80 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
Of the various kinds of hornbills, the 
smallest is about the size of a jay, and the 
largest as big as a hen turkey. With the 
exception of two species known as ground- 
hornbills, all are arboreal in habits. The tree- 
dwellers occasionally come to the ground, 
however, and progress in a series of lop-sided 
leaps, but the ground-hornbills walk in a 
very stately manner and are also curious 
because they possess very pronounced eye¬ 
lashes. 
Even more grotesque than any of the 
foregoing is the bill of the toucan. Indeed, 
were it not for the fact that the shell of that 
member is extremely thin, and the interior 
of cellular structure, it would prove too heavy 
for its owner to carry. But judging by the 
bird’s alert and active disposition, it evidently 
does not find the size of its beak in the least 
inconvenient. Possibly it may even be proud 
of such a distinctive feature for, apart from 
its enormous size, it is rendered very con¬ 
spicuous by its bright colouring, the tints 
varying in the different members of the family. 
The toco toucan, the largest of its kind, 
has a bill of a bright orange-red hue, decorated 
with a black patch at the tip. The beak of 
the sulphur-breasted toucan, another well- 
known species, is even more brilliant, various 
