546 CLASS AVES. , 



not safe from the attacks of the toucans, who wait until the 

 clay of which it is composed is softened by the rain, to batter 

 it with strokes of their bill, that they may devour the eggs 

 and young. During the season of hatching, the toucans have 

 scarcely any other aliment ; but at other times they live on 

 fruits, and sometimes on insects and the tender buds of plants; 

 they then leave the other winged tribes in peace. 



Notwithstanding the disproportioned bill of the toucans, it 

 offers no more resistance in flying, than those of other birds, 

 whose head and surface are equivalent in extent to theirs, be- 

 cause they always present its point to the wind. Moreover, 

 we must take into consideration the specific lightness which 

 results from the peculiar conformation of this large bill, and 

 which prevents it from retarding the flight of the bird. In a 

 state of repose, the toucan carries its bill a little more raised 

 than the horizontal line which passes by the eyes, and, on 

 observing it pretty closely, this bill actually appears factitious, 

 because the base exceeds this level of the head, which is em- 

 bossed in it as in a case. According to M. d"'Azara, the tongue 

 of the toucan is inflexible, and can be of no use for the direc- 

 tion of the aliments, or the formation of the cry, which, in 

 the two species of Paraguay, is nothing more than may be 

 expressed by the syllable rac. 



The toucans fly to a moderate height, and in a straight and 

 horizontal line. They beat their wings at intervals, and with 

 some noise. Their flight is swifter than the small extent of 

 their wings would lead us to suppose. They jump from 

 branch to branch, and change position quickly ; but do not 

 climb, after the fashion of the woodpeckers. These birds are 

 strong, and exceedingly attentive to all that passes around 

 fhem..'- They advance with distrust, and but rarely settle on 

 the ground. They hop obliquely and ungracefully, and with 

 their legs nearly a palm asunder. When they take little birds 

 in the nest, as well as morsels of meat or fruits, they dart them 



