TROGONIDAE • 44 I 



grey or ash-coloiir, the abdomen being buff. Fine crests add to the 

 general appearance. C. macrarm is remarkable for a tuft of blue 

 feathers on each side of the nape , C. leueocejjhalus has a white 

 head ; C I e 11 rotis white ear-coverts : C. nigricollis a black forehead 

 and throat ; C. eapcnsis two stripes of black on the back enclosing 

 one of white ; while that species and C. castanonotus have maroon 

 rumps. The bare skin surroundings the eye is scarlet in C. crythro- 

 incloH; C. macrurns, and C. capensis, and aY)parently bluish-grey 

 elsewhere. The legs are red in life, fading to buff after death. C. 

 striatus is very nearly uniform brown, C. crythromelon shews a 

 greenisli tinge and has some buff on the head. The sexes are similar, 

 nor are the young very different. The length is from eleven to 

 fourteen inches. Kafirs consider these 1)irds very good eating. 



Fam. XI Y. Trogonidae. — The Trogons are the sole tenants of 

 the Sub-Order Tkogones, a very distinct group of Ijirds of brilliant 

 coloration — the Quezal, as will be seen below, being the most 

 splendid of all. Their general aspect is somewhat heavy ; the neck 

 is abbreviated ; the bill, stoutest in Pharomacrus and most slender 

 in Eaptllotis, is short and strong, with a wide bristly gape, and 

 a curved culmen terminating in a hook. The maxilla in these 

 genera, as well as in Harpactes and Hapalarpactes, has a terminal 

 notch, while both mandibles are more or less serrated in adults 

 of Trof/on, Hapaloderma, Tmetotrogon, and Prionotelus. The foot 

 is comparatively small and weak, with the sliort metatarsus 

 feathered and somewhat scaly ; the second toe is reversed, a 

 " heterodactylous " arrangement (p. 10) unique among birds. The 

 moderate wing has ten primaries, and from eight to ten second- 

 aries ; the upper wing-coverts being elongated in Pharomacrus, 

 especially in the males. The long rectrices are twelve in number, 

 and are concave at the end wath divergent tips in Prionotelus ; the 

 feathers, moreover, are often square at the extremity — a noticeable 

 peculiarity in the Family ; while in the Quezal, Pharomacrus mo- 

 cinno, the male has enormously developed upper coverts to the tail, 

 which extend far beyond it, the two median being the longest ; in 

 its congeners and in females generally they equal the rectrices ; in 

 Euptllotis they are only half the length. The furcula is U-shaped ; 

 the tongue fiat ; the syrinx tracheo-ln'onchial : tlie aftershaft long ; 

 the nostrils are bristly : the adults have no down ; and the nest- 

 lings are said to be naked for a short period. The large soft 



