PTEROGLOSSUS ERYTHROPYGIUS,

Red-rumped Aracari.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

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Pter. dorso inferiore, uropygio, et caude tectricibus splendidé sanguineis ; corpore inferiore flavo,
pectore superiore sanguineo tincto, imferiore vittd coloribus nigro et sanguineo commixtis,
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Sasciata.

Crown of the head, sides of the face, chin and upper part of the back shining greenish black ;
wings and tail dull brownish green ; lower part of the back, rump and upper tail-coverts
rich blood-red ; under surface yellow, stained on the chest with blood-red, and crossed on
the breast by a band of mingled black and blood-red ; thighs chestnut; bill bordered at
the base by a narrow line of dull white ; the remainder of the bill yellowish horn-colour,
with a broad stripe of black along the upper mandible near the cutting edge and a narrow
line in the centre of the culmen ; upper mandible black.

‘Total length, 18 inches; bzd/, 5; Wines On: ton, fz, Casi lee

Pteroglossus erythropygius, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part XI. p. 15.—Ib. Zool. of the
Voy. of H.M.S. Sulphur, Birds, p. 45. pl. 28.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds,
vol. 1. p. 404, Péeroglossus, sp. 15.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 94, Pteroglossus,

sp. Se

 

Tue great country lying to the northward of the Isthmus of Panama has a fauna which is in a great
measure peculiarly its own; it is true, that generically many of the forms are the same as those of other
tropical portions of America, but the species are unquestionably different. ‘The accompanying Plate
represents one if not two species of Preroglossus, and there is at least another, belonging to the same genus,
which appears to be exclusively an inhabitant of Central America, by which I would be understood to mean
in awide sense—Mexico. I have said that the accompanying Plate represents either one or two species ;
and it will be seen that some difference occurs in the figures which were taken from two unique
specimens, one in my own collection, the other in the Museum of the United Service Institution. The latter,
which is represented in the foremost figure, formed part of the oe made by R. B. Lehn Bsa
Surgeon R.N., the naturalist attached to the Expedition under Sapa Sir Edward Belcher, HNO! NLS
Sulphur, and was obtained at Realejo, on the shores of the Pacific in Central America : the precise locality
in which the specimen in my own possession was procured is not known with certainty.

Mr. Hinds’s bird differs from mine in being of a much larger size, in having the under mandible of a nearly
uniform straw-white, and the breast much less stained with scarlet. If hereafter it should be found that
the two birds are different species, the term sanguineus might not be an inappropriate name for the smaller
bird. Both the specimens or species in question are nearly allied to the Pteroglossus torquatus of Ww agile:
(P. regalis of Lichtenstein, and of the former edition of this work), but the total absence of the crescentic

brown collar at the nape of the neck will at all times distinguish them from that species : the markings of

their bills are also very different. |
The specific name of erythropygius was given to this bird to indicate the rich scarlet colouring of its rump,
which hue is also extended over the whole of the upper tail-coverts.

The figures are of the natural size.