THE TOUCAN. 139 



Remarkable long tongue. 



dexterity catch in the air before they fell to the 

 ground. Its bill, he adds, was hollow, and on 

 that account very light, so that the bird had but 

 little strength in this apparently formidable wea- 

 pon ; nor could it peck or strike smartly with, it. 

 But its tongue seemed to assist the efforts of this 

 unwieldy machine : it was long, thin, and flat, not 

 much unlike one of the feathers on the neck of 

 a dunghill cock; this the bird moved up and 

 down, and often extended five or six inches from 

 the bill. It was of a flesh-colour, and very 

 remarkably fringed on each side with small fila- 

 ments. 



It is probable that this long tongue has greater 

 strength than the thin hollow beak that contains 

 it ; and that the beak is only a kind of sheath 

 for this peculiar instrument used by the toucan 

 in making its nest and in obtaining its provision. 

 Indeed there appears to be some doubt as to the 

 real strength of this bird's beak. Willoughby 

 says, that notwithstanding its extreme lightness, 

 " yet it is of a bony substance ; and therefore it 

 is not to be wondered that, dexterously used, it 

 should by many strokes pierce a tree ; having, 

 perchance, the instinct to chuse a rotten one." 



The toucan builds its nest in the "holes of trees, 

 that are either formed by itself, or that from ac- 

 cident it meets with, and lays two eggs ; and no 

 bird, says M. de Buffon, better secures its young 

 from external injury. It has not only birds, 

 jnen, and serpents/ to guard against, but a nu- 

 s 2 



