Quezal 573 



America from Guatemala to Panama. In the first place it may be stated that 

 the feathers of the head are elongated and form a laterally flattened crest, while 

 the middle wing-coverts are lengthened into graceful drooping plumes, and the 

 upper tail-coverts are so enormously developed that the central pair of feathers 

 are more than four times the length of the tail. In color, the feathers of the 

 head, chest, back, lesser and middle wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 are a bright metallic green washed with golden, and changing in certain lights 

 to blue, while the breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts are a rich vermilion 

 inclining to crimson, the primaries, secondaries, greater coverts, and the three 

 central pairs of tail-feathers are black and the outer pairs are white. The 

 females are plainer and lack the greatly elongated train. 



From their great beauty these birds are much sought after and are much 

 more numerous in collections than almost any of the other Trogons, although 

 they have rarely been seen or taken by naturalists, the majority falling under 

 the blow-guns of the natives. One of the best accounts is by De Lattre, who 

 found them in the Department of Vera Paz, Guatemala. Securing the services 

 of two experienced Quezal hunters, they started for the forest and were soon 

 informed that a bird had been calling. He says: " I hurried up, sat down on 

 my wide-awake in most approved style close to Cipriano, who was calling the 

 bird, and waited, all eyes and ears, for the result. I had not long to wait; for 

 a distant chattering note warned us that the bird was on the wing, and a moment 

 afterward there sat on a bough not twenty yards before me a splendid male, a 

 sight that alone made up for all the toil and disappointments of the previous 

 days. Cipriano wanted to creep up to within shot, but I kept him back, not 

 wishing to lose such an opportunity of watching the actions of this grand bird 

 in its natural state. It sat, as other Trogons do, almost motionless on its perch, 

 the body remaining balanced upon its tiny feet in the same position, the head 

 only being moved occasionally in a slow, deliberate way from side to side. The 

 tail was not suspended quite perpendicularly, but hung at an angle of as much 

 as 15 to 20 to the vertical line, and was jerked open and closed again suddenly 

 every now and then, causing the lovely pendent tail-coverts to vibrate gracefully 

 as they swayed in the air. I had not seen all; for a ripe fruit caught the bird's 

 eye, and in a moment he sprang from his perch, all life and activity, plucked 

 the berry and returned to his resting place. This performance displayed the 

 gorgeous coloring of this bird to the greatest possible advantage. . . . The 

 cries of the Quezal are various. They consist principally of a low double note, 

 whe-oo, whe-oo, which the bird repeats, whistling it softly at first and then gradu- 

 ally swelling it into a loud but not unmelodious cry. This is often succeeded 

 by a long note, which begins low, and after swelling dies away as it began. Both 

 these notes can be easily imitated by the human voice. . . . The flight of the 

 Quezal is rapid and straight, the long tail-feathers, which never seem to be in 

 his way, streaming after him." It is during the months of February, March, and 

 April that the birds are in full plumage. The eggs, supposed to be only two in 

 number, are of a greenish blue color, the only departure from the rule of white 

 eggs in the family so far as known. The five other species of the genus are 



