This Bird shewn to he omnivorous. 487 



it, and now making the peculiar clattering noise accompanied by 

 the shivering motion above-mentioned. The whole operation, 

 from the time of seizing his prey to that of devouring the last mor- 

 sel, lasted about a quarter of an hour. He then cleaned his bill 

 from the feathers, by rubbing it against the perches and bars of his 

 cage. While on this part of the subject, it may be as well to 

 mention another fact, which appears to me not unworthy of notice. 

 I have, more than once, seen him return his food sometime after 

 he had taken it from his crop, and, after masticating the morsel a 

 while in his bill, again swallow it ; the whole operation, particularly 

 the return of the food to the bill, bearing a strong resemblance 

 to the analogous action in the ruminating animals. The food, on 

 which I saw him so employed, was a piece of beef, which had, 

 evidently, been macerated sometime in the crop. While masti- 

 cating it, he made the same hollow clattering noise as he made 

 over the remains of the Goldfinch. Previous to this operation, he 

 had examined his feeding trough, in which there was nothing but 

 bread, which I saw him take up and reject ; and it appeared to 

 me, that he was thus reduced from necessity to the above mode of 

 solacing his palate with animal food. His food consists of bread, 

 boiled vegetables, eggs and flesh ; to which a little bird is now 

 added, about every second or third day. He shows a decided pre- 

 ference for animal food, picking out all morsels of that descrip- 

 tion, and not resorting to the vegetable diet till all of the former 

 is exhausted. 



The season has prevented the proprietor from introducing into 

 the cage, the nests of small birds, with their contents, and from 

 placing in the pan of water, in which the Toucan delights to wash 

 himself, gudgeons and other small fresh-water fish. It is submit- 

 ted, however, that enough has i)ecn stated, to show, that the Tou- 

 can is omnivorous, to justify the strong suspicions entertained on 

 the subject by Mr. Swainson, and to corroborate the observations 

 of Mr. Such. 



It is said that the nerves are very much expanded within the in- 

 ternal surface of the bill in these birds; and, independently of the 

 sensual enjoyment, which the Toucan above-mentioned appeared 

 to derive from palating his prey, (if I may use sucji an expression,) 



