ANDIGENA LAMINIROSTRIS, Gould. 
Laminated Hill Toucan. 
Specific Character. 
And. rostro ad basin coccineo; culmine el apice nigi is; lateribus laminatis cornets; corpore 
subtus cinereo-cyaneo. 
Crown of the head and back of the neck deep black; upper surface golden brown ; primaries 
brownish black ; rump pale greenish yellow ; upper tail-coverts very dark green ; tail dark 
slaty grey, four central feathers largely tipped with chestnut-red ; undersurface ashy blue; 
on either flank a large patch of rich yellow; thighs deep chestnut; under tail-coverts 
blood-red ; cu linen and apical half of both mandibles black; a broad band on the base of 
the upper mandible and the basal half of the lower mandible deep blood-red ; on either 
side of the upper mandible, immediately in front of the blood-red base, is a large buff- 
coloured plate or lamina, continuous with the structure of the bill posteriorly, but separate 
and detached in front, dilated on its upper edge, thicker and projecting beyond the edge 
of the mandible below; feet slaty blue. 
Total length, 18 inches; hill, 3i; wing, 6f; tail, 6f; tarsi, IK 
Andigena laminirostris, Gould, in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1850, p. 93. 
For our knowledge of this fine new species we are indebted to the researches of M. Jules Bourcier, 
who discovered it in the forests at the base of Pichincha, in Ecuador, during Jiis recent official sojourn in 
that country. At the time I described the bird in the “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” only a 
single specimen had been sent to Europe, which, having become the property of T. B. Wilson, Escp, of 
Philadelphia, was kindly lent to me by his brother, E. Wilson, Esq., for the purpose of figuring and 
describing. Since that time two more specimens have been sent to Paris, and now form part of my own 
collection. 
It is certainly one of the most extraordinary of the Toucans yet discovered, inasmuch as it possesses a 
feature in its laminated bill not found in any other species ; the particular use of this lamination, if any, is 
unknown to us, and we are equally ignorant as to its habits and economy. Like the A. hypoglaucus, and all 
the other members of the family, this species differs considerably in size; probably the smaller birds may 
be the females ; if so, they have the lamination of the bill quite as strongly developed as in the male. 
The figures are of the natural size. 
