the forest. 



