j R A M P H A S M S M C A , G o id d -
RAMPHASTOS INCA, Gould.
Inca Toucan.
S p e c i f i c C h a r a c t e r .
Ram p h . rostro nigro, in lateribus sanguineo obnubilato; culmine mandibulce snperioris ad
apicem, e t la ta fa s c ia basali f a v i s , hac postice lined n ig ra , antice lined coccined cincta;
g u la e t pectore albis fiavicinctis, hoc torque sanguineo in fra succincto; tectricibus caudce
superioribus auranliacis.
General plumage black ; throat and chest white tinged with yellow, and bounded below by a
band of blood-red; upper tail-coverts rich orange; under tail-coverts blood-red; bill black,
with a patch of pale blood-red on the sides of the upper mandible near the base, with the
culmen and point of the lower mandible yellow, and with a broad basal belt of the same
colour, bounded posteriorly with a narrow line of black, and anteriorly with a narrow line
of scarlet, the yellow clouded with olive-blue on the lower and the cutting edge of the
upper mandible; orbits yellow, passing into yellow on their outer margins; irides brown;
legs and feet bluish lead-colour.
Total length, 20 inches; bill, 5 i ; wing, 9t ; tail, 7 ; tarsi, 2 t.
Ramphastos Inca, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., P a rt X IV. p. 68.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of
Birds, vol. iii. App. p. 19 (App. to p. 403).—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 92,
Ramphastos, sp. 2.
F o r a knowledge of this species we are indebted to Mr. Bridges, who brought a single specimen from
Bolivia. It is nearly allied to R . erythrorhynchus, but differs from that species in having the greater part of
the maudibles black; a mark of scarlet, almost triangular in form, occupying a small space on each side of
the culmen only; and in having a faint line of scarlet posterior to the black colouring, which does not
occur at all in the other species: the blood-red band on the breast, too, is broader and deeper coloured,
and the white of the throat is more strongly tinged with yellow. A still greater distinction is, however,
observable in the colouring of the upper tail-coverts, which in R . Inca are of a rich fiery orange, while in
R . erythrorhynchus they are lemon-yellow. From all appearances, it is probable that the specimen brought
by Mr. Bridges is a female; and if that be the case, the male, when discovered, will prove to be one of
the most rich coloured species of the genus.
Mr. Bridges’s specimen was procured in the elevated and dense forests at Chimoree in the country of the
Yuracaras Indians in Bolivia; beyond this, I regret to say, nothing is known respecting it.
The figure is of the natural size.