SELENIDERA LANGSDORFFI. 
Langsdorff’s Toucanet. 
Specific Character. 
Mas.— Sel. rostro nigrescente prope basin in cinereo-flavum transeunie, serraturis pallidis. 
Male. —Head, neck, throat and breast black; ear-coverts orange, crossing obliquely a tuft of 
yellow feathers ; at the nape a crescent of bright yellow ; upper surface and wings greenish 
olive ; primaries dark brown, margined externally with olive; flanks rich orange ; lower 
part of the abdomen mingled olive and yellow; thighs dark chestnut; under tail-coverts 
crimson ; tail dark greenish olive, the six middle tail-feathers tipped with chestnut; orbits 
yellowish green ; irides blackish brown ; bill black, becoming paler on the serratures, 
and passing into greenish horn-colour at the base; legs and feet green. 
Total length, 13 inches; bill, 2t; wing , 5; tail, 5; tarsi, H. 
Female .—Head and back of the neck deep chestnut-red ; throat and breast pale chestnut-red ; 
ear-coverts olive-yellow; remainder of the plumage similar to that of the male, but the 
nuchal collar and the hue of the other parts much less brilliant. 
Pteroglossas Langsdorjjii, Wagl. Syst. Av., Pteroglossus, sp. 12.—Gould in Proc. of Zool. 
Soc., Part III. p. 157-—Gould, Mon. of Ramph., pi. 28.—lb. Sturm’s Edit., pi. .— 
Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Bii'ds, vol. ii. p. 404, Pteroglossus, sp. 28. 
Selenidera langsdorffi, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 95, Selenidera, sp. 5. 
The only example of the present bird that had come under my notice, when the first edition of this work was 
published, was the original specimen in the Munich Collection, from which the late Dr. Wagler took his 
description for the Monograph of the group contained in his valuable “ Systema Avium : ” since then, 
examples of both sexes have been received by me from the banks of the Amazon, whence its range 
would seem to extend to the eastern slopes of the Peruvian Andes, as we find it mentioned in “ Froriep’s 
Notices,” dated from “ Pampayaco am Huallago ” in eastern Peru, and I have myself received examples 
from that country. 
Some of my specimens were shot at Ega on the Upper Amazon, where it doubtless replaces the S. 
maculirostris of eastern Brazil, from which it may be readily recognized by its more robust form, and by 
the more uniform and sombre colouring of its bill. In the colouring of their plumage the two birds are 
very similar; the orange spot on the sides, however, is always of a deeper and richer hue in the present 
species. It is by no means a common bird, there being few collections in which examples are to be found. 
Froriep gives the following account of the habits of the species :— 
“ Always observed in couples fluttering from branch to branch, and never flying very far, not even when 
frightened by the huntsman, which is probably due to the shortness of its wings. Its voice resembles that 
of a Crow, and when uttered, the body is placed upright, with the head bent back on the shoulders and 
the bill directed upwards ; it is only in this position that its cry is emitted or its food swallowed. In a 
state of nature it searches for its food after the manner of the Woodpecker, boring into the nests of the 
Termite Ants with which the branches of the forest trees are covered. In captivity it is omnivorous, but 
may be easily kept upon insects, especially the caterpillar of the larger ants, and becomes very tame in a 
few days.” 
The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size. 
