Uncle Brown going out one day, to Charley's father's, carried several of these birds with him, which were so pretty, that Charley was greatly delighted.
EMERALD BIRD OF PARADISE.
The first he showed him was called "the Emerald Bird of Paradise," and was about as large as a jay. Its home is New Guinea and some other parts of the hot regions of Asia. Its body, breast, and lower parts are of a deep, rich brown; the front is covered thickly with black feathers, mixed with green; the throat is of a splendid golden-green; the head is yellow; and the tail is made up of long, downy plumes of a soft yellow, together with a pair filaments almost two feet long.
"The bird is so vain of its beautiful plumage, that it will not let a speck of dirt stay on it; but is continually examining its feathers to see that they are perfectly clean. When wild, it always flies and sits facing the wind, lest its elegant plumes should get ruffled.
"It lives partly on insects, such as grasshoppers, which it will not touch, unless it has killed them itself, but chiefly on the seeds of the teak tree and a kind of fig.
"There were once a great many strange stories about this bird. As the natives of Guinea used to cut off their legs, and dry them, and sell them, of course they reached Europe without feet. So the people there got up a report that the bird lived always in the air, floated by, its light feathers; that it used its shoulders for its nest; that it rested only by hanging from a branch by its tail-filaments; that its food was morning dew; with other reports as droll as these. There are several kinds of Birds of Paradise, but the one in the cut is the most common, and is that of which these fables are told."
TOCO TOUCAN.
The next bird Uncle Brown showed Charley, was a very curious looking one, named the Toco Toucan, a native of the American tropics. It has, as you see, a monstrous sized bill, though it is not nearly so heavy, as it looks, being mostly of a honey comb make. This bill seems to have in it a great many nerves and so to be very sensitive, as the bird scratches it with its foot, and also appears to enjoy holding meat and fruits, with its tip, both of which prove the bill to have feeling in it. It feeds on all sorts of eatable things, but is especially fond of mice and little birds, which it kills by a strong squeeze, and then tears to pieces and devours.