SOUTH AMERICA. 



121 



with this difference, that there is black about an inch Second 



JOUKNEY. 



from the point. The stripe corresponding to the deep 



yellow stripe on the upper mandible is sky blue. It is 

 worthy of remark that all these brilliant colours of the 

 bill are to be found in the plumage of the body, and the 

 bare skin round the eye. 



All these colours, except the blue, are inherent in the 

 horn ; that part which appears blue is in reality transpa- 

 rent white, and receives its colour from a thin piece of 

 blue skin inside. This superb bill fades in death, and in 

 three or four days' time, has quite lost its original 

 colours. 



Till within these few years, no idea of the true colours 

 of the bill could be formed from the stuffed Toucans 

 brought to Europe. About eight years ago, while eating 

 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 proved Preserves a 



bill of the 



this beyond a doubt. If you take your pen-knife and Toucan, 

 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 Avhole 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; 



