HOMES OF TOUCANS 207 



The eyes, at this stage, are hardly open, being mere wa- 

 tery slits. The cutting edge of the mandibles is straight for 

 three-fourths of the entire length, when it curves abruptly 

 downward. This is very unlike the gradual downward curve 

 along the entire length of the mandible which is shown in 

 the bill of the old bird. 



One of the young toucans was kept for two weeks, until 

 the feathers had broken well out of their sheaths. Another 

 year, when the intermediate stages are obtained, both of 

 embryos and fledglings, we may hope to glean some real 

 light on the ancestry of these remarkable birds. 



SULPHUR- AND-WHITE-BREASTED TOUCAN 



Rhamphastos vitellinus 



My experience with the nesting history of this splendid 

 toucan, the fifth and last species which we observed, was 

 rather an anti-climax to the success which crowned our work 

 with the preceding species. 



I was in the midst of the jungle on the 19th day of 

 May, watching a yellow-billed jacamar hawking after in- 

 sects from a monkey-ladder, when my glance went upward 

 to a patch of sky across the brilliant sunshine of which a 

 deluge of rain drops seemed to be pouring. Another glance 

 told me it was a cloud of winged ants, and soon I saw the 

 sharply defined limits of the swarm, myriads upon myriads 

 of the insects drifting like motes through the upper reaches 

 of the jungle. 



My ear was next assailed by a subdued, raucous sound, 

 a sound strangly familiar. It was some minutes before I 

 could recall where I had heard this, but at last the memory 

 of the two young toucans, which we had kept at Kalacoon, 

 came vividly to mind. Two weeks before, they had given 

 us no peace and none of us was likely to forget that irritat- 

 ing eruption of sound which scarcely ceased day or night. 

 Another voice now joined in and I knew I was listening to 



