Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/360

 siderable weight; all animals, therefore, which feed upon fruit, or on insects contained in flowers, must, of course, have some means of reaching the ends of the stalks from a distance. Monkeys obtain their food by stretching forth their long arms and, in some instances, their tails, to bring the fruit near to their mouths. Humming-birds are endowed with highly-perfected organs of flight, with corresponding muscular development, by which they are enabled to sustain themselves on the wing before blossoms whilst rifling them of their contents. These strong-flying creatures, however, will, whenever they get a chance, remain on their perches whilst probing neighbouring flowers for insects. Trogons have feeble wings, and a dull, inactive temperament. Then mode of obtaining food is to station themselves quietly on low branches in the gloomy shades of the forest, and eye the fruits on the surrounding trees, darting off, as if with an effort, every time they wish to seize a mouthful, and returning to the same perch. Barbets (Capitoninæ) seem to have no especial endowment, either of habits or structure, to enable them to seize fruits; and in this respect they are similar to the Toucans, if we leave the bill out of question, both tribes having heavy bodies, with feeble organs of flight, so that they are disabled from taking their food on the wing. The purpose of the enormous bill here becomes evident. Barbets and Toucans are very closely related; indeed a genus has lately been discovered towards the head waters of the Amazons,