374 TROPICAL BIRD LIFE IN BOTH HEMISPHERES 



the birds ; but in this respect the settler of European extraction 

 is far inferior to the wild Indian. Accustomed to rely on him- 

 self alone, the savage trusts to his own unfailing powers, and his 

 hardened constitution, his falcon eye, his sharp ear and swift 

 foot, are sure to provide him with food, where the European 

 would fall a victim to despair. 



The breeding season of the tropical birds is not restricted to 

 a few months. Many Brazilian birds build their nests almost 

 at all times of the year, but the greater number at the end of 

 the rainy season, in September, October, November, and 

 December, which, in the southern parts of that vast country, 

 are the warmest months of the year, and consequently the most 

 congenial to the young brood. 



It is a remarkable circumstance that rarely more than two 

 eggs are found in the nests of the forest birds, and even in those 

 of many of the aquatic tribes, and this is the more to be 

 wondered at, when we consider the vast number of enemies 

 which in the equatorial zone menace the existence of the 

 feathered races. But against these dangers we have seen that 

 many of them guard themselves and their young by wonderful 

 nests. 



Although in the torrid zone we hardly ever meet with 

 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 of America, we are struck 

 by any bird remarkable for its singularity 

 of shape or mode of life, we may expect 

 to find its representative in Asia, Africa, 

 or Australia. 



Thus the enormous beak of the toucan 

 Kinnoceroa Hornbiii. jg emulated or surpassod by that of the 

 Indian Calao, or Rhinoceros Hornbill {Buceros rhinoceros), whose 

 twelve-inch long, curved, and sharp-pointed bill is, moreover, 

 surmounted with an immense appendage, in the form of 

 reverted horn, the use of which belongs as yet to the secrets 

 of nature. While the toucans are distinguished by a gaudy 



