ts back, and thrusts its beak beneath the wing,
so as to appear very much like a large mass of feathers.

The common or crested toucan (Ramphastos dicolorus) inhabits chiefly the
lower part of the Amazon. It is about eighteen inches in length, of a
black colour, with a gloss of green. The cheeks, throat, and fore part
of the breast are either of a sulphur or orange-yellow. Across the
lower part of the breast is a broad crimson bar. The rump is crimson or
orange-yellow. The bill is of a dark olive-green, with a pale yellow
base, bounded by a thick bar.

The tocano pacova has a beak of a rich glowing orange, with a large
patch near the tip, a black line round the base, and a number of dark
red bars upon the sides. The body and head are black, the throat and
cheeks white; while the breast is of a yellow brimstone hue, edged with
a line of blood-red. The upper tail-coverts are greyish-white, and the
under deep crimson. A large orange circle surrounds the eye, and within
it is a second circle of cobalt-blue. A green ring incloses the pupil,
with a narrow yellow ring round it.

Cuvier's toucan inhabits the woods of the Upper Amazon. There are
several smaller toucans, one of which (the Pteroglossus Havirostris) has
the most beautiful plumage,--its breast being adorned with broad belts
of rich crimson and black.

The most curious, however, is the curly-crested toucan (Pteroglossus
Beauharnaisii). The feathers on its head consist of thin, horny blades
of a lustrous black colour, curled up at the ends, and resembling
shavings of steel. The curly crest assumes, indeed, the grotesque form
of a coachman's wig dyed black, and produced apparently by the tongs of
the hair-dresser.

None of the smaller species utter the loud yelping notes of the larger.
The cries of the curly-crested toucan are very singular, resembling
somewhat the croaking of frogs.

Mr Bates had one day wounded one; and on attempting to seize it, it set
up a loud scream. In an instant, as if by magic, the wood seemed alive
with its companions, who descended towards him, hopping from bough to
bough, some of them swinging on the loops of the lianas and sipos,
croaking and fluttering their wings like so many furies. Had he had a
long stick in his hand, he could have knocked over several of them. The
screaming of their companion which he had killed having ceased, they
remounted the trees; and before he could reload his gun, which he had
left at a li