360 TROPICAL BIRD LIFE IN BOTH HEMISPHERES 



By their enormous bill, which might seem rather adapted to a 

 bird of ostrich-like dimensions than to one not much larger than 

 a crow, the Toucans (^Ramphastidce) are distinguished from all 

 the other feathered races of America. Were it of a strong and 

 solid texture, this huge beak would infallibly weigh them to 

 the ground ; but being of a light and cellular structure, they 

 carry it easily, and leap with such agility from bough to bough, 

 that it does not then appear preposterously large. 



When flying, it gives them, indeed, a very awkward appear- 

 ance, but the beauty of its colouring soon reconciles the eye to 

 its disproportionate size : for the bright- 

 est red, variegated with black and yellow 

 stripes on the upper mandible, and a 

 stripe of the liveliest sky-blue on the 

 lower, contribute to adorn the bill of the 

 Bouradi, as one of the three Toucan 

 Toucan species of Guiana is called by the Indians. 



Unfortunately, these brilliant tints fade 

 after death, and it requires all the art of a Waterton to fix and 

 preserve their evanescent hues. The plumage of this strange 

 bird rivals the beak in beauty of colouring, and the feathers are 

 frequently used as ornaments by the Brazilian ladies, as well as 

 by the Indian tribes that roam through the vast forests of South 

 America. The Toucans are generally seen in small flocks or 

 troops, and from this it might be supposed they were gregarious ; 

 " but upon a closer examination," says the author of " Wander- 

 ings in South America," "you will find it has only been a dinner- 

 party which breaks up and disperses towards roosting-time." 

 While thus assembled, discord never ceases to reign, for there is 

 hardly a more quarrelsome and imperious bird than the toucan. 

 Schomburgk relates an anecdote of a tamed Eamphastos who, 

 by dint of arrogance, assisted by his enormous beak, had made 

 himself despot not only over the domestic fowls, but even over 

 the larger four-footed animals of an estate in Guiana. Large 

 and small willingly submitted to him, so that when a dispute 

 arose among the trumpeters and hoccos of the yard, the com- 

 batants all dispersed as soon as he made his appearance, and if 

 by chance he had been overlooked in the heat of the fray, his 

 powerful beak soon reminded them that their lord and master 

 was ])y no means inclined to tolerate disputes among his subjects. 



