SECOND JOURNEY. 



103 



a boiled toucan, the thought struck me that the colours 

 in the bill of a preserved specimen might be kept as 

 bright as those in life. A series of experiments 



Preserves 



a bill of the proved this beyond a doubt. If you take 

 your penknife and cut away the roof of the 

 upper mandible, you will find that the space betwixt it 

 and the outer shell contains a large collection of veins, 

 and small osseous fibres running in all directions 

 through the whole extent of the bill. Clear away all 

 these with your knife, and you will come to a substance 

 more firm than skin, but of not so strong a texture as 

 the horn itself; cut this away also, and behind it is 

 discovered a thin and tender membrane ; yellow, where 

 it has touched the yellow part of the horn; blue, where 

 it has touched the red part, and black towards the edge 

 and point. When dried, this thin and tender membrane 

 becomes nearly black ; as soon as it is cut away, nothing 

 remains but the outer horn, red and yellow, and now 

 become transparent ; the under mandible must undergo 

 the same operation. Great care must be taken, and the 

 knife used very cautiously, when you are cutting through 

 the different parts close to where the bill joins on to the 

 head. If you cut away too much, the bill drops off; if 

 you press too hard, the knife comes through the horn ; 

 if you leave too great a portion of the membrane, it 

 appears through the horn, and by becoming black when 

 dried, makes the horn appear black also, and has a 

 bad effect ; judgment, caution, skill, and practice, will 

 ensure success. 



You have now cleared the bill of all those bodies 

 which are the cause of its apparent fading ; for, as has 

 been said before, these bodies dry in death, and become 

 quite discoloured, and appear so through the horn ; and 



