PTEROGLOSSUS TORQUATUS, wei.

Collared Aracari.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

- ee ea y : a oe
Pter. mandibula superiore stramined, nigro-serrata, culmine negro ; inferiore nigra, fascia angustd

A : . A . a .
alba, capite aterrima ; cervice fascia lunatd castanea postice cinctd.

Head, neck and throat deep black; at the back of the neck a semilunar mark of chestnut ;
back, wings and tail olive-green ; rump and upper tail-coverts blood-red ; below the black
of the throat a narrow band of blood-red ; across the breast a broad band of yellow stained
with blotches of pale blood-red; in the upper part of this yellow band a large patch of
black; below a band of black mingled with blood-red, the latter predominating on the
sides; abdomen and under tail-coverts pale yellow, the latter stained with red; thighs
chestnut-brown ; upper mandible straw-yellow ; the culmen, tip and serratures black ; on
the sides at the base a wash of salmon-red in some, of a deeper and bluer tint in others ;
lower mandible black ; raised ridge at the base of the mandibles white; feet green.

Total length, 17 inches; ddl, 4; wing, 6; tadl, 75; tarsz, 14.

Aragart Toucan, var. A. Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. i. p. 290.

Pteroglossus torquatus, Wag). in Oken’s Isis, 1829, p.508.—Sturm’s Edit. of Mon. of Ram ph., pl.

—__—_ ambiguus, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 173, Pteroglossus, sp. 14.
Regalis, Licht—Gould’s Mon. of Ramph., pl. 14.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of
Birds, vol. 11. p. 403, Péeroglossus, sp. 3—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 94, Pée-
roglossus, sp. 3.

Ramphastos torquatus, Gmel. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 354 !—Iath. Ind. Orn, tom. 1. p. 137?

Tucana Mexicana torquata, Briss. Orn., tom. iv. p. 421?

Collared Toucan, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol.i. p. 330 ?—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 396 ?—Lath.

Gen. Hist., vol. 1. p. 287?

 

We find in the writings of the older authors—Gmelin, Latham, and others—a species of this family called
Ramphastos torquatus, which may have been intended to indicate the present bird, but their descriptions
and measurements are somewhat inapplicable; at the same time it is the only species yet discovered
having a distinct reddish collar at the back of the neck, and there is no other bird which agrees so well

 

with their obscure descriptions. It is unquestionably the ¢orguatus of Wagler; a name, which the law of
a priority obliges me to adopt, as it was certainly given to the bird prior to that of Regalis being assigned to
, it by mv much-esteemed friend Dr. Lichtenstein, who, as is well known, has devoted a long life to the
advancement of science, and whose labours are so highly and justly valued by all who are acquainted with
them ; and whose name I relinquish with regret.

The native habitat of this fine species is Southern Mexico ; but it appears to extend its range across the
country, and to inhabit the forests on the shores both of the Atlantic and of the Pacific. I have specimens
in my possession from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and other parts of Central America; and Messrs.
Sturm speak of a specimen which they had received from Bogota; but I think that the locality here given

wants confirmation, and that some mistake must have been made in the communication to those gentlemen,

 

as among the many collections Ihave seen from thence no specimen of this bird has occurred. They also
mention that the irides are white, but their authority for so stating is not given. Ina specimen at the
British Museum, from which the eyes have not been removed, they are, even in a dried state, of a rich
orange colour, and I have accordingly so represented them.

There ‘s scarcely a more ornamental or better defined species in the whole genus than the present; the
only one with hich it could be confounded is the Pterog/ossus erythropygius, and from that species its
mnchal collar at once distinguishes it. I must not omit to mention that great diversity occurs with respect
to the size and form of the black spot on the chest; in some it is nearly obsolete, in others a large
round patch, and in others it assumes a triangular shape; nor must I fail to notice that the bill is nearly
as broad as it is deep, much flattened at the base of the culmen, and correspondingly developed at the
sides, presenting an appearance of massiveness and strength. 8

The pretty Orchid figured on the accompanying Plate is the Maavllara leptosepala.

7 = . 5 aye ac aiehe 2 ;
The front figure represents a male of the natural size; the hinder one is somewhat reduced