110 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Voice. — Mr. Jacot says, in his letter, that the young birds were 

 silent but that the adults had many notes, one of which was "almost 

 like the chattering of our gray squirrel." A note referred to above 

 was like that of a hen turkey. Dr. William Beebe (1905) says: 

 "The call of the trogon, uttered especially toward evening when it 

 came to drink, was a soft series of melodious notes, reminding one 

 somewhat of the content-call of a hen with chickens. Regularly at 

 dusk two of these birds went to roost in a dense tangle of wild 

 clematis." Mr. van Rossem (1936) refers to the note of the male 

 trogon as a "loud, hoarse, 'koa-koa-koa'." Evidently the bird has a 

 variety of notes. 



Field marks. — The shape and posture, referred to above, as well as 

 its brilliant colors, would mark this beautiful bird definitely as a 

 trogon. The only other trogon likely to be met with anywhere 

 within the range of this species is the Mexican trogon, found on the 

 highlands of Mexico. The two species can be recognized in life by 

 the color patterns of the outer tail feathers; in amhiguus these 

 feathers are largely white, barred or vermiculated with black; in 

 mexicarms they are largely black, broadly tipped with white. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Southern Arizona, south to central Mexico; accidental in 

 the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. 



The range of the coppery-tailed trogon extends north casually to 

 Arizona (possibly Santa Catalina Mountains, Huachuca Mountains, 

 and possibly Tombstone) ; northern Chihuahua (San Luis Mountains 

 and the Sierra de la Campana) ; Nuevo Leon (Monterey and Monte- 

 morelos) ; and central Tamaulipas (Ciudad Victoria and Soto la 

 Marina). East to Tamaulipas (Soto la Marina, Xicotencatl, Alta- 

 mira, and Tampico) ; central Veracruz (Orizaba) ; and central Oaxaca 

 (Talca and Juchatengo). South to Oaxaca (Juchatengo) ; Oaxaca 

 (Omilteme and Amula) ; Michoacan (Tancitaro) ; and Jalisco (Zapot- 

 ian). West to Jalisco (Zapotlan, Ameca, and San Marcos) ; Nayarit 

 (Mazatlan, Tres Marias Islands, and Mexcatitlan) ; Sinaloa (Escui- 

 napa. El Limon, Angostura, and San Javier) ; eastern Sonora 

 (Alamos, Chinobampo, and Guiracoba) ; and southeastern Arizona 

 (Huachuca Mountains and possibly the Santa Catalina Mountains). 



Casual records. — Although this bird can only be considered as rare 

 anywhere in the United States, it appears to be fairly regular in the 

 Huachuca Mountains, Ariz. During the summer of 1877 a trogon 

 was killed near Ringgold Barracks and another at Las Cuevas, Tex. 

 Although not preserved they were fully described, by the persons who 

 shot them, to Dr. James C. Merrill, and were undoubtedly this species. 



Egg dates. — Mexico: 23 records, March 29 to June 30; 12 records, 

 April 15 to May 13, indicating the height of the season. 



