BRASILIAN SAW-BILLED ROLLER, 
' ": 
not be natural ; since, in all birds, the featherSj 
grow constantly by pairs, just as other animalsj 
have two legs or two arms. The Houtou is 
about the size of the Magpye. It measures 
seventeen inches and three lines, from the point 
of the bill to the end of the great quills of the 
tail. It's toes are placed as in the Kingfishers, 
the Manakins, Sec. But it is distinguished 
from these, and even from all other birds, by 
the form of it*s bill ; which, though propor- 
tioned to the body, is conical, and incurvated, 
and the edges of the two mandibles are in- 
dented. This chara6ler would discriminate 
the Houtou: but it has another yet more sin- 
gular one, peculiar to itself; which is, that near 
the ends of the two long quills of the middle 
of the tail, there is a space of about an inch 
absolutely bare, or shaved, so that the shaft is. 
naked in that part. This appearance, how- 
ever, belongs to the adult ; for, when the bird 
is young, these quills are, like the other fea- 
thers, Avebbed their whole length. It has been 
supposed, that this naked space is not a natu- 
ral proda(5lion ; and, that it is, perhaps, owing' 
merely to the caprice of the bird, which 
plucks the feathery ilbres. But it is observed 
th^t. 
