360 TOUCAN. 



compressible between the fingers. Both mandibles 

 are serrated in an outward direction: the tongue 

 is of a highly singular form, representing the ap- 

 pearance of a very narrow lanceolate feather, being 

 of a somewhat horny or cartilaginous nature, and 

 divided on each side into innumerable short and 

 close-set fibres; inconsequence of which structure 

 it was described by some of the old writers as a 

 real feather, supplying the place of a tongue. The 

 Orbits of the eyes are generally bare. The Tou- 

 cans are supposed to feed principally on fruits j 

 but, in a state of captivity, have been observed to 

 eat animal food of various kinds. They deposit 

 their eggs, which are usually two in number, in 

 the hollows of trees, on the surface of the decayed 

 wood. 



The species at present known are not very 

 numerous, and of those usually considered as dis- 

 tinct, it is not improbable that some may be mere 

 sexual differences. 



