TROGONS. 



17 



known to me ; one like a mocking laugh is seldom heard ; the other is a plaintive 

 ha-hau, with the second syllable much prolonged. It has a ventriloquial quality 

 and often 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 singular way of clinging in a vertical position to the trees 



spreading its tail out the while and then 

 shutting it suddenly. In this locality it 

 feeds on certain black fruits, which impart 

 to its flesh an odour of marjoram. I 

 never saw it nesting, but the natives said 

 that it nested in holes and laid eggs of a 

 greenish blue. An egg which my com- 

 panion 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 characterised by the presence 

 of tufts of hair-like feathers behind the 

 ear-coverts ; the sole representative of the 

 genus being an inhabitant of Mexico. Long 

 hair-like feathers in the same situation 

 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 

 exception of a species (T. amhiguus) occurring just within the southern limits of 

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



VOL. IV. — 2 



