M M
S p e c i f i c C h a r a c t e r .
Pter. rostro stramineo-flavo ; mandibulcc superioris lateribus macula longitudinali rufà.
Male.—Crown of the head black ; back of the neck dark chestnut-red; upper surface very dark
g re en ; primaries black, edged with very dark green; rump deep blood-red ; cheeks and
throat blackish chestnut, bounded below by a narrow line of deep b la ck ; across the
breast a broad crescentic mark of blood-red ; on the upper part of the abdomen a broad
band o f black tinged with g re en ; lower part of the abdomen and under tail-coverts yellow,
stained with blood-red next the black b an d ; thighs olive; bill delicate straw-yellow, with
a broad streak of red along the sides of the upper mandible, bounded below by an interrupted
narrow line of orange ; irides dark carmine-red; orbits immediately round the eye
dark Greenish grey, inclining to indigo-blue, and with a patch of red at the anterior angle
above, and another in the posterior angle behind the ey e ; legs green.
Total length, I4 f inches; bill, S i; wing, 5 ; tail, 5 i ; tarsi, 1.
Female.—Similar in colour, but with the chestnut hue of the throat paler, and the black mark
bounding it below more conspicuous than in the male.
L ’Aracari Azara, Levaill. Hist. Nat. des Ois. de Parad., Supp., p. 40. t. A.
Eamphastos A zam , Vieill. 2nde Edit, du Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., tom. xxxiv. p. 283.—Ib.
Ency. Meth. Orn., p a rt iii. p. 1431.
Pteroglossus Azara, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., tom. ii. pi. et p. (not numbered).—Wagl. Syst. Av.,
Pteroglossus, sp. 3.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 403, Ptero-
glossus, sp. 6.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., Pteroglossus, sp. 6.—Sturm’s Edit, of
Gould’s Mon. of Ramph., pi.
I t gives me great pleasure to figure this, the true P. A zam of Levaillant, from very recently killed specimens
sent to this country by Mr. Wallace from the Bio Negro on the Amazon; by means of which I am
enabled to give a representation of the colouring of the soft parts as they appear in life: it will be seen that
they give a very beautiful appearance to the bird, and consequently add materially to its interest. Since
the publication of the first edition of this work, numerous examples have been sent to this country, princi-
cipally, however, by Sir Robert Schomburgk, who collected them during his expeditions into the interior of
British Guiana. Little difference in size exists between this species and P.flaurostris; it is, however, the
smaller of the two ; but, with the exception of the bill, the two birds are precisely alike in their colouring:
it is certainly one of the most elegant species of the genus, and it is much to be regretted that nothing
is known of the habits and economy of so beautiful a bird.
The figures represent the two sexes of the size of life.