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RAMPHASTOS ARIEL, Vigors.
TUCANUS, Linné?

 

Ariel Toucan.

Specific CHARACTER.

Ramph. rostro nigro, fascia basali sulphured, culmine ad basin ceruleo: ater; gula genis
'} One } 2 5S
guttureque aurantzo-luters, hujus margine inferiore sulphureo, regione pertophthalmica nuda

miniaced, fuscia pectorali crisso uropygroque cocciners.

Beak black, with a basal band of rich yellow; culmen for half its length greyish blue ;
throat and breast rich orange yellow, becoming paler on its outer edges; below the orange
of the breast extends a narrow belt of straw yellow, which is succeeded by a broader one
of scarlet, which is the colour of the upper and under tail-coverts; the whole of the
remaining plumage of both the upper and under surface of a profound black; bare skin
round the eye scarlet; irides blue ; tarsi lead colour.

Total length, 18 inches; wings, 7+; tad, 62; tars, 1%.

Ramphastos Tucanus. Linn.’

Le Toucan de Para de l Amérique méridionale.  Vieill., Gal. des Ois., Suppl.
Toucan Brasiliensis gutture luteo? Briss., Orn., vol. 4. p. 419. pl. 32. fig. 1.
Le Toucan & gorge jaune du Bresil. Buff., Pl. Enl. n. 307.

Ramphastos Temmincki’ Wagler, Syst. Avium.

——_—_—. Ariel. Vigors, in Zool. Journ., vol. 2. p. 466.

TuereE is no one species of the family of Toucans that is more common in our museums, or better known,
than the present; yet, strange to say, none is involved in greater confusion: and this confusion appears to
have arisen from one author having taken his characters from the description of another, without having
instituted any examination for himself. Instead of going into a detailed history of this tissue of confusion, I
would rather refer my readers to the elaborate paper on the subject by N. A. Vigors, Esq., M.P., in the
«¢ Zoological Journal,” vol. 2. p. 466. For myself, I cannot help suspecting that, notwithstanding the yellow
upper tail-coverts described by Linnzeus as characteristic of Ramphastos Tucanus, the present bird is in reality
identical with that species ; and I am the more inclined to believe this, as no such bird exists in any museum,
as far as I have been able to ascertain. However, upon referring to the works of Linnzus, Brisson, and
Wagler, the reader may satisfy himself respecting the uncertainty which hangs over the nomenclature of the
bird in question.

An example of this beautiful species lived in the possession of Mr. Vigors for eight years.

It is extremely common in the Brazils, whence it is dispersed throughout the greater part of South
America.