﻿6 CASSIN'S DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES OF 



chestnut, especially on the longer feathers. All other parts like the male. No crescent 

 on the back of the neck, nor tips of chestnut on the tail in any specimen. 



Total length, about 15 inches; wing 5£ ; tail 5 ; bill from the gape 4; from the 

 nostril to tip of upper mandible 3 J inches. 



Hah. Provinces of Veragua and Choco, New Grenada. Discovered by Mr. Eobert 

 W. Mitchell of Philadelphia. Spec, in Mus. Acad., Philadelphia, and Nat. Mus. 

 Washington. 



This Toucan presents some remarkable and rather anomalous characters. Though 

 having the yellow spots on the ears and sides, and in fact the usual colors which 

 prevail in the group Selenidera, it has the bill parti-colored and variegated in some 

 measure similar to that of Ramphastos ambiguus. It has the bill also longer and 

 stouter than is usual, but more resembling that of S. pvperivora, than any other bird 

 of this genus. There is no crescent of yellow on the back of the neck, nor are the 

 feathers of the tail tipped with chestnut, as in other species. 



This bird is rather the largest of the genus Selenidera, all the known species of 

 which are in the Museum of this Academy. The female differs from the male in 

 having the head above dark chestnut, which is the case in other species of this genus. 



The specimen first described by us in the Proceedings of the Academy, as above 

 cited, was contained in a very interesting collection of birds contributed to its Museum 

 by Mr. Robert W. Mitchell of Philadelphia, and made in the province of Veragua, the 

 most northern portion of New Grenada. Since that period, other specimens have 

 been brought to this country in a collection made by a party that surveyed a route 

 for a ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien, in command of Lieut. N. Michler, U. S- 

 Topog. Eng., by order of the Governments of the United States and of New Grenada. 

 The interesting and valuable collection alluded to, is now in the National Museum, 

 in charge of the Smithsonian Institution. 



According to Mr. William S. Wood, Jr., who accompanied Lieut. Michler's party 

 as naturalist, this Toucan was frequently seen in the province of Choco, New Grenada, 

 and was not difficult to obtain. It appeared to be partial to a tree called Cremantina 

 by the inhabitants, on the fruit of which it subsisted in a great measure. 



2. Numida plumifera, Cassin. 



Numida plumifera, Cassin, Proc. Acad., Philada., 1857, p. 321. 



Plate 2. Adult male and female. 



Of the same subgeneric group (Guttera,) and bearing a general resemblance to 

 Numida cristata, Pallas. Head in front with an ample crest of erect, narrow feathers, 

 each of which is slightly expanded at the tip ; occiput, throat and upper part of neck 

 covered with short velvet-like feathers in the male, naked in the female. Bill rather 

 thick, rictal membrane small; wing short, fourth and fifth quills longest; tertiaries 



