RAMPHASTOS CULMINATUS, Gow.

Culminated ‘Toucan.

   

Sprcrric CHARACTER.
Ramph. rostro negro, culmine fasciaque busali viridi-flavis ; gula pectoreque albis.

Head, back, wings, abdomen and tail black; throat and chest white, bounded by a narrow
pectoral band of blood-red; rump feathers sulphur-yellow at the base, passing into fiery
orange at their tips; under tail-coverts blood-red; bill black, with the exception of the
culmen, the tips of both mandibles, and a very broad band at the base of each, which are
greenish yellow ; orbits and feet apparently lead-colour, and the irides brown.

Total length, 193 inches; bell, 53; wing, 83; tail, 7; tarsz, 1.
Ramphastos culminatus, Gould in Proce. of Zool. Soc., Part I. p. 70. —Gould, Mon. of Ramph.,
pl. 1—Ib. Sturm’s Edit., pl. © —Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. 11. p. 403, Ram-

y

phastos, sp. 4.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 92, Ramphastos, sp. A,,

 

Ir is impossible to confound the present with any other known species of Toucan ; its snow-white breast,
which I believe is at all ages unsullied, together with the beautiful greenish yellow culmen and band at the
base of the bill, and the rich orange-coloured tail-coverts, being characters which will always distinguish it ;
besides which, the white rises higher on the cheeks, and leaves a smaller orbit than in any other species.
The specimen in my own collection was obtained in New Grenada, while another in the British Museum,
the finest example of this bird I have yet seen, was collected by Mr. Wallace on the Upper Amazon. The
rred to in my former edition, as being in the collection of the Zoological Society, has the bill

specimen refe
| of my own specimen is formed like that of the front figure in the accompanying

very much curved; the bil
Plate, while the bill of the British Museum example is of an intermediate form ; it is evident, therefore,
not constant: a depressed groove ou each side immediately below the
Nothing whatever is known respecting the

that the contour of the bill is
culmen is also found in some specimens, and not in others.
but I am enabled to state that the countries mentioned above are among

habits and economy of this bird ;
It must be regarded as one of the rarest of the

its natural habitats, a circumstance until lately unknown.
Toucans (2tamphast.), there being few collections in Europe which contain examples. As is the case

true
, and the female is only distin-

with the other members of the genus, the sexes present no external difference

 

guished by her somewhat smaller size.
The figures are of the natural size.