RHA MPHASTOS.—PTEROGLOSSUS. 550 
of South America, from Peru northwards through Ecuador and Colombia. It thence 
passes into the Isthmus of Central America, and is found as far north as the eastern 
parts of Nicaragua up to the Segovia river, where Mr. Townsend met with it. 
_Mr. Nutting says 4 that R. tocard is common at Los Sabalos, in Nicaragua, nesting 
in trunks of trees. Its note isa loud clear whistle, followed by two or more softer 
and lower ones. Mr. Richmond’ also found it to be common on the Escondido river, 
where, however, it is seldom seen during the summer months, but from October or 
November on through the winter birds are seen daily, sometimes in large flocks, and 
often come out into the plantations. He describes their note as a curious croaking 
noise made when several birds are assembled in some solitary tree or retired place. 
When disturbed they fly silently away. 
The colouring of the bill and naked space round the eye in Gould’s plate * was taken 
from a specimen, and notes supplied him by Bourcier, formerly French Consul at 
Quito. Mr. Nutting describes the former as having the maxilla above a line drawn 
from the base of the culmen to the lower edge, to a point on the tomia one-fifth of its 
length from the tip, as “ corn-yellow,” the remaining parts black; mandible very dark 
maroon; iris green; feet bronze-blue. The colour of the bill alters entirely in the 
dried skin, but the base of the maxilla in some specimens distinctly shows the remains 
of a maroon colour like that of the mandible. 
PTEROGLOSSUS. 
Pieroglossus, Iliger, Prodr. p. 202 (1811); Scl. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xix. p. 137. 
Of the eighteen recognized species of Pteroglossus only three occur within our 
limits, all belonging to the same section in which the breast is banded, the sexes alike, 
and there is a large black pectoral spot. P. erythropygius is the only other species of 
this section, a southern form from which P. sanguineus hardly differs. 
P. torquatus has the base of the culmen very flat between the nostrils, and the 
posterior margin of the sheath of the maxilla instead of being nearly straight across as 
in Rhamphastos is undulating, a deep notch running forwards on each side so as to 
include the open nostril. Pteroglossus is the least homogeneous of the Toucans, as in 
some of the species there is a sexual difference of plumage, and P. beauharnasi with 
its curiously curled crown-feathers is a very remarkable bird. All belong to the 
hot low-lying regions, and the metropolis of the genus is probably the valley of the 
Upper Amazons. 
1. Pteroglossus torquatus, 
Rhamphastos torquatus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 354°. 
Pteroglossus torquatus, Wagl. Isis, 1829, p. 508*; Gould, Mon. Rhamph. ed. 2, t. 20°; Scl. P.Z.S8. 
1857, p. 205*; 1858, p. 859°; 1859, p. 388°; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xix. p. 141"; Moore, 
P.Z.S. 1859, p. 59°; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 185°; P. Z.S. 1864, p. 366"°; 1870, 
70* 
