On some Species of the Ramphastidas. 475 



practice, when he describes from the bird itself : at the same time 

 in referring to Mr. Edwards's plate, he terms the figure repre- 

 sented in it " tres exacte," which would not in all likelihood have 

 been the case, if he had not had a specimen before him by which 

 he could determine its accuracy. LinnsEus refers to Ray's Xochi- 

 tenacatl tertia as a synonym of this bird, and this reference has 

 been generally copied by succeeding writers when describing it : 

 but Mr. Ray himself merely speaks * of the bird at second 

 hand ; referring to the description of it in Fernandez, and even 

 expressing his doubts whether it may not be the same as his own 

 Pica Brasiliensis, the R. picatus of Linnaeus. The bird described 

 by Mr. Bancroft + as the Toucan of Guiana, as well as the figure in 

 tlie PI. Enl. 262,:]: both of which are included by Dr. Latham in 

 his references of this bird, belong to il. eri/throrht/nchus, Gmel. 

 Little light therefore is thrown upon this species by any of the 

 authours who are referred to as describing it : and on the whole, 

 as the fact of M. Brisson's having seen the bird itself is some- 

 what doubtful, it seems to rest on the authority solely of Mr. 

 Edwards. 



From his description the species may be distinguished as 

 follows. Its throat and the upper parts of its breast are white, 

 or rather cream-colour, with a lunulated fascia beneath of fine 

 red, which is softened both above and below into the adjoining 

 colours ; the under tail coverts are pale red, the upper white. 

 The bill has the upper mandible of a pale yellow greenish colour, 

 the lower of a fine blue colour, faint towards the head and 

 stronger towards the point ; the point itself of both the upper 

 and lower mandibles, for above an inch deep, is of a fine scarlet 

 colour ; and the sides of both, near the edges, have a long cloud 

 of orange colour transversely barred with black or dusky lines, 

 which pass through the divisions of the bill a little way into the 

 sides of the lower mandible. 



* Syn. Meth. Av. Appendix, p. 178. 

 + Essay on the Natural History of Guiana, p. 163. 



^ Dr. Latham has rectified this reference to the " Planches Enluminees" 

 ill his " Index Oniithologicus," and in the second Edition of his " Synopsis." 



