SOUTH AMERICA. 123 



You will be at a loss to conjecture for what ends 8ECON 



J JOURNEY. 



nature has overloaded the head of this bird with 



such an enormous bill. It cannot be for the 

 offensive, as it has no need to wage war with any 

 of the tribes of animated nature ; for its food is 

 fruits and seeds, and those are in superabundance 

 throughout the whole year in the regions where 

 the toucan is found. It can hardly be for the 

 defensive, as the toucan is preyed upon by no bird 

 in South America, and were it obliged to be at 

 war, the texture of the bill is ill adapted to give 

 or receive blows, as you will see in dissecting it. 

 It cannot be for any particular protection to the 

 tongue, as the tongue is a perfect feather. 



The flight of the toucan is by jerks; in the its flight, 

 action of flying it seems incommoded by this huge 

 disproportioned feature, and the head seems as if 

 bowed down to the earth by it against its will ; if , 

 the extraordinary form and size of the bill expose 

 the toucan to ridicule, its colours make it amends. 

 Were a specimen of each species of the toucan colours of 



11 1 1 Ml / * e bil>> 



presented to you, you would pronounce the bill of 

 the bouradi the most rich and beautiful ; on the 

 ridge of the upper mandible a broad stripe of most 

 lovely yellow extends from the head to the point; 

 a stripe of the same breadth, though somewhat 

 deeper yellow, falls from it at right angles next 

 the head down to the edge of the mandible ; then 

 follows a black stripe, half as broad, falling at 

 right angles from the ridge, and running narrower 



