Chap. Y. 
TAME TOUCAN. 
341 
which tends to link the two families together ; the 
superior length of the Toucan s bill gives it an advan- 
tage over the Barbet, with its small, conical beak ; it 
can reach and devour immense quantities of fruit 
whilst remaining seated, and thus its heavy body and 
gluttonous appetite form no obstacles to the prosperity 
of the species. It is worthy of note, that the young of 
the Toucan has a very much smaller beak than the 
full-grown bird. The relation between the extraor- 
dinarily lengthened bill of the Toucan and its mode of 
obtaining food, is precisely similar to that between the 
long neck and lips of the Giraffe and the mode of 
browsing of the animal. The bill of the Toucan can 
scarcely be considered a very perfectly-formed instru- 
ment for the end to which it is applied, as here ex- 
plained ; but nature appears not to shape organs at 
once for the functions to which they are now adapted, 
but avails herself, here of one already-existing structure 
or instinct, there of another, according as they are 
handy when need for their further modification arises. 
One day, whilst walking along the principal pathway 
in the woods near Ega, I saw one of these Toucans 
seated gravely on a low branch close to the road, and 
had no difficulty in seizing it with my hand. It turned 
out to be a runaway pet bird ; no one, however, came 
to own it, although I kept it in my house for several 
months. The bird was in a half-starved and sickly con- 
dition, but after a few days of good living it recovered 
health and spirits, and became one of the most amus- 
ing pets imaginable. Many excellent accounts of the 
habits of tame Toucans, have been published, and 
