UIKUS — TROGONIDAK — TROGON MEXICANU8. 69 



Family TROGONIDAE. TheTrogons. 



In continuation of the diagnosis already given of this family, it may he stated that the bill is 

 much shorter than the head, broadly triangular, with the tip hooked and dentate. Nasal fossae 

 concealed ; the base of both mandibles with long, stift' bristles directed forwards ; the eyelids, 

 also, with similar bristles. Wings short, rounded ; the quills falcate, much graduated. Tail 

 elongated ; the feathers broad. Legs very feeble ; the tarsus short, and hidden in the plumage. 

 The inner anterior toe is versatile, or directed backwards, instead of the outer, as in all other 

 Scansores. 



'i'ROGON, Moehring. 



Trogon " Moehring, Genera Avium, 1752." 



Bill broad, both mandibles with the cutting edge serrated ; plumage soft and lax, the upper tail coverts not reaching beyond 

 the middle of the tail and but little beyond the tip of the folded wing. The wing coverts are short ; the lateral tail feathers gradu- 

 ated. Anterior toes united beyond the first joint. 



The genus Trogon, as above characterized, is distinguished from Calurus (PJiaromacrus) by 

 the short upper tail coverts, which do not project in a long train far beyond the true tail. The 

 even tail feathers distinguish it from Temnunis, its other American ally. 



TROGON MEXICANUS, Swain son. 



Mexican Trogon. 



Trogon mexieanus, Swaikson, Syn. Birds Mejc. Taylor's Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 440. — Waclf.r, Isis, 1831, 524. — 

 Gould, Mon. Trogonidae, 1838 ; pi. i, adult male, and pi. ii, female and young male. 



Sp. Ch. — Golden green above and on the neck all around. Forehead, chin, and side of head, black. Under parts carmine red ; 

 a narrow pectoral collar and the edges of the wings white. Outer tail feathers white, their middle portion dotted or barred with 

 black. Middle feathers coppery, with or without a terminal bar of black. 



Length, 10 75 ; wing, 5.25 ; tail, C.75. Hab. — Northeastern Mexico to Rio Grande. 



4338. — The entire upper parts of this species, with the neck and upper part of the breast, 

 are of a rich lustrous metallic golden green, with occasional coppery reflections, especially on 

 the scapulars. The forehead, sides of the head around the eyes, the chin, and upper part of the 

 throat, are dull black, with perhaps a bluish shade. The wing coverts are finely mottled black 

 and white ; the quills are brown, with the outer webs edged with white. The entire under 

 parts are of a rich carmine red; the feathers with concealed white just below the red; a narrow 

 white collar separates the green of the breast from the carmine. The outer three tail feathers 

 are white for most of their length, and dusky towards the base, especially on the inner webs. 

 For about the terminal inch the white is pure, elsewhere it is finely dotted with black. Tlie 

 two middle feathers are greenish coppery, abruptly lipped for about an inch witli black ; the 

 remaining ones are similar, but with more of a violet tinge. A second specimen (4339) has 

 rather more white on the breast. The middle tail feathers lack the terminal band of black. 

 The external tail feathers, (except the second,) instead of being finely mottled, are barred 

 transversely with black. 



The feathers on the rump of this and probably other species of IVogon have the shafts 



