PTEROGLOSSUS ULOCOMUS.

Curl-crested Aracari.

Specrric CHARACTER.

Pter. rostro elongato, mandibulis albo serratis, ad basin Jascid angusté castaned circumdatis ;
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supervoris culmine aurantiaco lined sordidé ceruled utrenque marginato, lateribus aurantio-
rubris ; inferiore stramined, in aurantiacum ad apicem vergente ; naribus lined albé cinctis :
plumis capitis, genarum, nucheque foliiferis, illius crispis negris, harum spatulatis, genarum
stramineis nigro apiculatis ; cervice, dorso, pectorisque lateribus coccineis; alis, caudé,
Semoribusque olivaceis ; remigibus brunneis ; guld, pectore, abdominis medio crissoque._flaves-

centibus, pectoris plumis coccineo marginatis.

— Beak lengthened, both mandibles edged with thickly set white serratures ; the upper has the
culmen orange, bordered by a narrow longitudinal stripe of dull blue extending nearly
to the tip, below which the sides of the mandible are fine orange red; a white line
surrounds the apertures of the nostrils; the under mandible is straw-coloured, becoming
orange at the tip; a narrow band of rich chestnut encircles both mandibles at their base ;
crown of the head covered with a crest of curled metal-like feathers, without barbs, of an
intense black and very glossy; as they approach the occiput these appendages gradually
lose their curled character and become straight, narrow and spatulate. The feathers of
the cheeks have the latter form, but are more decidedly spatulate ; their colour is yellowish
white, each having its extremity tipped with black; occiput and upper tail-coverts deep
blood red ; chest delicate yellow, with slight crescent-shaped bars of red; sides yellow
richly stained with red ; back, tail and thighs olive green; quills brown; tarsi lead colour.

Total length, 18 inches ; bill, 4; wings, 5%; tacl, 7+; tarsi, 2.

Pteroglossus ulocomus. Gould, Proceedings of the Zool. Soc., Part 1. p. 38.

ABUNDANT as are the treasures which science has received from the Brazils, the valuable addition of this
beautiful bird to our ornithological stores, further illustrates the riches of that luxuriant portion of tropical
America, and also confirms the opinion long entertained, that there are yet many rarities to be discovered
in its extensive forests. Although our collections already abound with the productions of districts adjacent to
cities and of easy access, such is not the case as it regards the almost unexplored districts of the interior,
whence we only occasionally derive specimens, proving how much we are yet ignorant of, and how much
remains for future discovery.

Interested as I have always been with this singular family, it was with no small degree of pleasure that
I hailed the arrival of so fine a species, particularly as it offers to our observance in the covering of its
head a feature entirely new among the Preroglossi. I regret that it is beyond the efforts of our pencil to
do strict justice to the rich appearance of these glossy and curiously curled appendages, which in substance
can only be compared to the metal-like feathers found in some species of the Galling,—the extreme
ends of the neck- and wing-feathers of the Gallus Sonnerati, Temm., for instance. This structure appears to
consist in a dilatation of the shaft of each feather, or perhaps an agglutination of the web into one mass.

Two examples of this species formed part of a collection of rare birds brought to this country from Rio de
Janeiro. Of these I was so fortunate as to obtain the finest, which is in all probability a male: it is now in
the Museum of the Zoological Society of London. The other, which is considered a female, is preserved in
the British Museum.

The habitat of this species is probably in the almost untrodden forests which border the river Amazon, as,
since the arrival of the pair alluded to, I have seen a third, having a label attached intimating that it was
received from Para.