IIOMKS Oi" TOUCANS 11)'.) 



From iNIarcli to July the notes of the re{l-])ille(l toucans 

 were one of the commonest of iun<>le sounds, hut hy ^\u<4ust 

 tlie hii'ds seemed to ha\c' become much more quiet, and we 

 seldom had our attention drawn to them. At this time they 

 were usually seen in trios — doul)tless parents and a sin<^'le 

 young, or in flocks of five or six. ' The molt was completed 

 in a number of individuals as earl)' as the first week in July. 



BLACK-NECKED ARACARI 



Pteroglossus aracari 



Across the Mazaruni, just beyond the limit jungle- 

 wards of the Penal Settlement clearing, we noticed that a 

 pair of these toucans haunted the vicinity of a tall, uid<nown 

 jungle tree. Its white trunk rose smooth and straight as 

 a palm, high above the surrounding bush, and at a great 

 height from the ground bm'st into a wide-branched mass of 

 foliage. The birds did more calling and climbing about this 

 tree than seemed consistent with mere distinterested search 

 for food. 



Just above the first branch a blackened knot-hole was 

 not quite free from suspicion and we set up an amiable mur- 

 derer and a pleasant burglar to watch the hole while his 

 companions cut firewood in the vicinity. Hope, one of the 

 trusties, an interesting forger, and a particular friend of 

 ours, at last brought word that the birds were entering and 

 leaving, and he volunteered to fell the tree single-handed. 

 This he did in three hours on the morning of April 1.5. To 

 cut down such a tree anywhere else in the world woidd have 

 been nothing less than criminal. ITere, as a giant among a 

 continent of giants, it was of no more consequence than the 

 breaking of a blade of grass. 



As the cutting went on, the parent toucans hopped si- 

 lently about in the neighboring trees, silent except for the 

 occasional loud whirr of their wings. When at last they 



^ See the notes on this species which I jiulilished in "Our Search for a Wil- 

 derness," 1910, p. 327. 



