484 TROGONIDE. 
a long note, which after swelling dies away as it began. Both these notes can be easily 
imitated by the mouth. The bird’s other cries are harsh and discordant: they are 
best produced by doubling a pliant leaf over the first fingers, which must be kept about 
two inches apart; the two edges of the leaf being then placed in the mouth and the 
breath drawn in, the required sound is produced. When searching for Quezals the 
hunter whistles as he walks along, here and there sitting down and repeating the other 
notes. As soon as he hears a bird answering at a distance he stops, and imitates the 
bird’s cries until it has approached near enough to enable him either to shoot it from 
where he stands or to creep up to within shot. The female generally flies up first and 
perches on a tree near the hunter, who takes no notice of her, but continues calling till 
the male, who usually quickly follows the female, appears. Should the male not show 
himself, the hunter will sometimes shoot the female. It is thus that so large a 
proportion of males are shot. The flight of the Quezal is rapid and straight; the long 
tail-feathers, which never seem in his way, stream after him. — It sits almost motionless 
on its perch, the body remaining in the same position, the head only moving slowly 
from side to side. The tail does not hang perpendicularly, the angle between the true 
tail and the vertical being perhaps as much as 15 or 20 degrees; it is occasionally 
jerked open and closed again, and now and then slightly raised, causing the long 
coverts to vibrate gracefully. ‘The food consists principally of fruit, which is plucked 
on the wing, but an occasional caterpillar is also eaten. 
The nest of the Quezal is made in the hollow of a tree, and the following note by 
Mr. Robert Owen, who was then living at the hacienda of San Gerénimo in Vera Paz, 
gives a good account of its first discovery *! :— 
“ Mountains of Santa Cruz, 11th June, 1860.—In an expedition to the mountains of 
Santa Cruz one of our hunters told me that he knew of a Quezal’s nest about a league 
from Chilasco, a place in the same range, and offered to shoot for me the female and 
bring me the eggs if I would send my servant to help him. This I accordingly did, 
and my man returned with the hen and two eggs. They stated that they found the 
nest in a hollow of a decayed forest-tree, about 26 feet from the ground. There was 
but one orifice, not more than sufficiently large to allow the bird to enter, and the 
whole interior cavity was barely large enough to admit of the bird turning round. 
Inside there were no signs of a nest, beyond a layer of small particles of decayed wood 
upon which the eggs were deposited. The mountaineers all say that the bird avails 
itself of the deserted hole of a Woodpecker for its nesting-place, probably founding 
the supposition on the evident inaptness of the birds for boring into trees.” 
These eggs are of a bluish-green tint without spots or markings, and measure axis 
1-4 in., diam. 1:15 in. 
The above account of the nesting-habits of the Quezal and the colour and number 
of its eggs corresponds exactly with that given by Salmon of the allied P. auriceps 
which he found breeding in the valley of the Caucain Colombia. The story put in 
