110 
WANDERINGS IN 
SECOND 
JOURNEY 
Its flight. 
to the same shady noon-day retreat. They are very 
noisy in rainy weather at all hours of the day, and 
in fair weather, at morn and eve. The sound which 
the bouradi makes, is like the clear yelping of a 
puppy dog, and you fancy he says “ pia-po-o-co,” 
and thus the South American Spaniards call him 
Piapoco. 
All the toucanets feed on the same trees on which 
the toucan feeds, and every species of this family of 
enormous bill, lays its eggs in the hollow trees. 
They are social, but not gregarious. You may 
sometimes see eight or ten in company, and from 
this you would suppose they are gregarious; but, 
upon a closer examination, you will find it has only 
been a dinner party, which breaks up and disperses 
towards roosting time. 
You will be at a loss to conjecture for what ends 
nature has overloaded the head of this bird with such 
an enormous bill. It cannot be for the offensive, as 
it has no need to wage war with any of the tribes of 
animated nature; for its food is fruits and seeds, 
and those are in superabundance throughout the 
whole year in the regions where the toucan is found. 
It can hardly be for the defensive, as the toucan is 
preyed upon by no bird in South America, and were 
it obliged to be at war, the texture of the bill is ill 
adapted to give or receive blows, as you will see in 
dissecting it. It cannot be for any particular pro¬ 
tection to the tongue, as the tongue is a perfect 
feather. 
The flight of the toucan is by jerks; in the action 
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