266 VERTEBRATES. 



" Heedless and bankrupt in all curiosity must he be who can 

 journey on without stopping to take a view of the towering mora. 

 Its topmost branch, when naked with age or dead by accident, is 

 the favorite resort of the Toucan. Many a time has this singular 

 bird felt the shot faintly strike him from the gun of the fcwlcr 

 beneath, and owed his life to the distance betwixt them." In the 

 same interesting and amusing work, he remarks a strange habit 

 of the Toucan, called the Houtou by .the natives. 



" This bird (the Houtou) seems to suppose that its beauty 

 can be increased by trimming the tail, which undergoes the same 

 operation as our hair in a barber's shop, only with this difference, 

 that it uses its own beak, which is serrated, in lieu of a pair of 

 scissors. As soon as his tail is full grown he begins about an inch 

 from the extremi^ of the two longest feathers in it, and cuts away 

 the web on both sides of the shaft, making a gap about an inch 

 long : both male and female adorn their tails in this manner, 

 which gives them a remarkable appearance amongst all other 

 birds." 



The Macaws are natives of South America. The blue and 

 yellow Macaw inhabits Brazil, Gruiana, and Surinam, living prin- 

 cipally on the banks of rivers. Of one of the Macaws, the Caro- 

 lina Parrot, or Parrakeet, as Wilson calls it, the following anecdote 

 is told by that enterprising naturalist : — 



"Having shot down a number, some of which were only 

 wounded, the whole flock swept repeatedly round their prostrate 

 companions, and again settled on a low tree, within twenty yards 

 of the spot where I stood. At each successive discharge, though 

 showers of them fell, yet the affection of the survivors seemed 

 rather to increase, for after a few circuits round the place they 

 again alighted near me, looking down on their slaughtered com- 

 panions with such manifest symptoms of sympathy and concern, 

 as entirely disarmed me." 



The Ringed Parrakeet is frequently seen domesticated 

 in this country, where its pleasing manners and gentle disposition 

 render it a great favorite. It seems to be exceedingly fond of 

 ripe walnuts, divided in halves, and while it is picking out the 



