94 THE RED-BELLIED TOUCAN. 



THE RED-BELLIED TOUCAN. 



This Toucan, which is a native of Guiana and Brazil, is about 



twenty inches in length. The bill is six. 

 inches long, and nearly two inches thick 

 at the base; it is of a yellowish green 

 color, reddish at the tip. The nostril* 

 are at the base of the bill ; but are not, 

 as in some of the species, covered with 

 feathers. The principal upper parts of 

 the body, and the throat and neck, are 

 of a glossy black, with a tinge of green: 

 the lower part of the back, the rump, 

 TOUCAN. upper part of the tail, and small feathers 



of the wings, are the same, with a cast of 

 ash color. The breast is orange- color. The* belly, sides, thighs, and 

 the short feathers of the tail, are bright red : the remainder of the 

 tail is :>f a greenish black, tipped with red. The legs and claws are 

 black. 



In several parts of South America these birds have the name of 

 Preacher Toucan ; from the circumstance of one of the flock being 

 always poi-ched at the top of a tree, above its companions, while they 

 are asleep. This makes a continual noise, resembling ill-articulated 

 sounds, moving its head during the whole time to the right and left, 

 in order, it is said, to deter birds of prey from seizing n them. 



They feed chiefly on fruits. The females build their nests in the 

 holes of trees ; and no bird better secures its offspring from external 

 injury than this. It has not only birds, men, and serpents to guard 

 against ; but tc numerous train of Monkeys, which are more prying, 

 mischievous, and hungry, than all the rest. The Toucan, however, 

 sits in its hole, defending the entrance with its great beak ; and if the 

 Monkey ventuies to offer a visit of curiosity, the Toucan gives him 

 such a welcome, that he is soon glad to escape.* 



The Red-bellied Toucans are easily tamed, and, in that state, they 

 will eat of almost any thing that is offered to them. Pozzo, who bred 

 up one of these birds, and had it perfectly domesticated, informs ua 

 that it leaped up and down, wagged its tail, and cried with a voice 

 resembling that of a Magpie. It fed upon the same things as Parrots: 

 but was most greedy of grapes. These being plucked off one by one, 

 and thrown to it, it would with great dexterity catch in the air before 

 they fell to the ground. Its bill, he adds, was hollow, and on that 



* There appears to be some doubt as to the real strength of the beak of the Tou- 

 can. This assertion of M. de Buffon seems to contradict what he has before said of 

 the weakness of this enormous and apparently disproportionate member. Willughby, 

 p. 129, says, that, notwithstanding its extreme lightness, " it is of a bony substance; 

 and therefore is not to be wondered that, dexterously used, it should by many strokes 

 pierce a tree ; the bird having, perchance, the instinct to choose a rotten one." It icr 

 irom this writer that Buffon has derived the latter part of the above account. 



