i;8o 



THE PIC ART AN BIRDS 



deceives the hearer, who fancies that the bird is ever so far off, whereas it is close 

 at hand all the while. At Cuterro I had a good opportunity of observing- its singu- 

 lar way of clinging in a vertical position to the trees, spreading its tail out the 



MALE AND FEMALE QUEZAL 



while and then shutting it suddenly. In 

 this locality it feeds on certain black fruits, 

 which impart to its flesh an odor of mar- 

 joram. I never saw it nesting, but the na- 

 tives said that it nested in holes -and laid 

 eggs of a greenish blue. An egg which 

 my companion found on the ground was 

 universally admitted to belong to this 

 trogon. ' ' 



Briefly referring to some of 

 the other genera, it may be 

 mentioned that the South 

 American Euptilotis is characterized by the 

 presence of tufts of hair-like feathers be- 

 hind the ear coverts; the sole representative 

 of the genus being an inhabitant of Mexico. 

 Long hair-like feathers in the oame situa- 

 tion are likewise distinctive of the single 

 species of Tmetotrogon, which is confined 



to the island of San Domingo; while in the Cuban Prionotelus, of which there is 

 also but one species, the tail feathers are deeply notched. With the single excep- 

 tion of a species ( T. ambiguus) occurring just within the southern limits of the 



True 



Trogons 



