THE TROGONS. 31 
which they immediately dart, returning again to the identical twig they had 
just left, and which they will sometimes frequent for months. At such 
times, the disproportionate size of the head is rendered more conspicuous by 
the bird raising its feathers so as to appear not unlike a puff-ball ; hence the 
general name they have received from the English residents in Brazil. 
When frightened, this form is suddenly changed by the feathers lying quite 
flat. They are very confiding, and will often take their station within a few 
yards of the window. 
Famity GALBULIDE. JACAMARS. 
The characteristics of the genus Galbula (Mehr), as given by Gray, 
will serve as a type of the family. 
The species that compose this genus are peculiar to the tropical portions 
of South America, and are also found in some of the West India Isles. 
They inhabit the humid forests, where it is usual to observe them seated 
singly on some low, naked branch, until the approach of an insect calls them 
into action; after which they dart off rapidly, and, securing it with their 
lengthened, acute bill, return to the same place again. The ground around 
their chosen position is generally strewed with the wings of insects, as they 
only feed on the bodies. Some species are stated to frequent the borders of 
rivers and brooks, and to feed on fish and their fry. These birds form a 
hole in trees, or in banks of rivers, like the Kingfishers, the entrance of 
which is an inch and a half in diameter, and the eggs are placed about eight 
inches from the outward surface. ‘They are usually three in number. 
Famtty Trocontipm. Trocons. 
7 
Mr. Gould’s “ Monograph of the Trogonide” gives much valuable infor- 
mation regarding these magnificent birds. “Greatly insectivorous,” says 
Mr. Gould, “they seize the fluttering insect on the wing, which their wide 
gape enables them to do with facility, while their feeble tarsi and feet are 
such as to qualify them merely for resting on the branches, as a post of ob- 
servation, whence to mark their prey as it passes, and to which, having given 
chase, to return. If not strictly elegant in form, the Trogons, in the bril- 
liancy of their plumage, are surpassed only by the Trochilide ; their splen- 
dor amply compensates for every other defect. Denizens of the intertropical 
regions of the Old and New World, they shroud their glories in the deep 
and gloomy recesses of the forest, avoiding the light of day and the obser- 
vation of man. Dazzled by the brightness of the meridional sun, morning 
and evening twilight is the season of their activity.” 
Another writer describes them as being solitary birds, extremely jealous 
