PREFACE. 
include therein figures of these new species, as well as the many valuable notes which he, in 
the kindest manner, placed at my disposal. 1 felt very much disposed to publish the work 
anew, or at least to issue a supplement containing these novelties, but from one cause or other 
I have delayed so doing until the present moment. In the interim I have constantly kept the 
subject in view, and have obtained much interesting information respecting the older species, 
besides the acceptable addition from time to time of others new to science. 
I now publish a Second Edition with new drawings of the old species, and figures and 
descriptions of no less than eighteen others—all, in fact, that are known up to the present time. 
Great attention has been paid to the colouring of the soft parts—the orbits, eyes, bill, legs, &c. 
—the hues of which are so evanescent, that unless they be either drawn or noted down from 
the living bird or immediately after death, it is impossible to present faithful portraitures; and 
here I have derived much valuable information from the rich menagerie of the Zoological 
Society of London, in which living examples of no less than five species were exhibited during 
the year 1853. 
Of late years, the lowlands of the great country of South America, and particularly those 
bordering the mighty Amazon and its tributaries, have been explored by many intelligent 
travellers, who have diligently searched for novelties with success. It is, however, from the 
high mountain ranges of the Andes and the Cordilleras, rather than from the low forest-covered 
lands, that the greater number of the recent accessions to the Ramphastidce has emanated, and 
it is there that all the species (with a single exception) of the genus Andigena have been 
discovered. 
For the elaborate “ Observations on the Anatomy of the Toucan,” given at the close, I 
am indebted to my friend Professor Owen, F.R.S.: they were the result of investigations 
instituted by himself expressly for my Monograph. 
In conclusion, I beg to state, that neither pains nor expense have been spared to render the 
present edition as perfect as possible up to the present period. It will be found to comprise 
illustrations and descriptions of 51 species. The greater portion of the originals from which 
my figures have been taken are now in the British Museum, and these, in addition to the species 
previously contained therein, contribute to render the series of the Ramphastidce in the National 
Collection by far the finest and most complete in Europe. 
JOHN GOULD. 
May 1st, 1854. 
