Our attention was again attracted towards the forest by the cries of five or six toucans, and again we set off in chase. These birds are extremely suspicious, and their capricious flight almost baffles pursuit. I succeeded, however, in killing one; the others flew off, raising cries of anger.
"How can they bear the weight of such an enormous beak?" asked Lucien, who had run to pick up the bird, and was struck with admiration at its beautiful green and yellow plumage.
"Nature has made provision for that: the enormous beak, which seems so heavy, is composed of a very light porous substance."
"Then it can not eat any thing hard?"
"No; its flexible beak could not crush any unyielding substance, and it feeds on nothing but soft fruits; and even these it breaks up awkwardly. If we could have got near them, you would have seen them plucking berries and tossing them in the air, so as to catch them in their immense jaws."
"What good is its great mouth?"
"I can't say; for the naturalists, who have been as much puzzled as you are by this peculiarity, have been unable to explain it."
"Then I am more learned than they are," said l'Encuerado, with a magisterial air.
"Do you know, then, why toucans have such exaggerated beaks?"
"Because they have been made by a wise Creator," replied the Indian.