THE TOUCAN. 



99 



ash-colour, chestnut, and yellow ; but what 

 distinguishes it from all other birds, are the 

 horny appendages from the tips of seven of 

 the lesser quill feathers, which stand bare of 

 beards, and have the colour and gloss of the 

 best red sealing wax. 



The Roller is not less beautiful than any of 

 the former. (For Noisy Roller, see Plate XV. 

 fig. 11 ; for Green Roller, see Plate XVII. 

 fig. 5.) The breast and belly are blue ; the 

 head green ; and the wings variegated with 

 blue, black, and white. But it may be dis- 

 tinguished from all others by a sort of naked 

 tubercles or warts near the eyes, which still 

 farther contribute to increase its beauty. 



To this class may be added a numerous list 

 from all the tropical forests of the east and 

 west ; where the birds are remarkable for dis- 

 cordant voices and brilliant plumage. I will 

 fix only upon one, which is the most singu- 

 lar of all the feathered creation. This is the 

 Toucan, a bird of the pie kind, whose bill 



very tyrant he detested, when he sneaks through the 

 wood?, as he frequently does, and among the thickets 

 and hedge-rows, plundering every nest he can find of its 

 eggs, tearing up the callow young by piecemeal, and 

 spreading alarm and sorrow around him. The cries of the 

 distressed parents soon bring together a number of in- 

 terested spectators (for birds in such circumstances seem 

 truly to sympathise with each other,) and he is sometimes 

 attacked with such spirit as to be under the necessity 

 of making a speedy retreat. 



" He will sometimes assault small birds, with the in- 

 tention of killing and devouring them; an instance of 

 which I myself once witnessed, over a piece of woods 

 near the borders of Schuylkill ; where I saw him en- 

 gaged for more then five minutes pursuing what I took 

 to be a species of motacilla (TO. maculosa, yellow rump,) 

 wheeling, darting, and doubling in the air, and, at last, 

 to my great satisfaction, got disappointed in the escape 

 of his intended prey. In times of great extremity, 

 when his hoard or magazine is frozen up, buried in snow, 

 or perhaps exhausted, he becomes very voracious, and 

 will make a meal of whatever carrion or other animal 

 substance comes in the way, and has been found regal- 

 ing himself on the bowels of a robin (turdus migratorius) 

 in less than five minutes after it was shot. 



" There are, however, individual exceptions to this 

 general character for plunder and outrage, a proneness 

 for which is probably often occasioned by the wants and 

 irritations of necessity. A blue jay, which I have kept 

 for some time, and with which I am on terms of famili- 

 arity, is in reality a very notable example of mildness of 

 disposition and sociability of manners. An accident in 

 the woods first put me in possession of this bird, while 

 in full plumage, and in high health and spirits; I carried 

 him home with me, and put him into a cage already oc- 



is nearly as large as the rest of its whole 

 body. 1 



Of this extraordinary bird there are four 

 or five varieties. I will only describe the 

 red-beaked toucan ; and as the figure of this 

 bird makes the principal part of its history, I 



cupied by a golden-winged woodpecker (picus auratus,) 

 where he was saluted with such rudeness, and received 

 such a drubbing from the lord of the manor, for entering 

 his premises, that, to save his life, I was obliged to take 

 him out again. I then put him into another cage, where 

 the only tenant was a female oriolus spurius (bastard 

 baltimore.) She also put on airs of alarm, as if she con- 

 sidered herself endangered and insulted by the intrusion; 

 the jay, meanwhile, sat mute and motionless on the 

 bottom of the cage, either dubious of his own situation, 

 or willing to allow time for the fears of his neighbour to 

 subside. Accordingly, in a few minutes, after displaying 

 various threatening gestures (like some of those Indians 

 we read of in their first interviews with the whites,) she 

 began to make her approaches, but with great circum- 

 spection, and readiness for retreat. Seeing, however, 

 the jay begin to pick up some crumbs of broken chest- 

 nuts, in an humble and peaceable way, she also descended, 

 and began to do the same ; but, at the slightest motion 

 of her new guest, wheeled round and put herself on the 

 defensive. All this ceremonious jealousy vanished before 

 evening; and they now roost together, feed, and play 

 together, in perfect harmony and good humour. When 

 the jay goes to drink, his mess-mate very impudently 

 jumps into the saucer to wash herself, throwing the water 

 in showers over her companion, who bears it all pa- 

 tiently ; venturing now and then to take a sip between 

 every splash, without betraying the smallest token of 

 irritation. On the contrary, he seems to take pleasure 

 in his little fellow-prisoner, allowing her to pick (which 

 she does very gently) about his whiskers, and to clean his 

 claws from the minute fragments of chestnuts which 

 happen to adhere to them. This attachment on the one 

 part, and mild condescension on the other, may, perhaps, 

 be partly the effect of mutual misfortunes, which are 

 found not only to knit mankind, but many species of in- 

 ferior animals, more closely together: and shows that 

 the disposition of the blue jay may be humanized, and 

 rendered susceptible of affectionate impressions, even for 

 those birds which, in a state of nature, he would have 

 no hesitation in making a meal of. 



"He is not only bold and vociferous, but possesses a 

 considerable talent for mimicry, and seems to enjoy great 

 satisfaction in mocking and teasing other birds, particu- 

 larly the little hawk (f. Sparverius,) imitating his cry 

 wherever he sees him, and squealing out as if caught : 

 this soon brings a number of his own tribe around him, 

 who all join in the frolic, darting about the hawk, and 

 feigning the cries of a bird sorely wounded, and already 

 under the clutches of its devourer ; while others lie con- 

 cealed in bushes, ready to second their associates in the 

 attack. But this ludicrous farce often terminates tragi- 

 cally. The hawk, singling out one of the most insolent 

 and provoking, sweeps upon him in the unguarded 

 moment, and offers him up a sacrifice to his hunger and 

 resentment. In an instant the tune is changed ; all their 

 buffoonery vanishes, and loud and incessant screams pro- 

 claim their disaster." 



1 The enormous beak is nearly as long as the body ; 

 and this circumstance has given rise to the belief that 

 the toucan is greatly embarrassed by this extraordinary 

 provision of nature, and rendered incapable of those active 

 movements which so peculiarly distinguish the feathered 

 race. If the beak, indeed, were constructed in that solid 

 manner which we ordinarily observe in birds of prey, and 

 in those who live upon hard substances, we should not be 

 surprised to find so considerable an appendage weighing 



