978 TOUCAN 
chiefly frequenting the slopes of the Andes and reaching an eleva- 
tion of 10,000 feet, though one, 4. bailloni, remarkable for its 
yellow-orange head, neck and lower parts, inhabits the lowlands 
of southern Brazil. Another very singular form is 4. 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 Pteroglossus, 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.t 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.2. 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 Pteroglossus. 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.* 
1 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. 
2 Readers will recollect the account and illustration given by Bates (Nat. 
Amaz. ii. p. 3844) 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. 
4 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. Swainson 
(Classif. Birds, ii. p. 138) imagined it merely ‘‘ to contain an infinity of nerves, 
