28 TROGONID^]. 



Description. Above bronzy green : line along sides of head and neck-collar 

 white ; wings spotted with white ; tail above green, beneath blackish, barred 

 with white on the inner webs ; throat white ; breast chestnut-red ; belly and 

 crissum white, flanks with bronzy-green spots ; bill and feet black : whole 

 length 7*0 inches, wing 3*1, tail 2*5. Female similar, but no chestnut on the 

 breast, which is crossed by a bronzy-green band. 



Hab. South America. 



This in the smallest of our three Kingfishers, and nearly resembles 

 C. amazona in plumage. Durnford found it " not uncommon " about 

 the creeks and streams at the mouth of the Parana, and also obtained 

 specimens in the north of the Republic near Salta, during his last 

 journey. Prof. Burmeister met with it at Parana and Tucumnn. 



Mr. Barrows gives us the following notes on this Kingfisher : 



" Resident through the year at Conception, but especially abundant 

 in winter, when it haunts the main river, the island-shores, and all the 

 streams, big and little. It is not in the least shy, and one once perched 

 in some willows directly over my boat and not 10 feet away, while he 

 swallowed a tiny fish he had just captured ; after which he twitted such 

 a hearty little song that I really felt as if his proper place must be 

 among the Oscines, in spite of all anatomical defects. On the Pampas, 

 we found this a rather common bird on the small streams, and its 

 presence on some streams whose waters are entirely absorbed by the 

 desert before they can reach either sea or lake, first called my attention 

 to the presence, even in these streams, of numbers of a small fish which 

 is found in many of the pools as well all over the Pampas. Although 

 both this and the preceding species must nest about Conception, I did 

 not succeed of learning anything of the nest or eggs." 



Fam. XXV. TROGONID.E, OK TROGONS. 



The Trogons, a family peculiar among all zygodactyle birds for 

 having the inner toe instead of the outer toe reversed in position, are 

 found in the Old World as well as in the New. But they are much 

 more abundant in the Tropics of America, where they number some 

 thirty species, and attain an astonishing development of ornamental 

 plumage in the celebrated Quezal (Pharomacrus) of Guatemala. In 

 Argentina two stray species only have, as yet, been recorded as met 

 with in the northern provinces. 



The Trogons are purely arboreal in habits, and frequent the larger 

 trees of the denser forests, feeding mainly on insects. 



