124 WANDERINGS IN 



SECOND along the edge to within half an inch of the 



JOURNEY. 



point. The rest of the mandible is a deep bright 



red. The lower mandible has no yellow : its 

 black and red are distributed in the same manner 

 as on the upper one, with this difference, that 

 there is black about an inch from the point. The 

 stripe corresponding to the deep yellow stripe on 

 the upper mandible is sky blue. It is worthy of 

 remark that all these brilliant colours of the bill 

 are to be found in the plumage of the body, and 

 the bare skin round the eye. 



All these colours, except the blue, are inherent 

 in the horn ; that part which appears blue is in 

 reality transparent white, and receives its colour 

 from a thin piece of blue skin inside. This 

 superb bill fades in death, and in three or four 

 days' time, has quite lost its original colours. 



Till within these few years, no idea of the true 

 colours of the bill could be formed from the stuffed 

 toucans brought to Europe. About eight years 

 ago, while eating a boiled toucan, the thought 

 struck me that the colours in the bill of a pre- 

 served specimen might be kept as bright as those 

 Preserves a in life. A series of experiments proved this be- 

 Toucan. yond a doubt. If you take your penknife and 

 cut away the roof of the upper mandible, you will 

 find that the space betwixt it and the outer shell 

 contains a large collection of veins, and small 

 osseous fibres running in all directions through 

 the whole extent of the bill. Clear away all 



