442 CORACIIFORMES CHAP. 
feathers are easily detached from the delicate skin. The male 
of Pharomacrus mocinno has a fine rounded crest, less developed 
in the female and in its other congeners. Huptilotis, T’metotrogon, 
and Prionotelus have the ear-coverts filamentous and hair-like. 
Pharomacrus pavoninus has a red bill,as has Prionotelus in part; the 
usual colour in the former genus, and in Zrogon and its allies, being 
yellow for the cock and more horn-coloured or black for the hen, but 
in Harpactes violet or bluish, with a duller tip in the female. The 
orbits are partially or entirely bare in Hapaloderma, Harpactes, and 
Hapalarpactes, the skin being, it would seem, yellow, violet, or 
blue. The Family ranges through the tropical portions of the 
Indian, Ethiopian, and Neotropical Regions, Harpactes and Hapal- 
arpactes being found in the first, Hapaloderma in the second, and 
the other five genera in the third. Zrogon ambiguus reaches north- 
wards to Arizona and Texas. The number of species is nearly 
fifty, of which the largest (Pharomacrus mocinno) measures some 
fourteen inches, the smallest (Harpactes duvaucel’) about mine. 
Trogons are usually seen singly or in pairs, though some- 
times in small flocks; they are rarely shy, and often so unsus- 
picious that they may be killed with a stick. They customarily 
sit almost motionless in the mid-day heat, with the head drawn in 
upon the shoulders and the body vertical, every now and then open- 
ing and shutting the tail. Their haunts are in the thickest forests, 
which they seldom leave for more open or sunny places; here 
they creep about the trees or sit some half-way up on leafless 
branches, darting off to catch a passing insect or to secure a tempt- 
ing fruit, since nearly all their food is taken on the wing. The 
noiseless flight is rapid, but short and jerky, with occasional undu- 
lations. The Quezal, at least, clings to trees like a Woodpecker, 
but the feet are ill adapted to climbing, and perfectly unfit for 
walking. The voice of this species consists of two plaintive 
sibilant notes, gradually swelling into a loud cry, and varied by 
discordant sounds; many forms, however, utter a reiterated “ cou- 
cou,” and will also cluck, whistle, or chatter, though ordinarily 
silent, except when breeding. The food of the New World species 
is stated to consist principally of fruit, but lizards, grasshoppers, 
lepidoptera, caterpillars, ants, beetles, small crabs, and terrestrial 
molluses are eaten; while the Old World forms seem to prefer 
an insect-diet. No nest is made, but a hole is usually bored or 
enlarged in the top or side of a rotter stump or branch, in which 
