THE TROGONS 1781 



United States, the members of the typical genus Trogon are restricted to Central and 

 South America, where they are represented by some twenty-four species, ranging as 

 far south as Southern Brazil and Paraguay. They are all birds of moderate size, with 

 metallic blue or green colors above, and the breast and abdomen either bright yellow, 

 scarlet, or blood red. The females differ from the males in their duller plumage and 

 the color of the tail; the latter being either chestnut, gray, or blackish, whereas in 

 the males it is as brilliant as the rest of the upper parts, being either green, blue, 

 or purple. The habits of these trogons seem everywhere to be the same, the birds 

 affecting forest districts, and feeding almost entirely on fruit and berries. They 

 are described as rather stupid, and not even startled by the report of a gun, so that 

 a whole flock may be shot out of the same tree. Most of the species go about in 

 pairs, but are occasionally seen in small flocks, sometimes frequenting the lower 

 branches of trees, but more often the middle and higher levels, where they sit 

 motionless, or utter their curious notes at intervals. Mr. Richmond mentions that 

 when in Nicaragua, a trogon flew into his house, but in most parts of South Amer- 

 ica these birds are inhabitants only of the virgin forests, extending their range to a 

 considerable altitude on some of the mountains. In Peru, Mr. Stolzmann met with 

 several species, on some of which he has given short notes. The only example of 

 T. caligatus obtained during his travels was shot from a considerable height on 

 a tree, when he had heard its cry repeated at intervals for several of hours; it 

 resembled the words cou-cou-cou-cou-co-co-co-co , the second half being uttered in a 

 lower tone than the first. Of another kind ( T. melanurus), his companion, Mr. 

 Jelski, writes that it was not rare, and allowed of an easy approach, flying off to 

 take up- another perch in the neighborhood of its previous one, always uttering its 

 note cou-cou-cou-cou-cou. Its flight resembles that of a magpie, and the beating of 

 the wings is distinctly heard; from time to time it called ke-ke-ke, lowering the tail 

 at the same time, seldom flying more than fifty paces at a time, and preferring the 

 lower branches of the trees. In Costa Rica, Mr. Nutting met with three species of 

 trogons, which seem to differ somewhat in habits. Of the Massena trogon ( T. 

 massena] he writes: "I have never seen the species associating in flocks as the 

 others do. On the contrary, it seems to be rather a silent bird, preferring the deep 

 recesses of the tropical forests. Its note is a kind of clucking noise, hard to 

 describe, and its native name is Aula. In common with all the species of the 

 genus, it seems to be rather a stupid bird, hardly ever taking alarm at the approach 

 of man"; the black-headed trogon {T. melanocephalus} , very abundant in Costo 

 Rica, being often seen in flocks of a dozen or more, and commonly found in the 

 dry open woods away from water. It has a sort of chattering note, low and soft. 

 In the same situations is also found T, caligatus, which is the only species giving 

 utterance to a clear, distinct whistle. 



In Africa the trogons are represented by three species belonging to 



_ e the genus Hapaloderma, and characterized by the naked space behind 



the eye, as also by the color of the tail, which is the same in both 



sexes, the three central pairs of tail feathers being purplish or greenish, without any 



black bands at the end of the central ones. The Narina trogon (//! narina) ranges 



from Bogosland in Northeastern Africa throughout East Africa to Natal, extending 



