574 Th e Roller-like Birds 



closely allied and inhabit the forest regions from Colombia and Venezuela to 

 Ecuador and Peru. 



True Trogons. Passing hastily over three genera, each with a single species, 

 one of which (Euptilotis neoxenus] inhabits the mountains of western Mexico, 

 another (Tmetotrogon rhodogaster) the high mountains of the interior of Santo 

 Domingo, while the last (Prionotdus temnurus] is confined to Cuba, we come to 

 the principal genus (Trogon), which embraces the so-called true Trogons. This 

 genus is distinguished at once by the fact that the central pair of tail-feathers 

 is different in the two sexes, being bronze-green, blue, or purple in the males, and 

 chestnut-gray or blackish in the females. As further characters it may be men- 

 tioned that the upper tail-coverts are not elongated as in the Quezal, and the upper 

 mandible is more or less toothed behind the subterminal notch. They are quite 

 handsome birds, the males having the upper parts mostly metallic blue or green, 

 the breast bronze or bluish green, and the lower abdomen blood-red, orange, or 

 yellow, while the females are olive-brown or gray above. These Trogons are 

 mainly confined to Central and South America, the only species ranging far 

 enough north to reach the United States being the Coppery-tailed Trogon (T. 

 ambiguus), which comes to the valley of the lower Rio Grande in Texas and the 

 mountains of southwestern New Mexico and southern Arizona. Between eleven 

 and twelve inches long, the male has the upper parts a rich metallic bronze- 

 green, varying to golden or coppery bronze, while the middle tail-feathers are 

 deep metallic bronze, varying to rich copper-color, and black-tipped; the lower 

 parts are a pure scarlet-vermilion with a white band across the breast, and the 

 throat and upper breast black and metallic greenish. The female is a light 

 grayish brown above. Within the United States this species frequents the dense 

 coniferous forests, especially of the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona, where it 

 doubtless breeds, as immature young have been taken there. Of its habits as 

 observed there, Dr. Fisher says: " Higher up the mountain we heard its peculiar 

 note which was uttered at regular intervals and closely resembled" that of a hen 

 Turkey. ... It sat straight upright on the lower limbs of a pine with the tail 

 hanging perpendicular to the body, and while uttering its note the head was 

 thrown backward and the bill extended nearly upward." The nesting habits 

 of this species appear to be unknown, but when they have been observed in 

 other species of the genus, the nest is always placed in a very much decayed 

 stump and at no great distance from the ground; the eggs accord in color with 

 those of the other members of the group. 



African Trogons. Only four species of Trogon are found in Africa, and of 

 these three belong to the genus Apaloderma, which also falls within that section 

 of the family in which the central pair of tail-feathers are the same in both sexes, 

 being purplish or greenish without terminal bars to the central pair. There is a 

 naked space behind the eye, and the upper mandible is provided with serrations 

 on the edge. The best-known and most widely spread species is the Narina 

 Trogon (.4. narina), which ranges from Northeast Africa to the Cape of Good 

 Hope and on the southwest as far north as Angola. In this handsome species 

 the entire upper surface as well as the throat and chest are a shining green, while 



