LIFE HISTORY OF THE QUETZAL—SKUTCH 275 
sound after falling from twice or thrice the height of these quetzals’ 
nests. The lowest nest chamber, to which I devoted so much attention 
in July and August, was covered in front only by the bark of the 
decaying stump, a large sheet of which seemed on the point of falling 
away and exposing the eggs. I thought it prudent to hold it in place 
by encircling the trunk with cord. 
I did not in any instance see quetzals actually carve their nest cham- 
ber. The three nests in which first broods were raised seemed old and 
weathered when I found them. But the shallow cavity already men- 
tioned gave every appearance of having been freshly carved in decay- 
ing wood still considerably sounder than that which collapsed into a 
heap when it fell. This nest was shown to me by Don Moises Larra, 
in front of whose cabin it stood. He told me that he had seen the male 
and female quetzals taking turns at carving it out. This, of course, is 
the way in which most if not all kinds of trogons make their nests. 
Early in March, a pair was interested in a tall, branchless, decaying 
trunk that stood in a pasture near the edge of the forest. While 1 
watched, the female clung upright in front of an old, long-abandoned 
woodpecker hole near the top of the stub. She spread her tail and 
braced it against the trunk, revealing the white outer feathers nar- 
rowly barred with black. Clinging so, she bit at the decaying wood 
about the rim of the doorway, tearing off fairly large flakes of the 
soft substance and letting them drop to the ground. She continued 
this occupation for a minute or less, and while she was so engaged 
I heard soft, full notes, but could not make sure whether they arose 
from her or from the male who perched nearby. Upon dropping away 
from the tree, she rejoined her waiting mate and both returned to 
the forest. Finally, this pair nested in an old hole in the top of 
another dead trunk not far off. 
At Vara Blanca I found no breeding woodpecker whose hole could 
accommodate, without alterations, a bird as large as the quetzal. The 
hairy woodpecker (Dryobates villosus), acorn woodpecker (Balanos- 
phyra formicivora), green woodpecker (Piculus rubiginosus) and 
oleaginous woodpecker (Veniliornis oleaginus) were the only resident 
species—all considerably smaller than the quetzal. Likewise, the 
prong-billed barbet (Dicrorhynchus frantzii), whose nest cavity 
closely resembles a woodpecker hole, is not nearly so large as the 
quetzal. Before a quetzal could nest in a hole carved by any of these 
five species, it would have to enlarge it, especially the doorway. I be- 
lieve that this is what the pair I watched had started to do, but there- 
after something was found that could be made to serve with less effort. 
Whenever an old hole of their own remains from a former year, still 
sound enough to contain their eggs and even if in a precarious state of 
decay, these trogons appear to use it again. When still available, the 
