BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 731 



Family TROGONID^. 



THE TROGONS. 



= Trogonidae Sw Am SON, Fauna Bor.-Am., ii, 1831, 326.— Cabanis, in Wiegmann's 

 Archiv fixr Naturg., 1847, pt. i, 347.— Bonaparte, Consp. Av., i, 1850, 148.— 

 Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Heine, iv, 1863, 154.— Carus, Handb. Zool., i, 

 1868-75, 231.— Stejneger, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 433.— Fuerbringer, 

 Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., 1888, 1331. (And of authors generally.) 



= Trogoninx Sundevall, Av. Disp. Tent., ii, 1873, 84 (and of Bonaparte, Cabanis, 

 and Cabanis and Heine, as cited above). 



= Trogontidx (emendation) Oberholser, Outl. Classif. N. Am. Birds, Sept., 

 1905, 3. 



The following characters are additional to those given under Sub- 

 order Heterodactylse: 



Bill short (much shorter than head), broad basally (triangular in 

 vertical profile), the culmen strongly decurved and terminally more 

 or less distinctly (but not conspicuously) uncinate; maxillary tomium 

 usually more or less serrate subterminally (smooth in one American 

 genus, Pharomachrus, and in most of the Old World forms) ; base of 

 bill concealed by well-developed, curved, antrorse latero-frontal, 

 pre-malar, and mental bristle-ti])ped feathers; feet weak, the tarsus 

 much shorter than longest anterior toe, chiefly (sometimes entirely) 

 feathered; anterior toes united for about the basal half; wing short, 

 rounded, very concave beneath; primaries more or less falcate or 

 subfalcate terminally, the tenth (outermost) decidedly shortest; 

 secondaries short; tail longer than wing, composed of twelve broad 

 and nearly truncate rectrices; plumage dense and soft, easily detached; 

 colors bright, brilUantly metallic (green, golden, coppery, blue, or 

 violet above) in adult males, the under parts of body pure red, orange, 

 or yellow; young usually spotted and without bright colors; nest in 

 holes of trees, stumps, etc.; eggs plain white or pale bluish. 



The Trogons are a well-marked group of Picarian birds, differing 

 from all others in the conformation of the feet, the inner toe being 

 reversed, or turned backward, instead of the outer, as is the case with 

 all other birds which have the toes in pairs. 



They are forest birds, and therefore arboreal, passing their entire 

 life among the trees, where they nest in natural cavities or those 

 abandoned by parrots or the larger woodpeckers. They feed chiefly 

 on fruits and insects, both of which they take while flying. As a 

 group the Trogons are celebrated for their beauty of plumage, some 

 of the species being among the most beautiful of birds, the magnifi- 

 cent Quetzal (PJiaromacJirus mocinno), of Guatemala, excelling even 

 the famed Birds of Paradise in the gorgeous beauty of its plumage 

 and exquisite grace of form. 



