978 TOUCAN 



chiefly frequenting the slopes of the Andes and reaching an eleva- 

 tion of 10,000 feet, though one, A. bailloni, remarkable for its 

 yellow-orange head, neck and lower parts, inhabits the lowlands 

 of southern Brazil. Another very singular form is A. laminirostris, 

 which has affixed on either side of the maxilla, near the base, a 

 quadrangular ivory-like plate, forming a feature unique among 

 Birds. In Fteroglossus, the " Aracaris " (pronounced Arassari), the 

 sexes more or less differ in appearance, and the tail is graduated. 

 The species are smaller in size, and nearly all are banded on the 

 belly, which is generally yellow, with black and scarlet, while 

 except in two the throat of the males at least is black. One of 

 the most remarkable and beautiful is P. beauharnaisi, by some 

 authors placed in a distinct genus and called Beauharnaisius 

 ulocomus. In this the feathers of the top of the head are very 

 singular, looking like glossy curled shavings of black horn or 

 whalebone, the effect being due to the dilatation of the shaft and its 

 coalescence with the consolidated barbs. Some of the feathers of 

 the straw-coloured throat and cheeks partake of the same structure, 

 but in a less degree, while the subterminal part of the lamina is of 

 a lustrous pearly-white.^ The beak is richly coloured, being green 

 and crimson above and lemon below. The upper plumage generally 

 is dark green, but the mantle and rump are crimson, as are a broad 

 abdominal belt, the flanks and many crescentic markings on the 

 otherwise yellow lower parts. ^ The group or genus Selenidera,^ 

 proposed by Gould in 1837 (Icones Avium, pt. 1), contains some 

 7 species, having the beak, which is mostly transversely striped, 

 and tail shorter than in Fteroglossus. Here the sexes also differ in 

 coloration, the males having the head and breast black, and the 

 females the same parts chestnut ; but all have a yellow nuchal 

 crescent (whence the name of the group). The genus Aulaco- 

 rhamphus, or "Groove-bills," to which 14 species are assigned, con- 

 tains the rest of the Toucans.^- 



^ This curious peculiarity naturally attracted the notice of the first discoverer 

 of the species, Poeppig, who briefly described it in a letter published in Froriep's 

 Notizen aus dem Gebiete der Natur (xxxii. p. 146) for December 1831. 



^ Keaders will recollect the account and illustration given by Bates {^Ncd. 

 Amaz. ii. p. 344) of his encounter with a flock of this species. His remarks on 

 the others with which he met are also excellent. 



3 Some other name is needed for this genus, as Gould's was preoccupied by an 

 entomologist. 



* The monstrous serrated bill that so many Toucans possess was by Buffon, 

 after his manner, accounted a grave defect of Nature, and it must be confessed 

 that no one has given what seems to be a satisfactory explanation of its precise 

 use, though none will now doubt its fitness to the bird's requirements. Solid as 

 it looks, its weight is inconsiderable, and the perfect hinge by which the maxilla 

 is articulated adds to its efficiency as an instrument of prehension. Swain son 

 {Classif. Birds, ii. p. 138) imagined it merely " to contain an infinity of nerves, 



