168 
POPULAE HISTOHY OP BIRDS. 
young of other birds^ neither do they touch carrion. At the 
Earl of Derby^s aviary, in 1848, the writer saw many spe- 
cies ; and it w^as amusing to see the dexterity with which 
each and all of them caught the plums thrown to them from 
a considerable distance : whether these plums were pitched 
over or under their perches mattered nothing to the toucans ; 
they seized the fruit, and, by a particular jerk, threw it up 
in the air, and with open beak re-caught and swallowed it. 
Waterton says they are partial to each other^s company, and 
often join each other at the same tree, retiring to the same 
shady noonday retreat. In rainy weather, like some other 
birds, they are very noisy during the whole day ; and utter 
their ^^yelping^^ sounds in fair weather only in the morning 
and evening. The eggs are deposited in hollow trees, and 
are, as far as is yet known, two in number and of a round 
form. 
The yellow feathers of one of the toucans form, part of the 
ornaments of the Emperor of Brazil on state occasions : the 
cape is formed of them. The cape is a vestige of the dress of 
the ancient caciques of the country"^. 
The large bill, although at first sight out of proportion, 
is well suited to the habits of the bird, and is very light, 
* Stewart's Visit to tlie South Seas, p. 30. 
