TOUCAN. 281 



to the least pressure of the finger. * They lay two eggs, but whether 

 they breed more than once in a year is not certain, though it is most 

 probable, as they are pretty numerous; are easily tamed, if brought 

 up young, and in this state become very familiar. The third, fourth, 

 and sixth species have been brought alive to England, and seemed to 

 suffer merely from the coldness of the climate, for every sort of food 

 appeared to satisfy them. Fruits of all kinds, bread, and even flesh 

 and fish without distinction ; but whatever they took was swallowed 

 whole, t first taking it in the bill, then giving the morsel a toss up- 

 wards, immediately caught it again, and gulphed it down, without 

 even the slightest compression. We do not hear of any of these being 

 used for food, as their flesh has the report of being ill tasted. — The 

 word Toucan, some suppose, takes its rise from the circumstance of the 

 tongue being feathered ; Toucan, in the Brazilian language, signify- 

 ing a feather ; % others derive it from the cry of the bird, which has 

 been thought to resemble the word Toucaraca. II 



■»* 



1— TOCO TOUCAN— Pl. XXIX. 



Ramphastos Toco, Lid. Orn. i. 135. Gm. Lin. i. 356. 



Toucan, seu Pica Bressilica, Gesn. Av. p. 72G. 



Le Toco, Buf. vii. 117. pl. 6. Pl. enl. 82. Levail. pl. 7. S. 



Le Toucan proprement dit, Voy. d'Azara. iii. No. 50. Tern. man. ed. 2. anal. p. lxxvi. 



The Toco, Ger. Syn. i. 325. pl. ix. Shaw's Zool. viii. 361. pl. 46. 



LENGTH twenty inches, or more. Bill seven inches and a half 

 long; the base of both mandibles black, the rest of the under one 



* We much doubt their ability of defending themselves from the attacks of Monkies, 

 mentioned by Albin, viz. that they "so settle in the nest as to put the bill out at the hole, 

 "and give the Monkies such an unwelcome reception, that they presently withdraw, and 

 "glad they escape so."— Albin, v. ii. p. 24. The whole of the cavity of the bill consists of 

 a delicate net-work of bony matter, and on these bony partitions a great number of blood- 

 vessels aredistinctly ramified in the living animal — hence, Dr. Troll concludes, this structure 



to be an admirable contrivance of nature, to increase the delicacy of the br°-an of smell. 



Lin. Trans, v. xi. p. 2S8. By others supposed to form part of the air cells, so conspicuous 

 in birds in general. f Hist, des Ois. vii. p. 1 11. + Id. p. 110. || Pernetty Voy. p. ISO. 



VOL. II. O O 



