. Cassell's natural history . he ai^pareut 364 niE F rant En ED trires. disproportion of tlic bill, and the seemingly clumsy ^ihape of birds of this genus, as tlieyare usually set up or Icpresented in figures, its appearance was not onlj graceful, but itsmovements, 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 itselfin beautiful plumage, its lighter colours being strikingly vivid, and the deep hue of itsupper body in particular being always black and glossy. For this fine condition itseem
. Cassell's natural history . he ai^pareut 364 niE F rant En ED trires. disproportion of tlic bill, and the seemingly clumsy ^ihape of birds of this genus, as tlieyare usually set up or Icpresented in figures, its appearance was not onlj graceful, but itsmovements, 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 itselfin beautiful plumage, its lighter colours being strikingly vivid, and the deep hue of itsupper body in particular being always black and glossy. For this fine condition itseemed to be much indebted to itsfondness for bathing. Every day it immersed itselfin cold water with apparent pleasure, even in severe w-eather, and in no i-espect did itseem to suffer by the transition from its own warm climate to an uncongenial atmo-sphere. Besides the usual sounds of these birds, it uttered, at times, a hoarse and somewhatdiscoidant cry when it happened to be liungry, and to see its food about to be presented. THE SAFFROX-COLOUKED TOUCAN.* to it. On such occasions it stood erect, raising its head in the air, and half opening itsbill, as this cry was emitted. These, says Mr. Vigors, are the only sounds I haveheard him utter; and in neither can I say that I have detected any similarity, or evenapproach, to the wordtoucan, as has sometimes been asserted, and from whence thetrivial name of the genus has been supposed to originate. Neither have I been able toverify another observation which has been advanced respecting these birds, that the billis compressible between the fingers in the living bird. The bill, notwithstanding thelightness of its substance, is firm, and capable of grasping an object with much Vigors generally observed that this l)ird took what was ofiered rather by the sidesthan the point of the bill, and he suspected that much of the power of that member wascentred in this lateral motion. On the cold weather commencing, it was brou
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1854
