138 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description Manners of a tame one. 



ander the Great is said to be the first who intro- 

 duced parrots into Europe. 



THE TOUCAN. 



THIS curious bird is almost twenty inches 

 in length; the bill is six inches long, and near 

 two inches thick at the base, being of a yellowish 

 green colour, reddish at the tip. The nostrils 

 are at the base of the bill, but are not covered 

 with feathers, as in some of the species. The 

 principal upper parts of the body, and the breast 

 and neck are of a glossy black, with a tinge of 

 green; the lower part of the back, the rump, 

 upper part of the tail, and small feathers of the 

 wings are the same, with a cast of ash-colour : 

 the breast is of a fine orange. The belly, sides, 

 thighs, and the short feathers of the tail are a 

 bright red; the remainder of the tail is of a 

 greenish black, tipped with red. The legs and 

 claws are black. This bird is easily tamed, and 

 will eat almost any thing offered to it; in general 

 it feeds on fruits. Pozzo, who bred up a toucan, 

 and had it perfectly domesticated, tells us that it 

 leaped up and down, wagged its tail, and cried 

 with a voice resembling that of a magpie. It fed 

 upon the same things as parrots : but was most 

 greedy of grapes; which, being plucked off one 

 by one, and thrown to it, it would with great 



