333 NATURAL HISTORY. 



" There the Jay and the Throstell 



The Mavis menyd in her song, 

 The Woodwale fard or beryd as a bell 

 That wode about me rung." 



True T/tomas. 



Some Woodpeckers seem to make storehouses against the winter, by pecking holes hi a tree, and 

 an interesting example of a piece of bark, in which a Red-headed Woodpecker (Jlelanerpes fonni- 

 civorus)* had placed a store of acorns, is to be seen in the British Museum. 



Another British species, the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Picus^ minor], is a bird of different 

 habits, frequenting fruit-gardens in. the autumn, and doing very little damage to trees in the nesting 

 season. It generally selects the rotten branch of an old poplar-tree, and hollows out a hole in so 

 perilous a situation that it is difficult to climb to, and, indeed, the whole bough is often brought down 

 by the first gale in the ensiling winter. Here its small wedge-shaped bill speedily makes an excavation, 

 and at some little distance down in the hollow interior it lays its glossy white eggs on the touchwood 

 and decaying wood. Both sexes assist in the preparation of the nest ; and in mild winters they some- 

 times begin with the commencement of the year to look out for their future home. The selection of 

 this appears to be a matter of no small anxiety, for several trees are examined in turn, and 

 often at long distances apart. The birds at the time of incubation keep xip a continual signalling 

 one to the other, which is produced by a rapid whin-ing noise caused by tapping on the thinner 

 branches of the dead trees. This call-note, if it may be called such, is generally heard in the early 

 morning, and ceases as soon as the nesting operations have finally commenced. Besides this note, 

 they have also one like the " laugh " of the Green Woodpecker, but, of course, much reduced in 

 accordance with the difference in the size of the two birds. The little Spotted Woodpecker may often 

 be seen hanging on to, and climbing round, the slender twigs of the outer branches of a tree, and looks 

 much like a Creeper or a Nuthatch, which it does not greatly exceed in dimensions. 



THE SIXTH FAMILY OF THE ZYGODACTYLE PICARIAX BIRDS. 

 THE TOUCANS (Rhamphastida).l 



The Toucans, with their clumsy bills, have much the aspect of Hornbills, which they may bo said 

 to represent in South America, to which continent they are entirely confined, but by this time the 

 student knows that they have really little to do with each other, beyond a certain, outward similarity, 

 as the Toucans belong to the Scansorial, the Hornbills to the Fissirostral, section of the Picarice. It is 

 not possible to give a long account of the habits of individual species of Toucans, and a general sketch of 

 their manners and customs is extracted from the monograph of the Toucans written by Mr. John Gould. $ 

 To him the late Prince Maximilian, of Neuwied, an excellent observer, during his travels in South 

 America writes : " The Rkamphastidce are very common in all parts of the extensive forests of the 

 Brazils, and are killed in great numbers at the cooler portion of the year, for the purposes of the table. 

 To the stranger they are of even greater interest than to the natives, from their remarkable form, mnl 

 from the rich and strongly-contrasted style of their colouring, their black or green bodies being 

 adorned with markings of the most brilliant hues red, orange, blue and white the naked parts of 

 the body dyed with brilliant colours, the legs blue or green, the irides blue, yellow, &c., and the large 

 bill of a different colour in every species, and in many instances very gaily marked. The colouring of 

 the soft parts is, however, so evanescent, that, to determine the species with accuracy, they must be 

 depicted during life or immediately after the birds are killed. Common as these birds are in their 

 native wilds, it is exceedingly difficult to detect their breeding-places ; it is certain that they deposit 

 their eggs in the hollow limbs and holes of the colossal trees so abundant in the tropical forests, but 

 I never was so fortunate as to discover them. The stomachs of the specimens I examined contained 

 nothing but the i-emains of fruits, principally of the softer kinds, for which, indeed, they have such 

 a liking that they resort in great numbers to the plantations in the vicinity of their native haunts, and 

 commit sad havoc among their favourite delicacies. I was informed that they frequently steal and 

 eat young birds, but no instance of their doing so came under my own observation, and I never 



* fxeAas, black ; ep-ma, I creep ; formicivorus, ant-eating. t Linnreus. A proper name. J From pd/j^os, a bilL 

 "Monograph of the Rhampliastidcc, or Family of Toucans," by John Gould, F.RS. Introduction. 



