THE TRGGONS. 



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another. These birds live principally on Grasshoppers, but they devour also Chameleons and Lizards' 

 which gives to their flesh a disagreeable odour, like that we observe in the Common Cuckoo. In 

 preparing these birds we often found them with a species of large parasite of the family of the 

 Ornithomyise, of a dirty green colour. We were never able to study the propagation of this bird ; 

 but while in Mayotte we saw an individual make a nest of rushes in the hole of a great ' Badamier * 

 (Terminalia Catappa). These birds when they cry puff out the throat, so that this portion of the body 

 has the appearance of a pendent bag. When wounded, they erect the feathers of the forehead and 

 ears as well as those of the throat, all the while distributing well-aimed blows with the beak. The 

 Cyrombo plays a great part in the chants and religious recitations of the Malagasy natives. The 



BLUE KOLLEK. 



French colonists of Mayotte call this bird the ' Parrot.' It is common at Madagascar and Mayotte, 

 and has, according to Mr. Sclater, been found in the island of Anjounan." 



THE NINTH FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS. THE TROG0NS (Trogotiidai). 



These beautiful birds are found both in the Old World and the New, but are inhabitants of 

 the tropical latitudes only. In Africa two species only are known, nor does another species occur 

 until the coast of India is reached, and then in the forests of the peninsula and of the Himalayas 

 there are some beautiful red-breasted representatives of the family, whence throughout the Malayan 

 peninsula and the Sunda Islands some of the handsomest Trogons occur. But it is in America, 

 from Mexico southwards, that the larger number of species is met with, no less than thirty-three 

 out of a total of forty-six Trogons being peculiar to the New World. Their habits vary somewhat, 

 as all the Old World members are insectivorous, while the American species principally feed on 

 fruit, and only devour insects in a secondary manner. The Trogons may be distinguished not only 

 by their broadened bill, but by the foot, where the first and second toes are turned permanently, 

 two in front and two behind. This is a different arrangement to that of the Cuckoos and other 

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