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RAMPHASTOS ERYTHRORHYNCHUS .
Red-billed Toucan.
S p e c i f ic C h a r a c t e r .
Ramph. rostro rubro, vitta Jasciaque basalt Jiavis, hoc postice lined antice fascia nigris cincta ;
tomiis nigris : niger ; jugulo pectoreque albis lutescenti tinctis ; torque pectorali angusta
cautlceque tectricibus inferioribus coccineis, superioribus saturate Jiavis.
Beak red at the sides, with a broad line of yellow continued throughout its entire length, and
a basal belt of the same colour, bounded posteriorly by a narrow line of black and
anteriorly by a broader one of the same colour; a black line runs along the edges of both
mandibles; naked skin round the ey e ; the legs and the feet blueish lead colour; general
plumage black; the throat and chest white, with a tinge of greenish straw yellow, bounded
by a narrow pectoral band of scarlet, the under tail-coverts being of the same colour, while
the upper ones are deep yellow.
Total length, 23 inches; bill, 6 *-; wings, 8i ; tail, 6i ; tarsi, 2.
Red-beaked Toucan. Edw., t. 238.
Ramphastos erythrorhynchus. Auct.
Le Toucan. Levaill., Ois. de Parad., vol. 2. t. 3.
Le Toucan d collier jaune 1 Levaill., Ois. de Parad., vol. 2 1. 4.
Toucan a gorge blanche de Cayenne, appelle Tocan. Buff., PI. Enl., n. 262.
Ramphastos Levaillantii ? Wagler, Syst. Avium.
T h e present species, as its name implies, is distinguished by the brilliant colouring of its beak, which loses its
original brightness immediately after death, so that the specimens exhibited in our museums might often be
mistaken, upon a superficial glance, for other species. In one respect it is subject to slight variety in its
colouring, as we do not find in all specimens the delicate straw-coloured tinge on the white breast, which is
in all probability the index of a recent change of plumage, and which perhaps disappears after a short
exposure to the action of light and heat.
Richly ornamented with well contrasted hues of great brilliancy, this elegant species inhabits the deep
forests which border the Amazon, and the wooded districts of Cayenne and Guiana, being spread in
considerable abundance over a wide extent of country. In its general habits and manners it resembles the
rest of its congeners, leaping lightly from branch to branch among the topmost foliage of the highest trees,