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 Order TROGONIFORMES 

 Family TROGONIDAE: Trogons, Trogonidos 



This family of colorful species has its greatest abundance in Central 

 and South America where 21 of its 36 living kinds are found. India 

 and southeastern Asia, including the Philippines, Java, Borneo, and 

 Sumatra, share 11, and 3 others range widely in Africa south of the 

 Sahara region. The family has no close relatives, and is ancient in 

 its history as fossil forms are known from early Tertiary time. 



The 11 species recorded in Panama are distributed throughout 

 forest areas from the lowlands to high in the mountains. The quetzal, 

 found from Chiapas to western Panama, is the most spectacular of 

 the group, as in the male the elongated upper tail coverts may be 

 nearly a meter in length. The feather covering in these birds is dense 

 and compact, but so loosely attached to the thin, delicate skin that 

 individual plumes fall out at the slightest touch in handling, though the 

 birds themselves fly and move without such damage. The four-toed 

 foot in this family differs from that of other living birds in having 

 the inner toe turned back parallel to the hind toe. In other yoke-toed 

 birds, with two toes pointed forward and two to the rear, the reversed 

 digit is always the outer one. 



Several of the American species, widely spread through the tropical 

 lowlands, have sonorous notes repeated rapidly in rattling sequence 

 that are among the attractive sounds of tropical jungles, but often 

 ventriloquial so that it is difficult to judge the distance or the direction 

 from which they come. 



All of the species are arboreal forest inhabitants and of quiet habit, 

 as they rest motionless, often concealed among leaves, for long 

 periods. Their food in part is fruits and drupes of forest trees which 

 they fly out to seize on the wing. Insects, often of considerable size, 

 are secured in the same manner. The nest is in natural cavities, or 

 in holes dug in decaying tree trunks, in arboreal termite nests, or in 

 the large paperlike nests of wasps. 



While a number of names are applied to them, as a whole, in 

 Spanish-speaking countries, they are often known collectively as 

 Palomas de la Virgen. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF TROGONIDAE 



1. Cutting edges of bill smooth, except for a terminal notch on maxilla and 



mandible; middle wing coverts elongated, (genus Pharomachrus) 2 



Cutting edges of bill serrated; middle wing coverts of normal length... 5 



