450 



Marvels of the Universe 



cobalt blue, and this is the case (though not, perhaps, to the same extent) with the Toco Toucan 

 of my painting. 



The Toco is about the largest of the famil\% and may be as much as two feet long from the 

 tip of the beak to the end of the tail. But ordinarily the Toucans are small birds, ranging in size 

 from that of a thrush to a turtle-dove. They hve mainly on seeds and fruit, but add insects 

 to their dietary, especially during the breeding season, and apparently will also eat small mice 



and lizards if they can get them. But 

 unlike the hornbills, they do not 

 swallow whole the larger morsels of 

 their food for subsequent digestion 

 in the crop and the muscular gizzard 

 or stomach. On the contrary, they 

 make much use of their beaks in 

 mastication. Sometimes, when the 

 fruit or grub has been swallowed at 

 a gulp, it is regurgitated from the 

 crop after an interval and masti- 

 cated between the serrated edges of 

 the beak. 



The eggs of Toucans appear to be 

 always white, with a glossy surface, 

 and they are laid — two in number 

 only — in a nest which is formed in the 

 hollow or hole of a tree. 



THE PELYCOSAUR 



BY SIR H.\RRY JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G. 



Allusion is made in this work to the 

 order of reptiles represented at the 

 present day by the Tuatera "lizard" 

 of New Zealand. This last is a most 

 remarkable animal closely related to 

 extinct reptiles that inhabited Scotland, 

 Germany and India in very remote 

 periods — at a guess, some six millions 

 of years ago. At one time the Tuatera 

 was fairly common in the North Island 

 of New Zealand, but owing to ceaseless 

 persecution by the stupid colonists 

 (quite unable to appreciate the marvel 

 they had amongst them), it has become almost e.xtinct, and the few survivors only linger at the 

 present day on islets of the Bay of Islands in North New Zealand. The order to which the Tuatera 

 belongs is particularly interesting, because it is rather basic in character and shows us a somewhat 

 generalized type of reptile from which several very divergent orders may have been in time 

 developed, such as, for example, the Tortoises, the Dinosaurs and the Crocodiles. Reptiles of 

 this order often retain in their skulls the traces of an opening in the cranial bones on the top 

 of the skull. Though there is some doubt as to the meaning of this opening and the gland it 

 exposes, it seems on the whole most likely to be the vestige of a third eye which may have been 



Pfinio bp] 



THE CURL-CRESIED lOUCAN. 



This curious beaU enables Us owner to gel v^-ithin reach of the fruit 

 hanging from the branches of the trees, which are too slender to bear the 

 whole weight of the bird. This species derives its name from the feathers 

 on its crest, which have the appearance of steel or iron filings. 



