PTEROGLOSSUS PLURICINCTUS.
Many-banded Ara^ari.
S p e c if ic C h a r a c t e r .
Mas. Pier, rostro ad basin lined eleoatdjkcd cincto ; culmine, lined mmulilmkv superioris intro-
basali, mandibuldque inferiore nigris; mandibula mperioris lateribm aurantiacoflmis,
injlanescenti-albidum apicem versus trameuntibm: olwaceo-viridis; capite, gula, gutture
gastrceique fasciis duabus latis, nigris; gastrceo anticl Jlaco, coccineo maculate, postice
uropygioque coccineis ; crisso pallidejlavo ; orbitae pedesque saturate plumbei.
Foem. Regione parotica brunnea; gutture postice coccineo cincto.
Male. A broad band of black advances from the nostrils along the whole of the culmen and
forms a narrow belt down the sides of the upper mandible at its base; the elevated basal
margin of the bill is yellow; the sides of the upper mandible beautiful orange yellow,
fading into yellowish white towards the tip ; under mandible wholly black with a yellow
basal ridge; head, neck, and chest black; whole of the upper surface, except the rump,
, which is scarlet, dark olive green; breast marked with two broad bands of black, the
upper separated from the throat by an intervening space of yellow dashed with re d ; a
similar but broader space separates the two bands of black, the lower of which is
bounded by scarlet, advancing as far as the thighs, which are brownish olive; under tail-
coverts light yellow; naked space round the eyes, tarsi, and feet dark lead colour.
Female. Differs from the male in having the ear-coverts brown and a narrow belt of scarlet
bordering the black of the throat.
Total length, 20 inches; bill, 4 i; wings, 6i ; tail, 8t.
Pteroglossuspluricinctus, Gould, Proceedings of Zool. Soc., P art III.
A l t h o u g h I have not been able to see the identical bird which Le Vaillant described and figured under the
title of L Aragari a double ceinturc, and which was considered by that naturalist as merely a variety of the
Common Arapari (Pter. Aracan), still I am induced to believe that it is identical with the present species.
The extreme rarity of the bird, and the consequent small number of specimens that have reached Europe,
will in some degree account for the neglect of subsequent writers, who appear either to have entirely overlooked
it, or to have taken Le Vaillant’s opinion as well grounded. If, however, other observers had had the
opportunity which I have possessed of examining several specimens, they would, I doubt not, have come
to the same conclusion as myself, and consider it to be not only a distinct species, but one of the most
beautiful of the group to which it belongs. I can only attribute Le Vaillant’s error to the circumstance of
his having most probably seen not more than one or two specimens, and those most likely in an inferior
condition. Beautiful examples of both sexes form part of the Brazilian collection at Vienna: the sexes were
ascertained by actual dissection by the celebrated naturalist M. Natterer, who obtained them in the remote
districts of the Brazilian territory.