468 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PICABI^— CUCULIFOBMES. 



24. Family TROGONID^ : Trogons. 



Feet zygodactyle by reversion of the second toe (see p. 127). The 

 base of the short, broad, dentate bill is hiddeu by appressed antrorse 

 feathers ; the wings are short and rounded, with falcate quiUs ; the 

 tail is long, of twelve broad feathers ; the feet are very small and 

 weak. The general plumage is soft and lax, the skin tender, the 

 eyelids lashed. A well-marked family of about 50 species and 

 perhaps a dozen genera, chietiy inhabiting tropical America. They 

 are of gorgeous colors, and among them are found the most magni- 

 ficent birds of this continent (fig. 317). 

 144. TROGON. (6r. rpmycov, trogon, a gnawer : aUudiug to the dentate biU.) The leading genus, 



to whicli the above characters fully apply. 

 422. T. ambi'guus. (Lat. ambi^fMMS, ambiguous, as doubtfully distinct from T. weicicawMS. Fig. 318.) 

 Copper-tailed Trogon. Metallic golden-green ; face and sides of head black ; below from 

 the breast carmine; a white collar on the throat ; middle tail-feathers coppery-green, the outer 

 white, finely variegated with black ; quills edged with white. Length about 11.00 ; wing 5.25 ; 

 tail 6.75. Valley of the Lower Rio Grande, and southward. 



Fig. 318. — Head of Cop- 

 per-tailed Trogon, nat. size. 



[Family MOMOTID^ : Sawbills. 



^^^p~^"~^-. Feet syndactyle by cohesion of third 



^»^^u ....t''*''"""""''^''"^^^ '^''^^ fourth toes (p. 129) ; tomia serrate. 



>i -^ "^^ ^^^ -^ ^^^y small family of tropical American 



birds, comprising about 15 species, none 

 having really rightful place here ; but 

 the Momotus caeruleiceps (fig. 319) comes 

 near our border, and is included to illus- 

 trate the suborder. In this species, the 

 central tail-feathers are long-exserted, 

 and spatulate by absence of webs along 

 a part of the shaft — a mutilation efiected, 

 it is said, by the birds themselves; the 

 Fig. 319. — Head of Blue-headed Saw-bill, nat. size. bill is about as long as the head, gently 



curved ; the nostrils are rounded, basal, exposed ; the wings are short and rounded ; the tarsi 



are scutellate anteriorly. It is greenish, with blue head. Mexico.] 



25. Family ALCEDINID.^ : Kingfishers. 



Feet syndactyle by cohesion of third and fourth toes (p. 129, fig. 44) ; toviia simple. Bill long, 

 large, straight, acute (rarely hooked) ; somewhat " fissirostral," the gape being deep .and wide. 

 Tongue rudimentary or very small. Nostrils basal, reached by the frontal feathers. Feet very 

 small and weak, scarcely or not ambulatorial ; tibiae naked below ; tarsi extremely short, reticu- 

 late in front ; hallux short, flattened underneath, its sole more or less ccjntinuous with the sole 

 of the inner toe ; soles of outer and middle toe in common for at least half their length ; inner 

 toe always short, in one genus rudimentary, in another wanting (an abnormal modification). 

 Developed toes always with the normal ratio of phalanges (2,' 3, 4, 5 ; p. 127) ; middle claw not 

 serrate. Wings long, of 10 primaries. Tail of 12 rectrices, variable in shape. 



" The Kingfishers form a very natural family of the great Picarian order, and are alike 

 lemarkable for their brilliant coloration and for the variety of curious and aberrant forms which 



