PTEROGLOSSUS ERYTHROPYGIUS, Gould. 
Red-rumped Ara^ari. 
Specific Character. 
Pter. dorso inferiore, uropygio, et caudce tectricibus splendide sanguineis; corpore inferiore favo, 
pectore superiore sanguineo tincto, inferiore vittd coloribus nigro et sanguineo commixtis, 
fasciatd. 
Crown of the head, sides of the face, chin and upper part of the back shining greenish black ; 
wings and tail dull brownish green ; lower part of the back, rump and upper tail-coverts 
rich blood-red ; under surface yellow, stained on the chest with blood-red, and crossed on 
the breast by a band of mingled black and blood-reel ; thighs chestnut; bill bordered at 
the base by a narrow line of dull white ; the remainder of the bill yellowish horn-colour, 
with a broad stripe of black along the upper mandible near the cutting edge and a narrow 
line in the centre of the culmen ; upper mandible black, 
dotal length, 18 inches; bill, 5; wing, 6i; tail, ; tarsi. It- 
Pteroglossus erythropygius , Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part XI. p. 15.—lb. Zool. of the 
Voy. of H.M.S. Sulphur, Birds, p. 45. pi. 28.— Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, 
vol. ii. p. 404, Pteroglossus, sp. 15.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 94, Pteroglossus, 
sp. 15. 
The great country lying to the northward of the Isthmus of Panama has a fauna which is in a great 
measure peculiarly its own ; it is true, that generic-ally many of the forms are the same as those of other 
tropical portions of America, but the species are unquestionably different. The accompanying Plate 
represents one if not two species of Pteroglossus, and there is at least another, belonging to the same genus, 
which appears to be exclusively an inhabitant of Central America, by which I would be understood to mean 
in a wide sense—Mexico. I have said that the accompanying Plate represents either one or two species; 
and it will be seen that some difference occurs in the figures which were taken from two unique 
specimens, one in my own collection, the other in the Museum of the United Service Institution. The latter, 
which is represented in the foremost figure, formed part of the collection made by II. B. Hinds, Esq., 
Surgeon R.N., the naturalist attached to the Expedition under Captain Sir Edward Belcher, R.N., of H.M.S. 
Sulphur, and was obtained at Realejo, on the shores of the Pacific in Central America : the precise locality 
in which the specimen in my own possession was procured is not known with certainty. 
Mr. Hinds’s bird differs from mine in being of a much larger size, in having the under mandible of a nearly 
uniform straw-white, and the breast much less stained with scarlet. If hereafter it should be found that 
the two birds are different species, the term sanguineus might not be an inappropriate name for the smaller 
bird. Both the specimens or species in question are nearly allied to the Pteroglossus torquatus of Wagler 
QP. reg ■alls of Lichtenstein, and of the former edition of this work), but the total absence of the crescentic- 
brown collar at the nape of the neck will at all times distinguish them from that species : the markings of 
their bills are also very different. 
The specific name of erythropygius was given to this bird to indicate the rich scarlet colouring of its rump, 
which hue is also extended over the whole of the upper tail-coverts. 
The figures are of the natural size. 
