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RAMPHASTOS CARINATUS, Swainson.

Sharp-billed Toucan.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

> ae ae :
Ramph. rostro elongato, compresso, fascia angusta nigr& hasali circumdato, apice sanguineo ;
= ey ra : ie yi
mandibulad superiore viridi, culmine maculdque utrinque aurantio-flavis ; inferiore ceruled
viridi tincta: ater, nitidus, cervice rufo partum tincto ; gutture pectoreque luteis ; fascia

pectorali tectricibusque caudee inferioribus coccinets ; uropygio albo.

Beak very long and compressed laterally, with a narrow marginal band of black at the base ;
upper mandible green, with a spot of orange yellow on each side and a line of the same
colour extending along the culmen throughout its whole length; lower mandible blue
shaded with green; tips red; naked skin round the eye, tarsus, and toes violet ; eyes
light green; throat and breast delicate lemon yellow; pectoral band and under tail-
coverts scarlet; uropygium white ; the remainder of the plumage shining black, with a
shght tinge of rufous on the back of the neck.

Total length, 20 inches; dz//, 6.

Brazihan Pie. Edw., vol. 2. t. 64.
Yellow-breasted Toucan. Edw., vol. 3. p. 253. t. 329, (adult).
Ramphastos Tucanus.? Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. 8. p. 362.

Ramphastos carinatus. Swains., Zool. Illus., vol. 1. pl. 45.

 

Tuere are at present only two or three examples of this species of Toucan in the Museums of this country.
The Royal collection at Berlin, however, afforded the opportunity of examining a series of specimens at
one view, the minute inspection of which convinced me that, like most other species, especially those whose
beaks are characterized by a variety of delicate tints, the colours of the mandibles of the present species, as
well as the naked skin round the eye, undergo considerable change after death ; still it is easy to observe that
the original colour is very different in different individuals, whence I am led to conclude that the colours of
the beak are greatly influenced by the season of the year, and are doubtless in the finest and most brilliant
state during the time of pairing. In some examples the orange spot on the sides of the bill is almost wanting,
and in others divided into a succession of small ones, or dilated into a broad band, occupying nearly the whole
length of the mandible ; but notwithstanding these variations, the present bird possesses specific characters
which readily distinguish it ; these consist of the carinated form of the upper mandible, the culmen of which
is invariably yellow, bordered round its base by a narrow edging of black.

It is certain that Edwards saw this bird in a living state in the year 1759, and described it under the name
of the Yellow-breasted Toucan. His details and figure are characterized by the accuracy which is usually
found in the writings of that talented naturalist : he states that it was brought to this country from Jamaica,
where it was in all probability received from the adjacent continent. Speaking of its bill, he observes, that
the drawing from life of one bird of this genus is worth ten from dead specimens, as the bills always lose,
after death, their natural beautiful hues. In vol. 2, pl. 64, is another drawing and description of a Toucan,
which he has called the Brazilian Pie. This bird was also received from Jamaica, and in my opinion is
identical with the present species, from which it is only distinguished by the colour of the throat, which is
white or cream-colour, the result in all probability of disease or weakness. Mr. Swainson is the only author
who has done strict justice to the present bird since the days of Edwards, by publishing a reduced figure in his
‘Zoological Illustrations ”; but although he quotes Edwards as the first who has noticed this bird, he is silent
as to the other figure alluded to. It is not figured by Le Vaillant.

The specimens in the Zoological Society's Museum and in the Berlin collection are from the southern
provinces of Mexico, which may be considered its true and natural habitat.

It is called P’to canoa by the inhabitants of Mexico.