This extremely rare bird is in my own collection, and is not improbably _unique_; the figure is strictly of the natural size; the plumage, above and below, is a uniform deep green, with a metallic reflection; half way down, the throat is dark violet blue; tail even, and very broad, the middle feathers obscure green, the next pair raven or bluish-black, and the others white, with a black base. The progress which has been made towards ascertaining the geographic distribution of animals, leaves no doubt that this bird is an inhabitant of either the Continent or Islands of South America; but of what particular country is unknown. * * * * * Pl. 108 [Illustration] RAMPHASTOS Dicolorus, _Yellow-billed Toucan._ * * * * * GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 45. * * * * * SPECIFIC CHARACTER. _R. niger, gula aurea; fascia pectorali lata tegminibusque rubris; rostro viridi-flavo, basi fascia nigra transversa ornata; mandibulae superioris margine laterali rubro; culmine plano._ Black; throat golden-yellow; broad pectoral band and tail-covers red; bill greenish-yellow, the base with a transverse black band, and the lateral margins of the upper mandible red; the top flat. R. dicolorus. _Gm._ _p._ 356. _Lath. Ind. Orn._ _p._ 135. 2. _Turton._ _vol._ i. 211. Yellow throated Toucan. _Lath. Syn._ 1. 325. _Turton._ 1. 211. _Brisson. Orn._ 4. _p._ 411. _pl._ 31. _f._ 1. _Buffon Pl. Enl._ 269. Le petit Toucan a ventre rouge. _Vaill. H. N. des Toucans_, _pl._ 8. (_optime_). * * * * * This is the smallest species of the genuine Toucans yet known, inhabiting, though sparingly, the northern and southern extremities of tropical America. It is a species which seems to have been well understood by Linnaeus and the older ornithologists, though none of them have described the form or peculiarities of the bill; it is probably owing to this omission, that Dr. Shaw has created an imaginary species in _General Zoology_, under the name of _R. pectoralis_; compounded of the descriptions he gathered of this bird, and the Linnaean _R. tucanus_. Dr. Latham's description is also inaccurate; nor is it improved in the new edition of his Synopsis, probably from not having himself seen the bird. Of the figures, there is a masterly delineation by Barraband, in Le Vaillant's work, but those of Buffon and Brisson are not to be trusted. Total length about sixteen inches: bill three and a half; it is shorter and much thicker along the back, than that of any other species; this part also is broad, and quite flat; the serratures of the margin small, and the upper mandible only edged with a line of red; the sides are compressed, and the colours greenish-yellow; the orbits chesnut-red, and the feet (as in all the Toucans when fresh) delicate fine blue.