RAMPHASTOS ARIEL, Vigors. 
- TUCANUS, Limie ? 
Ariel Toucan. 
Specific Charactee. 
Rmnph. rosfro nigro, J'ascia basali sulphured, culmine ad basin coeruleo: ater; guld genis 
guttureque aurantio-luteis, Jiujus margine inferiore sidpJmreo, regione periophthalmica nuda 
miniaced, fascia pectorali crisso uropygioque coccineis. 
Beak black, with a basal band of rich yellow; culmen for half its length greyish blue; 
throat and breast rich orange yellow, becoming paler on its outer edges; below the orange 
of the breast extends a narrow belt of straw yellow, which is succeeded by a broader one 
of scarlet, which is the colour of the upper and under tail-coverts; the whole of the 
remaining plumage of both the upper and under surface of a profound black; bare skin 
round the eye scarlet; irides blue ; tarsi lead colour. 
Total length, 18 inches; wings, 7i; tail, 6t; tarsi. If. 
Ramjyliastos Tucanus. Linn.? 
Le Toucan de Para de TAmerique meridionale. Vieill., Gal. des Ois,, Suppl. 
Toucan Brasiliensis gutture luteo ? Briss., Orn,, vol. 4. p. 419. pi. 32. fig. 1. 
Le Toucan d gorge jaune du Bresil. Bulf., PL Enl.n. 307. 
Ramphastos TemmincMil Wagler, Syst. Avium. 
- Ariel, Vigors, in Zool. Journ., vol. 2. p. 466. 
There is no one species of the family of Toucans that is more common in our museums, or better known, 
than the present; yet, strange to say, none is involved in greater confusion: and this confusion appears to 
have arisen from one author having taken his characters from the description of another, without having 
instituted any examination for himself. Instead of going into a detailed history of this tissue of confusion, I 
would rather refer my readers to the elaborate paper on the subject by N. A. Vigors, Esq., M.P., in the 
“ Zoological Journal,” vol. 2. p. 466. For myself, I cannot help suspecting that, notwithstanding the yellow 
upper tail-coverts described by Linnaeus as characteristic of Ramphastos Tucanus, the present bird is in reality 
identical with that species ; and I am the more inclined to believe this, as no such bird exists in any museum, 
as far as I have been able to ascertain. However, upon referring to the works of Linnmus, Brisson, and 
Wagler, the reader may satisfy himself respecting the uncertainty which hangs over the nomenclature of the 
bird in question. 
An example of this beautiful species lived in the possession of Mr. Vigors for eight years. 
It is extremely common in the Brazils, whence it is dispersed throughout the greater part of South 
America. 
