134 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



for the ruler himself. The female is scarcely so beautiful as the male 

 and lacks the crest and plumes of her lord. Still she is very graceful, 

 and evidently, in his eyes, the most glorious creature in the world. 

 Young trogans (or quetzals, as these birds are called by the natives) 

 of both sexes, resemble the female in dress and markings until after 

 the first year, when the male puts on the more gorgeous dress of his 

 male parent. Both the females and young birds are very quiet, but the 

 males, especially during the mating season, are noisy fellows, sending 

 their calls through the silent forest with an uncanny clearness of tone 

 which the superstitious natives ascribe to the supposed supernatural 

 powers of the birds. The call is, however, rather pleasing to the ears 

 of an American traveler, and resembles, more than anything else, a 

 long-drawn flute or piccolo note. There is a bird found in Southern 

 California and known as the Phainopepla, which has a very similar, 

 though weaker call. 



It is a species of fly catcher and is abundant among our hills and 

 sand-washes just at this season of the year. 



But, to return to our quetzals, of all the multi-colored birds of the 

 tropic air there is no one which excites such universal admiration as 

 does this. There is one skin of this bird which has been in the British 

 museum, exposed to the strongest light, for more than half a century, 

 yet which retains its pristine beauties of coloration and markings. Far- 

 ther to the south, there is another trogan, known as the golden-headed, 

 which was to the Incas of Peru what the quetzal was to the Montezu- 

 mas of Lake Tenochtitlan and the Royal Isles. It has the same power 

 of walking either up or down vertical surfaces as have the woodpeckers 

 of North America. In a manner not unlike that of the owls, which re- 

 gurgitate the skin and bones of their prey, this trogan throws out the 

 stones and seeds of the various fruits upon which it feeds. 



In making the coats of the royal Astics, the whole skin of the bird 

 was not taken — it being far too tender for that — but one feather was 

 plucked at a time, all feathers of one color being laid together until a 

 sufficient number of feathers had been collected to complete the desir- 

 ed garment. Then a fine skin of the jaguar, or Mexican lion, was 

 taken, and having been scraped to the desired thinness, a coat fashion- 

 ed from it. To this, one at a time, the beautiful feathers of the quet- 

 zal were fastened, either by means of a glue obtained from certain Mex- 

 ican trees or by sewing with threads obtained from some one of the 

 many fibrous plants found in Central Mexico. At the time of the Span- 

 ish conquest, the reigning Montezuma was particularly rich in these 

 rare and valuable garments, so that the conquistadores sent several 

 back to Spain. As it happened, one or two of these were preserved 



