RAMPHASTOS CUVIERI, Wagler.

Cuvier’s Toucan.

Spectric CHARACTER.

: > a . . . aN . A : A
Ramph. rostro brunneo-nigrescente, culmine fasciaque basali luters, hac postice linea mgra
anticé fascia atra cincta: mger; genis, gutture, pectoreque albis lutescenti tinctis ; torque

pectorali caudceque tectricibus infertoribus cocciners, supervoribus aurantiaco-flavis.

Beak brownish black on the sides, with a large basal belt and culmenal line of greenish yellow,
the basal belt being bounded behind by a narrow line of black, and before by a broader

one of deep black, which is only apparent in certain lights; the top of the head and whole

of the upper surface black, with the exception of the upper tail-coverts, which are bright

orange yellow ; cheeks, throat, and chest white, with a tinge of greenish yellow terminated
by a band of scarlet; under surface black; under tail-coverts scarlet.

Total length, 24 inches; bzll, 7+; wings, 9; tail, 63: tarsz, 2.

Ramphastos Cuviert. Wagler, Syst. Avium.

Tue only naturalist who has hitherto noticed this fine and rare species appears to be Wagler, who has given
a detailed account of its specific characters in his “‘ Systema Avium.” The species most nearly allied to it in
form and colouring is the Ramphastos erythrorhynchus, but from which it may be at once distinguished by its
larger size, and by the black colour almost universally spread over the mandibles in place of the bright scarlet
which is so conspicuous in that species. The upper tail-coverts are also of a more intense orange.

In size, the Ramphastos Cuviert is equal if not superior to the &. foco, its beak being fully as large, and
although not keel-shaped along the upper ridge, is also similarly attenuated.

The rarity of this bird may be best understood, when I state, that my own specimen is the only one I
have ever seen, with the exception of another which I have some recollection of in the Museum at Berlin, the
splendid collection at Paris having no example. The one I possess, with my other rare and new species, will
be added to the fine collection of the Zoological Society of London.

The natural habitat of this bird is doubtless the densely wooded districts on both sides of the Amazon ; at
least we are led so to suspect from its form, which agrees with the A. erythrorhynchus and culminatus, birds
both natives of the same locality, or nearly so.