270 #ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1946 
sidered, that I have ever seen. He owes his beauty to the intensity 
and arresting contrast of his coloration, the resplendent sheen and 
glitter of his plumage, the elegance of his ornamentation, the sym- 
metry of his form, and the noble dignity of his carriage. His whole 
head and upper plumage, foreneck and chest are an intense and glitter- 
ing green. His lower breast, belly and under tail coverts are of the 
richest crimson. The green of the chest meets the red of the breast 
in a line which is convex downward. The head is ornamented by up- 
standing bristly feathers which form a narrow, sharply ridged crest 
extending from the forehead to the hindhead. The bill is bright 
yellow, and rather smaller than that of other trogons, even those of 
inferior size. The glittering eye is black, and set directly among the 
green feathers of the face, without the white or bluish or golden orbital 
ring that so many trogons possess. 
“The wing-quills are largely concealed by the long, loose-barbed, 
golden-green, plume-like feathers of the coverts, whose separated ex- 
tremities, passing beyond the wings on to the sides of the bird, stand 
out beautifully against the crimson that shows between them. The 
ends of the black remiges are left uncovered by the covert-plumes and 
contrast with the green rump, upon the sides of which, when folded, 
they repose. The dark, central feathers of the tail are entirely con- 
cealed by the greatly elongated upper tail coverts, which are golden- 
green with blue or violet iridescence, and have loose, soft barbs. The 
two median and longest of these covert feathers are longer than the 
entire body of the bird, and extend far beyond the tip of the tail, 
which is of normal length. Loose and slender, they cross each other 
above the end of the tail, and thence diverging gradually, form a long, 
gracefully curving train which hangs below the bird while he perches 
upright on a branch and ripple gaily behind him as he flies. The 
cuter tail feathers are pure white and contrast with the crimson belly 
when the bird is beheld from in front, or as he flies overhead. To 
complete the splendor of his attire, reflections of blue and violet play 
over the glittering metallic plumage of back and head, when viewed 
in a favorable light. 
“The female quetzal is far less beautiful than her mate. She is the 
one female trogon I know whose upper plumage is green like the 
male’s, instead of brown or slate-colored. Her head is dark smoky 
gray, sometimes slightly tinged with green, and bears no trace of the 
male’s crest. Her bill and large eyes are black. Her back and rump 
are green, but less intensely so than those of the male; and the upper 
coverts of her wings and tail are green and elongated like his, but 
in less degree. The tips of the wing coverts scarcely extend beyond 
the margin of the folded wing, and the longest tail coverts at most 
but slightly exceed the length of the tail. Her chest is green; but 
