Sr)8 THE. TROPICAL WORLD. 



top into a broad spoon or spatula, which, though not possessed of 

 great power, renders him excellent service in disturbing the mud 

 and seizing the little reptiles and worms he delights to feed on. 

 The Jacana (Farra jacana) possesses enormously long and 

 slender toes, armed with equally long spine-like claws. While 

 pacing the ground they seem as inconvenient as the snow shoes 

 of a Laplander, and yet nothing can be more suitable for a bird 

 destined to stalk over the floating leaves of the Nelumbos and 

 Nymphseas, and to seek for water insects on this unstable 

 foundation. The Jacana is found all over tropical America, and 

 is also called the Surgeon, from the nail of his hinder toe being 

 sharp and acuated like a lancet. 



Although in the torrid zone we hardly 

 ever meet with a single aboriginal species 

 of plant or animal common to both 

 hemispheres, yet the analogy of climate 

 everywhere produces analogous organic 

 forms, and when on surveying the fea- 

 thered tribes o£ America, we are struck 

 by any bird remarkable for its singularity 



to find its representative in Asia, Africa, or Australia. 



Thus the enormous beak of the toucan is emulated or sur- 

 passed by that of the Indian Calao, or Ehinoceros Hornbill 

 (Buceros rhinoceros) whose twelve-inch long, curved, and sharp- 

 pointed bill, is, moreover, surmounted with an immense append- 

 age in tlie form of a reverted horn, the use of which belongs as 

 yet to the secrets of nature. While the toucans are distinguished 

 by a gaudy plumage, the Calaos are almost entirely decked with 

 a robe black as that of the raven, and enhancing the beautiful 

 red and orange colours of their colossal beak. Generally con- 

 gregating in small troops, like the toucans, they inhabit the 

 dense forests, where they chiefly live on fruits, seeds, and 

 insects, which they also swallow whole, throwing them up into 

 the air and catching them as they fall. The clapping together 

 of their mandibles causes a loud and peculiar noise, which 

 towards evening interrupts the silence of the forest. The flight 

 of a bird burdened with such a load must naturally be short : 

 they hop upon their thick clumsy feet, and generally roost 

 upon the highest treeg. 



