African and Oriental Trogons 



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the lower parts are a brilliant crimson ; the length is eleven and one half inches. 

 It is a bird of shy, creeping habits, keeping well concealed amongst the bushes 

 and dense trees which it frequents, sitting motionless on a branch until actually 

 discovered by the hunter. It is said to feed on fruits and insects and to utter a 

 " loud moaning note, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, a hoot." Le Vail- 

 lant states that they nest in holes of trees, and lay four, nearly round, white eggs, 



but this is said to lack confirmation. The 

 other species are Ussher's Trogon (A . con- 

 stantia} of the west coast and the Red- 

 vented Trogon (A. rufiventre) of Lake 

 Tanganyika, central Africa. The Banded 

 Trogon was formerly included in this genus, 

 but Dr. Richmond has separated it under 

 the name of Heterotrogon (H. viltatum), on 

 the ground of the extremely small, slender, 

 and much-compressed bill, both mandibles 

 of which are without serrations of any kind 

 behind the subterminal notch. It is an 

 extremely rare bird, inhabiting the moun- 

 tains of East Africa, and little is known of 

 its habits. 



The Oriental Trogons are referred to two 

 genera, in the first of which (Pyrotrogori), 

 embracing fourteen species, the sides of the 

 face are naked, the upper mandible not 

 behind the subterminal notch, and the tail rather 

 long with broad, squarely truncated feathers, the central 

 pair being chestnut in color, with a terminal band of black 

 in both sexes; they are about twelve inches in length. 

 According to Gates, Blanford, and others, the habits of all 

 the species are quite similar, they being forest-loving birds 

 and, after the well-known manner of Trogons, affect con- 

 cealment by remaining motionless on large branches of trees. 

 They subsist on insects, chiefly beetles, moths, or cicadae, 

 which they mainly fly out after, although they sometimes seek them on the ground. 

 The nests are placed in hollows in rotten stumps or branches and are not lined; 

 the eggs are creamy white and glossy. One of the handsomest species is the 

 Red-headed Trogon (P. erythrocephalus) of the eastern Himalayas, the Burmese 

 provinces, and the mountains of the Malay Peninsula. The head and neck all 

 around, as well as the upper breast and the lower parts behind a poorly defined 

 gorget, are crimson, while the back, wing-coverts, and rump are rufous-brown 

 and the wings black, the former finely vermiculated with narrow, undulating 

 white lines. The female is orange-brown or rufous rather than crimson, and is 

 altogether much less showy than the male. Another fine small species is the 

 Red-rumped Trogon (P. duvauceli) , also of India, but extending to Sumatra and 



FIG. 170. African 

 Narina Trogon, 

 Apaloderma na- 

 rina. 



