RAMPHASTOS AMBIGUUS, sw

Doubtful Toucan.

ans.

Sprciric Cyaracrer.

Ramph. niger ; | jugulo flavo ; mandibule Superwores parte superiore flaca, transverse maculata
wee 7 e \ a or A S S 3 = = : :
striga viridi oblique divisd ; mandibuld enferiore negra. —Swainson.

=
General plumage black, with a tinge of rufous at the back of the neck and a greenish gloss on
as gS

the wings, body and tail; throat rich yellow, bounded below by a narrow line of yellowish
white, to which succeeds a broader one of blood-red ; upper tail-coverts creamy white ;
under tail-coverts blood-red ; upper mandible obliquely divided for about three-fourths
of its length from the base by a strongly defined streak of black, the space below which
is chocolate-black, and that above yellow, traversed by a broad streak of green; under

mandible chocolate-black at the base, passing into black towards the up; orbits blue ?;

legs and feet blue above, lilac beneath.
Total length, 20 inches; 42//, 5+; wing, 8%; tail, 64; tarsi, 1%.

Ramphastos ambiguus, Swains. Zool. Ul. 1st Ser., vol. iii. pl. 168.
—— Swainson, Gould, Mon. of Ramph., pl. 8, lower figure.—Ib. Sturm’s Edit.,
O

pl. , lower figure.

5

 

However much I may have been perplexed by the Mexican Keel-billed Toucans, I have been ten times
more so by the Columbian species known under the name of Zocard, to which in the former edition of this
work I gave the name of Swainsoni, believing as I did that the Zocard of Le Vaillant and the Ramphastos
ambiguus of Swainson were one and the same species; I am now, however, induced to regard them as
distinct, in consequence of having recently seen in some of the continental Museums, and lately received
in a collection of birds from the neighbourhood of Bogota, several examples which precisely accord with
Swainson’s figure of his Ramphastos ambiguus, and which differ from the 2. Zocard in having smaller and
straighter bills, with all the space beneath the oblique band purplish black, and with a distinct trace of
the green mark along the sides of the yellow portion of the upper mandible so conspicuous in Swainson’s
drawing ; I have determined therefore upon restoring that appellation to the bird for which Mr. Swainson
doubtless intended it, and which I believe to be quite distinct from the &. Tocard. Some variation
appears to exist in the colouring of the bare skin round the eye. Mr. Mark, Her Majesty’s Consul at
Bogota, tells me it is bluish green. Dr. Tschudi, who collected specimens in Peru, says it is blue, which
on examination ! found to be the case, so far as could be judged from the appearance of his specimen in
the Museum at Neufchatel. Swainson, who states that his figure was taken from a drawing made from
the bird immediately after death, also represents it blue: the diversity of hue is probably due to age,
but may be attributable to some other circumstance with which we are not acquainted. In the examples

from Bogota, the oblique verditer-green mark on the upper mandible, forming so conspicuous a feature in

Swainson’s figure, is very apparent ; and this among other reasons has led me to consider the species to be
a true one and to figure it as such. 5

It is scarcely necessary to add, that this conclusion has been arrived at since my acc
ae that the insertion of Swainson’s name of 2. ambiguus among the synonyms of that species

ount of the R. Tocard

was printed ;

Is an error.
The term “ Doubtful,’ 1 may observe, alluc

appellation.

The figures are of the natural size.

- : 99 oe ey
les to the species, and not to the ‘‘ Toucan” as a generic

 
   
 
  
 
   
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
 

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