LIFE HISTORY OF THE QUETZAL—SKUTCH 289 
But the other fledgling, accompanied by the father, had long before 
gone farther into the woods and neither was now in view. The 
abandoned young quetzal continued ceaselessly to call, until at half 
past five the male brought the big green fruit of an zva, which quieted 
its eries of hunger. For the next half hour, the parent, doubtless 
tired ‘by a long day devoted to hunting food for his children, rested 
quietly on a neighboring branch, without bringing any additional 
nourishment for the fledgling. At 6 o’clock he flew into the woods and 
left the youngster alone on the cecropia branch, where it still perched 
quietly in the gathering dusk and the light rain that was now falling. 
Here it passed its first night in the open. From the time of my 
arrival at a quarter to 2, it had received no food, except the single 
fruit brought to it nearly 4 hours later. I doubt whether its father 
had given it anything else since the first fledgling left the nest at 10 
o’clock in the morning, for, exactly as had happened with a brood of 
Mexican trogons that I had watched fly from the nest 5 years earlier, 
he was almost exclusively occupied with the first to take wing. 
At dawn, I found the second fledgling on the cecropia bough where 
it had passed the night. The male arrived with food and led it deeper 
into the woods. Thus ended my long association with the quetzals. 
Going to examine the deserted nest cavity, I found that during the 
last 9 or 10 days of occupancy, when the parents no longer cleaned 
it out, waste matter had accumulated to the depth of 314 inches. The 
chief components of this debris were the seeds of the lauraceous fruit 
which the parents brought in such great numbers. These were ellip- 
soidal, measuring 134 by 34 inches. Mixed with them were the re- 
gurgitated shards of beetles and other hard parts of insects, a few 
snail shells, a few smaller seeds, and much excrement. 
The fledgling quetzals which forsook the nest at the age of 23 days 
probably left prematurely as a result of having been removed for 
photography and examination. The lowness of the nest, with con- 
venient trees in front, may also have encouraged their relatively early 
departure. At my first nest, which was high and inaccessible, the 
parents were first seen to carry in food on April 21. On May 14, I 
saw for the first time a nestling appear in the doorway. 'Two days 
later, both nestlings were glimpsed in the entrance at once. They 
departed between the 19th and 20th, when at least 29 days of age. At 
the higher first nest of the pair whose second brood departed at the 
age of 23 days, food was carried in as early as April 19, while the last 
nestling departed on May 20, indicating a nestling period of 31 days. 
Other available nestling periods of trogons are: Mexican trogons, 15 
to 16 days; black-headed trogons, 16 or 17 days; and Baird’s trogons, 
25 days. 
