182 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



has only heen a dinner party, whicli breaks up and dis- 

 perses towards roosting-tinie. 



You will be at a loss to conjecture for what ends nature 

 has overloaded the head of this bird with such an enor- 

 mous 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 fruit and seeds, and those are in superabun- 

 dance 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 dissect- 

 ing 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 action of 

 tlying it seems incommoded by this huge disproportioned 

 feature, and tlie 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 

 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 ex- 

 tends 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 man- 

 dible ; then follows a black stripe, half as broad, falling at 

 right angles from the ridge, and running narrower along the 

 edge to within half an inch of the 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 



