to greater variety in the colouring of the bill than the present bird; some individuals having the lower 
mandible blue and the upper green, while in others both mandibles are of the latter colour; in some the 
orange spot on the sides of the bill is almost wanting; in others it is divided into a succession of small ones, 
or dilated into a broad hand occupying nearly the whole length of the mandible; in others again the yellow 
culmenal mark is absent: an individual with this colouring of the bill, correctly represented in the accom¬ 
panying Plate, lived during part of the years 1849 and 1850 in the Gardens of the Zoological Society. 
A great difference is also observable in the length of the bills of specimens from different localities, some 
being at least two inches shorter than others, while the depth is the same. In some examples a well- 
defined band of scarlet occurs on the breast, separating the yellow of the throat from the black of the 
abdomen, while in others this band is entirely wanting. 
The native country of this bird may he said to be Mexico, over the greater portion of which, from the 
latitude of Vera Cruz to the Isthmus of Panama, it is I believe very generally dispersed. 
In the British Museum there are several specimens with very short bills ; these were brought from the 
Pacific side of the country ; and if it should be found that none of the longer-billed birds dwell there, that 
circumstance would tend to confirm the opinion I have long entertained, that there is probably more than 
one species of green-billed Toucan. 
Two examples of this bird, formerly in the possession of Prince Massena at Paris, and now in that of 
T. B. Wilson, Esq., of Philadelphia, present the following difference :—the longer-billed specimen has no 
trace of the scarlet pectoral band, while in the shorter one it is well-defined; an additional reason for 
believing that they constitute two species. 
The bird is called Pito canoa by the inhabitants of Mexico. 
The Plate represents the birds of the natural size, with the colouring of the bill and denuded parts taken 
from life. 
