RAMPHASTOS CULMINATUS, Gould. 
Culminated Toucan. 
Specific Character. 
Ramph. rostro nigro, culmine fasciaque basalt viridi-flavis; guld pectoreque alhis. 
Head, back, wings, abdomen and tail black; throat and chest white, bounded by a narrow 
pectoral band of blood-red; rump feathers sulphur-yellow at the base, passing into fiery 
orange at their tips; under tail-coverts blood-red ; bill black, with the exception of the 
eulmen, the tips of both mandibles, and a very broad band at the base of each, which are 
greenish yellow; orbits and feet apparently lead-colour, and the irides brown. 
Total length, 194 inches; bill, 5f; wing, 84; tail, 7; tarsi, K. 
Ramphastos cidminatus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc,, Parti, p. 70 . —Gould, Mon. of Ramph., 
pi. 1.—lb. Sturm’s Edit., pi. .—Gray and Mitch. Geu. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 403, Ram- 
phastos, sp. 4.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 92, Ramphastos, sp. 4. 
It is impossible to confound the present with any other known species of Toucan; its snow-white breast, 
which I believe is at all ages unsullied, together with the beautiful greenish yellow eulmen and band at the 
base of the bill, and the rich orange-coloured tail-coverts, being characters which will always distinguish it; 
besides which, the white rises higher on the cheeks, arid leaves a smaller orbit than in any other species. 
The specimen in my own collection was obtained in New Grenada, while another in the British Museum, 
the finest example of this bird I have yet seen, was collected by Mr. Wallace on the Upper Amazon. The 
specimen referred to in my former edition, as being in the collection of the Zoological Society, has the bill 
very much curved; the bill of my own specimen is formed like that of the front figure in the accompanying 
Plate, while the bill of the British Museum example is of an intermediate form ; it is evident, therefore, 
that the contour of the bill is not constant: a depressed groove on each side immediately below the 
eulmen is also found in some specimens, and not in others. Nothing whatever is known respecting the 
habits and economy of this bird; but I am enabled to state that the countries mentioned above are among 
its natural habitats, a circumstance until lately unknown. It must be regarded as one of the rarest of the 
true Toucans ( Ramphasti ), there being few collections in Europe which contain examples. As is the case 
with the other members of the genus, the sexes present no external difference, and the female is only distin¬ 
guished by her somewhat smaller size. 
The figures are of the natural size. 
