being furnished with delicate papillæ. Upon the vertex and nape are two irregular bars of azure, margined with purplish-black. The lower parts of the tibiæ, lower back, and rump, are also of a deep azure. Upon the sides of the breast and thighs are patches of rich yellow. The wings are green; the interior webs of the quills blackish. The elongated tail-feathers are pale grass-green, passing towards the tips into yellow; the lateral have their basal half dark green, the remainder deep saffron-yellow. This lovely specimen is an inhabitant of Papua, and other parts of New Guinea, and, as might be expected in countries rarely visited by the naturalist, little is known of its history or peculiar habits. Its remains, like those of the birds of paradise, frequently reach us in a mutilated state, being deprived of the legs, and often wanting the long feathers of the tail; and from such specimens have been derived the imperfect descriptions of various authors.

Passing now to birds of a somewhat different structure, we arrive at another family.* There are three species of Toucans in Demerara, and three diminutives, which Mr. Waterton calls "Toucanets." The largest of the first species frequents the mangrove trees on the sea-coast. The other two species are very common. "They feed entirely on the fruits of the forest," the same naturalist says, "and though of the pie kind, never kill the young of other birds, or touch carrion. The larger is called Bouradi by the Indians. They seem partial to each other's company, and often resort to the same feeding tree, and retire together to the same shady noon-day retreat. They are very noisy in rainy 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, but you will find it has only been a dinner party, which breaks up and disperses towards roosting time."

"The bill of the toucan," says Mr. Jesse, "is out of all proportion to the size of the body of the bird. In fact, it appears an enormous excrescence, equally unwieldy and useless. This, however, is not the case. In endeavouring to ascertain the utility of the long beak of the toucan, we must refer to its food, the means of procuring it, the enemies it has to encounter, and the peculiar habits of the various animals of the country in which it is found. The toucan, like the woodpecker, deposits its eggs in the holes of trees. The bird itself, as well as its eggs, would become the prey of the numerous monkeys which inhabit the country if it had not so large a bill to defend itself. The toucan feeds much on the eggs of other birds. By means of its long bill, it is enabled to search for and reach them in the holes of trees, and also in the pendent nests of tropical birds. These nests are suspended from the extremity of branches of trees, as a security against monkeys, and have a hole in the side, into which the toucan is enabled to thrust its long bill. It is evident that this powerful bill is not required to break the food, since the bird seizes fruit or eggs at the extremity of it, and, by throwing back the head, deposits the food in its throat at once. We thus see that what at first appears a deformity is, on the contrary, a kind and useful provision of Nature to enable the bird both to feed and defend itself.” Other naturalists have been led to differ from Mr. Jesse, as to the food of these remarkable birds.

Mr. Swainson, who had seen the toucans in their native forests, informed Mr. Broderip that he had frequently observed them perched on the tops of lofty trees, where they remained as if watching. This circumstance, joined to others connected with the remains of food found in the stomachs of such as were dissected, led to the suspicion that these birds were partly carnivorous, feeding on eggs and young birds, as well as fruits and berries; and that while perched upon these high trees, the toucans were, in fact, busily employed in watching the departure of the parent birds from the nest. Mr. Swainson could never catch the toucans in the fact, nor did anything appear in his dissections to determine with certainty on what they fed. Mr. Such informed Mr. Broderip that he had seen these birds in Brazil feed on the toucan-berry; that he had frequently observed them in quarrels with the monkeys; and that he was certain that the toucans fed on eggs and nestlings.

In the year 1824 a living toucan was exhibited in St. Martin's Lane, London. Mr. Vigors stated at a zoological club, that the bird had been fed on a vegetable diet; but that the proprietor had told him, that on the occasion of a young canary bird having escaped and gone near the toucan, the latter instantly seized and devoured the canary bird.

Ramphastida.

Mr. Broderip determined to bring the matter to the test on a visit to this bird, which was, apparently, in the highest state of health. A goldfinch, introduced into the toucan's cage, was seized and compressed so suddenly, that the poor little songster had only time to utter a short squeak before it was dead, with its bowels protruding. The toucan then hopped with it to another perch, and began to strip off its feathers. When it was nearly naked, it broke the bones of the wings and legs, taking them in its bill, and giving them a strong lateral wrench. Having reduced the little victim to a shapeless mass, it first swallowed the viscera, and then the remaining parts, piece after piece, not even rejecting the legs and bill. Mr. Broderip adds that he has sometimes observed it return its food from its crop, and swallow it again after a second mastication. "The food on which I observed him so employed," he says, was a piece of beef, which had evidently been macerated for some time in the crop. While masticating it, he made the same hollow clattering noise as he made over the remains of the goldfinch. Previous to this operation, he had examined his feeding-trough, in which there was

nothing but bread, which I saw him take up and reject; and it appeared to me that he was thus reduced from necessity to the above mode of solacing his palate with animal food. His food consists of bread, boiled vegetables, eggs, and flesh, to which a little bird is now added about every second or third day. He shows a decided preference for animal food, picking out all morsels of that description, and not resorting to the vegetable diet till all the former was exhausted.

"It is said that the nerves are very much expanded within the internal surface of the bill in these birds; and independently of the sensual enjoyment which the toucan above mentioned appeared to derive from palating his prey, I have observed him frequently scratching his bill with his foot, which may be observed as furnishing additional evidence of the sensibility of this organ. While taking his prey, he never used his foot for the purpose of conveying it either to his bill or elsewhere. The bill was the sole vehicle, and the organ actively employed; the foot merely confined the prey on the perch."

Among the peculiarities of the bird exhibited in St. Martin's Lane, there was one that cannot be passed over in silence. When he settled himself to roost, he sat a short time with his tail retroverted, so as to make an acute angle with the line of his back; he then turned his tail over the right shoulder, nestling it on the soft plumage of the back-on which last the under mandible rested-till the bill was so entirely covered that no trace of it was visible. When disturbed, he did not drop his tail, but almost immediately returned his bill to the comfortable nidus from which, on being disturbed, he had withdrawn it. He broke some of his tail-feathers, but, before that accident, the toucan, when at roost, retroverted his tail so entirely, that the upper surface of the tail-feathers lay over and came in contact with the plumage of the back; so that the bird had the appearance of a ball of feathers. It appears that he always roosted in the same way.

Mr. Vigors kept a toucan in a state of domestication for many years, and of it he has given many interesting particulars. It was not allowed to be indulged in that disposition to animal food which so strikingly belongs to its family. Mr. Vigors found it thrive sufficiently well on a vegetable diet, and feared that if it were ever allowed any other, it would be difficult to restrain its inclination for it within moderate limits. Eggs were the only animal food with which it was supplied. Of these it was

particularly fond, and they were generally mixed up in its ordinary food, consisting of bread, rice, potatoes, German paste, and similar substances.

It delighted in fruits of all kinds. During the period when these were fresh, it fed almost exclusively on them. Even in winter it exhibited great gratification in being offered pieces of apples, oranges, or preserved fruits of any description. These it generally held, for a short time, at the extremity of its bill, touching them with apparent delight with its slender and feathered tongue, and then conveying them by a sudden jerk to its throat, where they were caught and instantly swallowed. Its natural propensity to preying upon animals, though not indulged, was still strongly conspicuous. When another bird approached its cage, or even a skin or preserved specimen were presented to it, considerable excitement was exhibited. It raised itself up, erected its feathers, and uttered the hollow clattering sound which seemed to be the usual expression of delight in these birds; at the same time, the irides of the eyes expanded, and the toucan seemed ready to dart at its prey, if the bars of its cage permitted its approach. On one occasion, when a small bird was placed by chance over its cage at night, it showed great restlessness, as if aware of the neighbourhood of the bird; and it would not be composed till the cause of its disquietude was discovered and removed.

When in its cage, the toucan was peculiarly gentle and tractable, suffered itself to be played with, and fed from the hand. Out of its cage it was wild and timid. In general it was active and lively; and, contrary to what might be expected, from the apparent disproportion of the bill, and the seemingly clumsy shape of birds of this genus, as they are usually set up or represented in figures, its appearance was not only graceful, but its movements, as it glided from perch to perch, were light and sylph-like; so much so, indeed, as to lead to this bird being called Ramphastos Ariel. This toucan kept itself in beautiful plumage, its lighter colours being strikingly vivid, and the deep hue of its upper body in particular being always black and glossy. For this fine condition it seemed to be much indebted to its fondness for bathing. Every day it immersed itself in cold water, with apparent pleasure, even in severe weather, and in no respect did it seem to suffer by the transition from its own warm climate to an uncongenial atmosphere.

Besides the usual sounds of these birds, it uttered, at times, a hoarse and somewhat discordant cry when it happened to be hungry, and to see its food about to be presented to it. On such occasions it stood erect, raising its head in the air, and half opening its bill, as this cry was emitted. "These," says Mr. Vigors, "are the only sounds I have heard him utter; and in neither can I say that I have detected any similarity, or even approach, to the word toucan,' as has sometimes been asserted, and from whence the trivial name of the genus has been supposed to originate. Neither have I been able to verify another observation which has been advanced respecting these birds, that the bill is compressible between the fingers in the living bird. The bill, notwithstanding the lightness of its substance, is firm, and capable of grasping an object with much strength."

Mr. Vigors generally observed that this bird took what was offered rather by the sides than the point of the bill, and he suspected that much of the power of that member was centered in this lateral motion. On the cold weather commencing, it was brought into a room with a fire, and the unusual light seemed to interfere with its general habits; it did not then go to rest so early as had been its custom, and it sometimes even fed at a later hour. During the summer months, however, when more free from interruption, its habits were singularly regular. As the dusk of evening approached, the toucan finished its last meal for the day, took a few turns, as if for exercise after its food, round the perches of its cage, and then settling on the highest perch, disposed itself, almost at the moment of alighting, with its head drawn in between its shoulders, and its tail turned vertically over its back.

In this posture it generally remained for about two hours, in a state between sleeping and waking, its eyes for the most part closed, but opening on the slightest interruption. At such times it would allow itself to be handled, and would even take any favourite food that was offered, without altering its posture further than by a gentle turn of the head. It would also suffer its tail to be replaced by the hand in its natural downward posture, and would then immediately return it again to its vertical position. In these movements the tail seemed to turn as if on a hinge that was acted on by a spring. At the end of about two hours it began gradually to turn its bill over its right shoulder, and to nestle it among the feathers of its back, sometimes concealing it completely within the plumage, at other times leaving a slight portion of the culmen exposed. At the same time it dropped the feathers of its

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wings and those of the thigh-coverts, so as to encompass the legs and feet; and thus nearly assuming the appearance of an oval ball of feathers, secured itself against all exposure to cold.

Mr. Waterton was the earliest naturalist, with whom the writer is acquainted, that gave an accurate account of the appearance of the bill of the living toucan. He says, "Were a specimen of each species 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 of 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 bill fades in death, and in three or four days' time has quite lost its original colours.

"Till within these few years, no idea of the true colours of the bill could be formed from the stuffed toucans brought to Europe. About eight years ago" (we may now add to this time about twenty-eight years), "while eating a broiled toucan, the thought struck me that the colours in the bill of a preserved specimen might be kept as bright as those in life. A series of experiments proved this beyond doubt. If you take your penknife and cut away the roof of the upper mandible, you will find that the space betwixt it and the outer shell contains a large collection of veins and small osseous fibres, running in all directions through the whole extent of the bill. Clear away all these with your knife, and you will come to a substance more firm than skin, but not of so strong a texture as the horn itself; cut this away also, and behind it is discovered a thin and tender membrane, yellow where it has touched the yellow part of the horn, blue where it has touched the red part, and black towards the edge and point; when dried, this thin and tender membrane becomes nearly black; as soon as it is cut away, nothing remains but the outer horn, red and yellow, and now become transparent. The under mandible must undergo the same operation. Great care must be taken, and the knife used very cautiously, when you are cutting through the different parts close to where the bill joins the head; if you cut away too much, the bill drops off; if you press too hard, the knife comes through the horn ; if you leave too great a portion of the membrane, it appears through the horn, and by becoming black when dried, makes the horn appear black also, and has a bad effect; judgment, caution, skill, anl practice, will ensure success.

"You have now cleared the bill of all those bodies which are the cause of its apparent fading: for these bodies dry in death, and become quite discoloured, and appear so through the horn; and reviewing the bill in this state, you conclude that its former bright colours are lost. "Something still remains to be done. You have rendered the bill transparent by the operation. and that transparency must be done away to make it appear perfectly natural. Pound some clean chalk, and give it enough water till it be of the consistency of tar; add a preparation of gum arabic to make it adhesive, then take a camel-hair brush, and give the insides of both mandibles a coat ; apply a second when the first is dry, then another, and a fourth to finish all. The gum arabic will prevent the chalk from cracking and falling off. If you remember, there is a little space of transparent white in the lower mandible, which originally appeared blue, but which became transparent white as soon as the thin piece of blue skin was cut away; this must be painted blue inside. When all this is accomplished, the bill will please you; it will appear in its original colours."

THE DOUBLE-COLLARED ARACARI.*

IN reference to the Double-collared Araçari, of which we give an engraving, Mr. Gould says, "The Messrs. Sturm state that the yellow crescent is only found on the breast of the females, and that the Pteroglossus bitorquatus: Vigors.

THE DOUBLE-COLLARED ARACARI.

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male is entirely devoid of it; but I suspect that this is not always the case, as it is very conspicuous in one of the specimens of the British Museum, which I have no doubt is that of a male." We give an engraving, also, of the Saffron-coloured Hill Toucan.

THE PLANTAIN EATERS.*

MR. SWAINSON raises this group of birds to the rank of a family. Their food is entirely vegetable, and of the most tender and delicate description. Their bill is short and compressed; the tongue is short and pointed; the wings are moderate; so also is the tail; the feet are strong; the lateral toes are unequal, the inner shortest; the claws are slender and slightly curved.

The Chilian Plant-cutter is nearly the size of a quail. The colour is an obscure gray on the back, rather brighter on the belly; the points of the quills and of the tail are black. The sound of its voice is hoarse and interrupted. It feeds on plants, but previously has the destructive habit of cutting them off close to the root, and often cuts off capriciously a quantity of them, without touching them any further. For this reason the peasants persecute this species, and carry on against it a continual war; while the children who destroy the eggs of these birds are rewarded. A defence is provided in the nest being built in obscure and but little frequented places; but notwithstanding this, the numbers of this plant-destroyer are considerably diminished. "I do not know," says Molina, "whether this is because a price is set on its head, or on account of its naturally small degree of fecundity."