THE SEARCHERS. 



lOl 



unmistakable, as it sits bolt upright, with tail hanging negligently down, and head drawn closely in. 

 lis flight is hovering and almost noiseless. During the period of incubation it utters a wailing, 

 resonant cry, v/hich frequently deceives the traveller as to its whereabouts, for the bird possesses the 



power of ventriloquism to a remarkable 

 degree. Its food consists principally 

 of beetles and flies. According to 

 Le Vaillant, the Narina deposits four 

 round, white eggs in a hollow tree; 

 while Verreaux states that the young 

 are hatched in twenty days, and remain 

 for a considerable time under parental 

 care after they are fully fledged. 



The TROGONS PROPER {Tro- 



gon) constitute an American group, 

 recognisable by their broad, high beak, 

 the upper mandible of which is much 

 vaulted, slightly hooked at its extremity'-, 

 and incised at the margins. The -wings 

 are short and blunt, the graduated taU 

 of moderate length, and the plumage 

 laxj soft, and composed of broad fea- 



thers. 



THE SURUKUA, OR TOURACO. 

 The SuRUKUA, or Touraco {Trogon Suracua), is a magnificent 

 bird, ten inches and a quarter long, and fourteen and a half broad ; 

 the wing measures four inches and a half, and the tail three inches 

 and one-third. The male is blueish black on the head and throat, 

 the back is green, the belly blood-red. The back, tluoat, and head- 

 feathers gleam with metallic lustre, the feathers on the wing-covers 

 are marked with delicate, undulating lines of black and white, and 

 are edged with white ; the centre tail-feathers are blue tipped with 

 black. The next in order are black with a blueish green on the 

 outer web, whilst the fourth and fifth on each side are white at the 

 tip, and the outermost white on the entire exterior web. The eye 

 is deep red, the bare eyelid orange, the beak whitish, and the foot 

 greyish black. The upper part of the female's body is gi'ey, and 

 her under side rose-red. 



The Surukua inhabits the primiti^'e forests of Southern Brazil 

 and Northerr> Paraguay, and passes its life in a state of the utmost 

 inanition, remaining motionless for hours together, upon a branch, 

 and scarcely rousing sufficiently to turn its head at die sight of a 

 passing insect ; so complete is this condition of dreamy indolence, that Azara assures us one of these 

 birds may be struck down from its perch with a stick. The flight of this species is soft and owl-like. 

 The eggs are deposited in holes excavated in such nests of the termite as are situated upon trees. 



THE NARINA [Ihipalodenna narina). 



