THE TUKANA.
The TUKANA (Ramphastus Temminckii) has the feathers in the fore part of the throat of a bright yellow, edged with a paler shade. The hinder parts of the body are red, and the breast is adorned by a red line. The beak is glossy black, with a broad light yellow streak towards its base; the eye is blueish, the bare eye-ring deep red, and the foot lead-grey. The length of this species is eighteen inches and a half, and its breadth twenty-one inches. The wing measures seven inches, and the tail six inches and a half. The Tukana is an inhabitant of the forests on the coast of Brazil.
The HORNBILLS PROPER (Bucerotes) are at once recognisable by the remarkable horn-like protuberance that in many species rises at the base of the very long, thick, and more or less curved beak. Their body is slender, the neck moderately long, and head comparatively small; the tail, composed of ten feathers, is of medium size, or very long; the wings short, and very decidedly rounded, the tarsus short and the toes slender. In many species the throat and region of the eye are bare, and the eyelid furnished with well-developed eyelashes.
These birds inhabit the Eastern Hemisphere, and are especially numerous in some parts of Asia and Africa. Dense woods and forests are their favourite resorts, and where these are to be met with they often live at an altitude of ten thousand feet above the level of the sea; only a few of the smaller species occasionally frequent shrubs or bushes. Lesson tells us that certain species devour nutmegs, from which their flesh acquires a most appetising flavour. Some writers inform us that they will consume carrion, and when in confinement have been known to swallow rats and mice whole, after bruising their bodies with their powerful mandibles. The Hornbills associate in flocks, which frequent woods and forests, and perch on the loftiest trees. We learn from the naturalist above quoted that the noise produced by a party of these birds when passing through the air is very alarming to those who are unaware that the strange sound that accompanies their movements is produced by the clattering of their huge mandibles, and the utterance of a loud croak; these discordant sounds bearing no distant resemblance to one of those sudden and violent winds which often come on unexpectedly in tropical climates. Their voice may be described as the blast of a bugle, combined with the sudden hiss of an exploding sky-rocket; they seem to utter these calls periodically, without any obvious reason, as if to relieve the monotony of their still and melancholy lives. Major Denham tells us that an Abyssinian species lives upon insects, fish, and snakes, and appears to display an especial instinct in finding the latter. The Hornbill discovers their vicinity while they are yet underground, digs on the spot, destroys the nest, and feeds on the venomous inhabitant and its eggs. "The first time I saw a Hornbill's nest," says Dr. Livingstone, speaking of another species, "was at Kolsberg, when I had gone to a forest for some timber. Standing by a tree, a native looked behind me, and exclaimed, 'There is the nest of a Korwé!' I now saw a slit only about half an inch wide, and three or four inches long, in a slight hollow of the tree. Thinking the word Korwé denoted some small animal, I waited with interest to see what he would extract. He broke the clay which surrounded the slit, put in his arm, and pulled out a Tockas, or Red-breasted Hornbill, which he killed. He informed me that when the female enters her nest, she submits to real confinement; the male plasters up the entrance, leaving only a narrow slit, that exactly suits the form of his beak, by which to feed his mate. The female makes the nest of her own feathers, lays her eggs, hatches them, and remains with the young till they are fully fledged. During all this time, which is stated to be two or three months, the male continues to feed her and the young family. The prisoner generally becomes fat, and is esteemed a very dainty morsel by the natives, while the poor slave of a husband gets so lean that, on the sudden lowering of the temperature that often occurs after a fall of rain, he is benumbed and dies."
THE TOK (Rhynchaceros erythrorhynchus).
Dr. Livingstone also gives the following interesting anecdote illustrative of the affection of these birds to their mates:—"Near sunset, on the 25th of August" (he writes from Dakanamoio Island), "we saw an immense flock of the largest species of Hornbills (Buceros cristatus) come here to roost on the great trees which skirt the edge of the cliff; they leave early in the morning, often before sunrise, for their feeding-places, coming and going in pairs. They are evidently of a loving disposition, and strongly attached to each other, the male always nestling close beside his mate. A fine male fell to the ground from fear at the report of Dr. Kirk's gun; it was caught and kept on board. The female did not fly off in the mornings to feed with the others, but flew round the ship, anxiously trying, by her plaintive calls, to induce her beloved one to follow her. She came again in the evenings to repeat the invitation; the poor disconsolate captive refused to eat, and in five days died of grief because he could not have her company. No internal injury could be detected after death."
The SMOOTH-BEAKED HORNBILLS (Rhynchaceros) are the smallest members of this extensive group. In these birds the beak, which is comparatively small, has both mandibles curved, and the margins more or less denticulated; the feet are short and weak; the wings, in which the fourth or fifth quill is the longest, are of medium size, and the slightly-rounded tail of moderate length.