TROOPIAL— TROPIC-BIRD 989 



tion of the Trogons prior to the establishment, by geographical 

 estrangement, of the two types was a russet similar to that now 

 worn by the adults of both sexes in the Indian Region, and by a 

 portion only of the females in the Neotropical. The Ethiopian 

 type, as already said, very closely agrees with the American, and 

 therefore would be likely to have been longer in connexion there- 

 with. Again, while the adults of most of the American Trogons 

 {Pharomacrus and E-uptilotis excepted) have the edges of their bill 

 serrated, their young have them smooth or only with a single 

 notch on either side near the tip, and this is observable in the 

 Asiatic Trogons at all ages. At the same time the most distinctive 

 features of the whole group, which are easily taken in at a glance, 

 but are ditficult to express briefly in words, are equally possessed 

 by both branches of the Family, shewing that they were in all 

 likelihood — for the possibility that the peculiarities may have been 

 evolved apart is not to be overlooked — reached before the geo- 

 graphical sundering of these branches (whereby they are now 

 placed on opposite sides of the globe) was eflfected. 



It remains to say that Gould in the second edition of his 

 Monograph of the Family (1875) recognized about sixty species, 

 dividing them into 7 genera; but Mr. Grant's revision in 1892 

 {Cat. B. Br. Mus. xvii. pp. 429-497, 501, 502) gives 8 genera and 

 49 species, though admitting several made known since his pre- 

 decessor's time. Pharomacrus, Euptilotis and Trogon inhabit the 

 mainland of tropical America, no species passing to the northward 

 of the Rio Grande nor southward of the forest district of Brazil, 

 while none occur on the west coast of Peru or Chili. Prionotelus 

 and Tmetotrogon, each with one species, are peculiar respectively 

 to Cuba and Hispaniola. The African form Hapaloderma has 

 three species, one found only on the west coast, another on the 

 east coast and the third of more general range. The Asiatic 

 Trogons,, Harpades (with eleven species according to the same 

 authority), occur from Nepal to Malacca and Cochin China, in 

 Ceylon, and in Sumatra, Java and Borneo, while one species is 

 peculiar to some of the Philippine Islands, and Hapalarpadus has a 

 species in Borneo, with another in Sumatra. 



TROOPIAL, from the French Troupiale ^ ; apparently the inven- 

 tion of Bonaparte {Ar)i. Orn. i. p. 27) in 1825, and used as the 

 equivalent of Icterus. 



TROPIC-BIRD, so called of sailors from early times,- because, as 

 Dampier {Voy. i. p. 53) among others testifies, it is "never seen far 



^ Brisson {Orn. ii. p. 85) in 1760 says that the word was already applied in 

 America to some of the birds of his genus Icterus. 



- More recently sailors have taken to call it " Boatswain -bird " — a name- 

 probably first bestowed on the Arctic Skua. 



