The wings look particularly short when flying, and the bills

conspicuous. They go in small flocks straggling one behind the

other, the older birds (judging by the length of bill) taking the

lead. As a rule, they are not early birds at getting up in the

mornings, and are late to retire of an evening. I have often

seen them about when it has been nearly dark. During the hot

hours of the day they retire to the shady depths of the forest,

and are never to be seen. Those of the genus Rhamphastus are

dwellers in the highest trees ; While Pteroglossus may be found

in more open spaces, and often in banana plantations round

human habitations. On one occasion I even saw a Pteroglossus

on the ground eating a fallen plantain, but a Rhamphastus never.

Then there are the little Green Toucans, Aulacorhamphus , which

may be said to live among the undergrowth of the forests, and

are never seen in trees of any great height, for they feed on the

berries of bushes and low trees. These birds seem to be solitary,

for I never saw even a pair of them together. Unless you.

happen to see them settle, it is most difficult to detect them in

the forests, for, unlike other Toucans, they will sit motionless

for a long time. Often I have had them pointed out within

seven or eight yards of me, and could not detect them sometimes

before my guide had lost all patience.


One has always read in books that Toucans eat the eggs

and young of other birds. Although it may be true, I never

personally saw anything to confirm this. On the contrary, there

was a tree just by our hut, at Nanegal, to which Toucans

constantly resorted, and the small birds never seemed in the

least alarmed at their presence among them. On the Napo, I

once saw a flock of Toucans in a tree from every branch of

which were hanging the nests of the Cassicus persicus ; the latter

birds passed to and from their nests without taking any apparent

notice of the Toucans ; and I never saw a nest of any of the

Icteridce but which was far too long for a Toucan’s bill to reach

the eggs. I am aware that in captivity these birds, as a rule,

evince a decided preference for meat, and I have known them

to kill and eat a small bird, but it might be an unnatural taste

caused by confinement. My old Sulphur-breasted Toucan was

never a sinner in this wa}^ His aviary was only divided off from

the aviary of the smaller fruit-eating birds by wire netting; they

were constantly clinging to the wire, and, had he been so minded,

nothing would have been easier than for him to have pulled

them through, but far from doing that, he used to pick out all

the choicest morsels from his food-pan, and feed them through

the meshes. I am certain that one Bulbul relied solely on him



