ANDIGENA NIGRIROSTR IS. 
Black-billed Hill Toucan. 
Specific Character. 
And. rostro nigro; gida alba ; corpore inferiore pallide cyaneo. 
Crown of the head and back of the neck glossy black; back, wing-coverts and margins of the 
primaries sienna-brown; secondaries bluish brown ; tail very dark bluish green, the four 
central feathers largely, and the next on each side slightly tipped with chestnut; upper 
tail-coverts sulphur-yellow; throat white, the white tinged with blue, proceeding across the 
sides of the neck, and nearly meeting at the back; breast and abdomen pale chalky blue ; 
thighs rich chestnut; under tail-coverts blood-red ; feet greenish blue, with a lilac tinge on 
their under surface. 
Total length, 19 inches; bill, 4i; wing, 6f; tail, 7i; tarsi, It. 
Pteroglossns nigrirostris, Waterh. in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VI I. p. 111.—Gray and Mitch. 
Gen. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 404, Pteroglossns, sp. 18.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., 
p. 94, Pteroglossns, sp. 10.. 
- melanorhynchus, Sturm’s Edit, of Gould’s Mon. of Ramph., pi. 
This species was first characterized by Mr. Waterhouse (from a specimen belonging to the late Earl of Derby) 
in 1839, four years subsequent to the completion of the first edition of this work, and during my absence in 
Australia ; two years later Messrs. Sturm figured it in their edition of my Monograph under the name of 
P. melanorhynchus, both those gentlemen and Mr. Waterhouse having selected the black colouring of its 
bill, in which it differs from every known member of its family, for their specific appellation. 
It is a typical example of that division of the family to which I have applied the generic term Andigena ; 
it is, moreover, one of the most delicately coloured, and one of the most interesting speeies of the genus ; 
from all of which, as above-mentioned, it differs in the black colouring of its bill, which is beautifully con¬ 
trasted with the snowy whiteness of its throat; while the blue of its under surface is even more delicate 
than in A. hypoglaucus. It is a large and powerful bird, and the strength of its mandibles indicates that it 
can use them with greater force than any of its congeners. 
Mr. Waterhouse has remarked that the nostrils do not extend so far forwards, that they are hidden by 
the feathers of the head, and that there is no longitudinal groove in front of them, as in other species of 
the genus. 
Farther than its occurring in most of the recent collections sent from Santa Fe de Bogota, nothing is 
known respecting it; not even the localities it frequents in the great Andean Range. But little difference 
is observable in the colouring of the birds sent to Europe ; on the other hand, they differ considerably in size, 
the smaller birds being probably females. 
The figures are of the natural size. 
