Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/192

Rh an extreme degree, leaping from bough to bough with the most graceful agility; their flight, however, is laboured, and in straight lines; and though rapid, is evidently attended with much exertion; they fly with difficulty against the wind, raising the beak above the axis of the body, and propelling themselves at short intervals. They nestle in hollow trees, excavating the decaying wood with their beaks, and lay in the cavity two eggs, of a round form, and delicately white in hue.

The Toucans proper have the beak ungrooved, thicker than the head; the nostrils entirely concealed, and placed at the edge of the thickened frontlet of the beak. The wings are short; the four outmost quills graduated, and abruptly pointed. The tail is comparatively short; squared or but slightly rounded at the extremity. In their internal anatomy they are remarkable for the clavicles being separate, instead of uniting to form the furcula, or merrythought. They are birds of large size, generally black on the upper parts, with vivid colours, chiefly red and yellow, on the throat and breast. The beak is often tinted with brilliant hues, which vanish after death.

We know but little of the habits of the Toucans in their native forests, but in captivity the manners of two species have been detailed in interesting memoirs by Mr. Broderip and Mr. Vigors. The former of these gentlemen was informed by Mr. Swainson who had seen these birds in the forests of Brazil, that he had frequently observed them perched on the tops of lofty trees, where