SCANSORES. 



21 



.ly a sharp vertical crest [like that of several of the smaller Hornbills]. They are birds of the hot and 

 humid climates of America, with stout and elevated tarsi, a long and rounded tail [composed of only 

 eight feathers], and black plumage. They subsist on insects and grain, fly in flocks, and several pairs 

 lay and incubate in the same nest, which is placed on the branches of trees, and is built of a 

 size proportionate to the number of couples which help to construct it. They are easily tamed, and 

 even taught to speak ; but tiieir flesh is rank and disagreeable. 



[The similarity of the colour and size of these birds to the Quiscali and Scolephagi, (p. 202), which inhabit the 

 same countries, has occasioned much confusion in their history. It is the latter, and not the Ani, which are 

 ;;ra!iivorous; and which also are easily tamed and taught to speak, the Ani having no accessory vocal muscles, 

 and consequently only uttering a particular screech. The name Crotophaga implies that they feed on the insect 

 parasites of cattle, like the common Starling ; which is not true of the Ani, though it applies to the birds 

 with which they have been confounded. The Ani strictly appertain to the Cuckoo group, and are remarkable for 

 possessing eyelashes like the Coucals and Hornbills : though inhabitants of the hottest regions of America, they 

 are remarkably solicitous for warmth, and soon perish of the least chill ; hence their singular sociality even while 

 brooding on their eggs, which are of a dark green colour. Several species are now known, and they appear to 

 subsist exclusively on insects.] 



The Toucans {RhampJiastos, Lin.) — 

 Are at once recognized by the enormous size of the hill, which is nearly as large and as long as the 

 body itself, but internally very light and cellular, [or rather permeated by a fragile network of osseous 

 fibres], having its edges dentated, and both mandibles arched towards the tip; the tongue is narrow 

 and elongated, and laterally barbed like a feather. They are peculiar to the warm regions of America, 

 where they live in small troops, [different species of them commonly associating in the same flock], 

 and subsist on fruit and insects, and during the nesting season on the eggs and young of other birds. 

 The structure of the bill necessitates them to throw each morsel of food into the air. and catch it in 

 the throat ; [a habit practised by many other birds in which tlie tongue is either unusually short, or 

 of a form unfit to assist in deglutition]. Their feet are short [not particularly so] ; their wings but 

 moderate, and tail rather lengthened, [and commonly held erect ; it consists of ten feathers]. They 

 nestle in the trunks of trees [producing, in every known instance, two delicately white eggs, of a 

 rotund form : the young recurve their tails upon the back while in the nest. 



These birds have a doubly emarginated ster- 

 num of peculiar form (fig. 103), a slightly muscu- 

 lar stomach, and short intestines without coeca : 

 they have no gall-bladder. Their moveiuents are 

 light and elegant in an extreme degree, leaping 

 from bough to bough with the most lightsome 

 agility, so that, in the living bird, the beak has 

 no appearance whatever of being disproportion- 

 ately large. They fly rapidly, but evidently with 

 much exertion, and with difficulty against the 

 wind, raising the bill above the axis of the body, 

 and propelling themselves at short inter\-als : 

 are exceedingly destructive to the eggs and young 

 of other birds, which they frequently obtain by 

 dipping their huge bill into the deep pensile nests 

 which abound in their indigenous abode, that 

 organ being remarkably sensitive, which enables 

 them to feel the contents. When roosting at 

 night, they contrive to bury their enormous beak 

 completely between the scapulary and intersca- 

 pulary feathers ; and tliey employ it with singular 

 dexterity, and are often observed to scratch it 

 gently with the foot, as if that produced an agreeable sensation : many nervous papilla; are distributed over its 

 surface]. 



The Restricted Toucans — 



Have the beak thicker than the head, and are generally black, with vivid colours on the throat, breast, 

 and croup. [Their size is comparatively large, both sexes arc alike in plumage, the tail is less 

 cuneated, the clavicle bones are separate, short, and pointed, not joined to constitute afiircula. as in 

 Birds in general.] 



The Aricaris {Pteror/lossus, Illigcr) — 

 Have the licak not so thick as the head, and enveloped with a less attenuated corneous covering; tlicir 



FiR. 103.- 



