"These birds," says the Prince von Wied, in some notes communicated to Mr. Gould, "are very common in all parts of the extensive forests of the Brazils, and are killed in great numbers during the cool seasons of the year for the table. To the stranger they are even of greater interest than to the native, from their remarkable form, and from the rich and strongly-contrasted style of their colouring, their black or green bodies being adorned with markings of the most brilliant hue; red or orange, blue, and white; their naked orbits in some instances red, and in others green or blue; the naked parts of the body dyed with brilliant colours, the legs blue or green, and irides blue or yellow; the large bill of a different colour in every species, and in many instances very gaily marked. The colouring of the soft parts is, however, so evanescent that to determine the species with accuracy they must be depicted during life, or immediately after the birds are killed. Common as these birds are in their native land, it is extremely difficult to detect their breeding-places; it is, however, certain that they deposit their eggs in the hollow limbs and holes of the colossal trees so common in the tropical forests, but I was never fortunate enough to discover them. The stomachs of those I examined contained nothing but the remains of fruit, principally of the softer kinds, for which, indeed, they have such a liking that they resort in great numbers to the plantations in the vicinity of their native haunts, and commit fearful havoc among their favourite delicacies: I was informed, that they frequently steal and eat young birds, but no instance of their doing so came under my own observation. Mr. Waterton's opinion agrees with mine, but Azara, among others, states that they also feed upon animal substances. The specimens we saw in a state of domestication were very voracious, and perfectly omnivorous; but they seem to be purely frugivorous in a state of nature, a fact which was fully confirmed by the Brazilian natives we questioned on the subject. In their manners the _Ramphastidæ_ offer some resemblance to the _Corvidæ_, and, like them, are very troublesome to birds of prey, particularly to the Owls, which they surround and annoy by making a great noise, all the while jerking their tails upwards and downwards. The flight of these birds is easy and graceful, and they sweep with facility over the loftiest trees of their native forests; their strangely-developed bills are no encumbrance to them, as the interior being replete with a tissue of air-filled cells renders these organs very light and even buoyant. The voice of the _Ramphastidæ_ is short and unmelodious, and somewhat different in every species. Their feathers are used by the natives for general decoration, especially the yellow breasts of the birds, which they affix to their heads on each side, near the temple, and also to the ends of their bows." [Illustration: THE ARASSARI (_Pteroglossus aracari_).]