[275.] RHAMPHASTOS TOCO, Gm.
(TOCO TOUCAN.)
Rhamphastos toco, Gould, Mon. Rhamphast. ed. 2, pl. i.; Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 108; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 620 (Oran and Misiones).
Description.—Above black; rump white, with a small scarlet patch on each side: beneath black, throat white; crissum scarlet; bill yellow, with a black blotch at the end of the upper mandible; feet brown: whole length 22·0 inches, wing 9·5, tail 6·5. Female similar.
Hab. Guiana, Amazonia, Brazil, Paraguay, and N. Argentina.
White met with this Toucan among the lofty forest trees at Campo Colorado, near Oran, where it was found in flocks. In Misiones it was more abundant, and was said to commit great havoc among the orange-groves.
[Order V. PSITTACI.]
[ Fam. XXIX. PSITTACIDÆ, or PARROTS.]
Dr. Finsch’s history of the Parrot tribe, published in 1867, included accounts of about 350 species, to which at least 50 more have been added during these last twenty years, so that upwards of 400 Parrots are now known to science. Of these, about 150 belong to the New World, mostly to the intertropical portion, though Parrots are found as far north as the U.S., and as far south as Chili and Patagonia.
In the Argentine Republic the presence of ten species of Psittacidæ has been recorded, but only two of these are found in the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, the remaining eight being restricted to the more northern and western portions of the country.