SOUTH AMERICA, 
111 
of flying it seems incommoded by this huge dispro- second 
f - 1 1 T 1 -P , T JOURNEY. 
portioned feature, and the head seems as it bowed — 
down to the earth by it against its will. If the extra¬ 
ordinary form and size of the bill expose the toucan 
to ridicule, its colours make it amends. Were a colours of 
specimen of each species of the toucan presented to 
you, you would pronounce the bill of the bouradi 
the most rich and beautiful; on the ridge of the 
upper mandible a broad stripe of most lovely yellow 
extends from the head to the point; a stripe of the 
same breadth, though somewhat deeper yellow, falls 
from it at right angles next the head down to the 
edge of the mandible; then follows a black stripe, 
half as broad, falling at right angles from the ridge, 
and running narrower along the edge to within half 
an inch of the point. The rest of the mandible is 
a deep bright red. The lower mandible has no 
yellow: its black and red are distributed in the same 
manner as on the upper one, with this difference, 
that there is black about an inch from the point. 
The stripe corresponding to the deep yellow stripe 
on the upper mandible is sky blue. It is worthy of 
remark that all these brilliant colours of the bill are 
to be found in the plumage of the body, and the 
bare skin round the eye. 
All these colours, except the blue, are inherent in 
the horn; that part which appears blue is in reality 
transparent white, and receives its colour from a thin 
piece of blue skin inside. This superb Kill fades in 
death, and in three or four days’ time, has quite lost 
its original colours. 
