Zoological Illustrations Volume Ii Part 17

Pl. 106

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CURSORIUS Temminckii,

_Black-bellied Courier._

GENERIC CHARACTER.

_Rostrum mediocre, ad apicem compressum, mandibulis arcuatis, basi depressa, apice acuto, integro. Nares basales, ovatae, apertura elongata, laterali. Pedes longi, digitis tribus anticis omnin divisis, interioribus brevissimis, ungue medio pectinato. Remigum penna prima longissima._--Typus Genericus _Cursorius Europaeus_, Lath.

Bill as long as the head; both mandibles arched, and towards the end compressed; base depressed, the tip acute and entire; nostrils basal, oval, the aperture oblong and lateral; legs long, with three toes in front entirely separated, the inner toes very short, the middle with the claw serrated; wings with the first quill longest.--Generic Type _Cream-coloured Plover_ Latham.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_C. colore columbino; vertice pectoreque ferrugineis; torquibus nuchalibus 2; torque inferiore, remigibus, abdomineque medio nigris; torque superiore abdominisque lateribus albis._

Cream-coloured brown; top of the head and breast ferruginous; nuchal collar double; the lower, with the quills and middle of the body, black; the upper, and the sides of the body, white.

Dr. Latham first inst.i.tuted this genus, of which two species were then known; M. Le Vaillant discovered another in Africa; and I am happy in now adding a fourth from the same country, in the possession of Mr. Leadbeater.

No ornithologist has paid greater attention both to the natural affinities, and to the ill.u.s.tration of the genera allied with these birds, than Professor Temminck; and I therefore feel pleasure in naming this bird in honour of that excellent ornithologist, from whom whenever I have differed, it has been from the sole wish of eliciting truth. Total length from the bill to the tail eight inches; bill one inch from the gape, and half from the end of the nostrils; the colours of the bird are best seen in the figure; the middle of the body, and the quill feathers, deep black; legs three inches from the naked thigh to the tip of the middle toe, the claw of which is serrated internally; tail round; the middle feathers not spotted; the two next with a black dot near the tip, which, in the next pair, is further broken into two white dots; the outer pair white. These birds inhabit the arid tracts of Africa, at a distance from the sea, and run amazingly swift. One species has occasionally visited England.

Pl. 107

[Ill.u.s.tration]

TROCHILUS ensipennis,

_Blue Sickle-winged Humming Bird._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 82.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_T. (div. curvirostrae) aureo-viridis, mento juguloque caeruleo-violaceis; rectricibus paribus; alis falcatis, remigum primorum scapis dilatato-compressis._

Curved-bill Humming Bird, golden green; chin and fore part of the throat violet-blue; tail even; wings falcated, greater quills with the shafts dilated and compressed.

I have already offered some observations on the remarkable construction in the wings of _T. falcatus_, figured at pl. 83; and the bird now before us is another unrecorded species, possessing exactly the same formation. I was at first inclined to believe this bird was the male of the _T. latipennis_, (or _l'Oiseau Mouche a larges tuyaux_ of Buffon), from the under plumage in that species being uniform grey, a common indication of the female Humming Birds; but a further comparison of the two has proved this supposition to be erroneous. They differ, not only in colour, but in their bills; in that of _T. latipennis_, the curvature is so slight, that it may be almost called straight; whereas in this, the curve is very apparent. I have little doubt future observations will show, that these singular quill-feathers, now known to exist in three species of this family, are peculiar only to the male birds.

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

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 pet.i.t 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. tuca.n.u.s_. 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.

Dr. Langsdorff favoured me with a specimen of this rare bird, shot by himself in Southern Brazil; the s.e.xes have been dissected by that able naturalist, but to which the one here figured belongs, I am unacquainted.