50 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
it builds^ harranca being the name applied to the deep 
breaks and gullies made by the mountain floods. 
The family of the Trogons (TROGONiDiE) contains birds 
peculiar to the warmer parts of the worlds and distinguished 
generally for the elegance of their plumage. The bill is 
short and strong; the tip and the margins generally ^ 
toothed; the tip somewhat hooked; the base furnished 
with bristles. The feet are small^ and feathered nearly to 
the toes^ which are more or less zygodactyle^ the inner toe 
being reversed^ and not the outer one, as generally happens 
in birds with this structure of foot. The wings are short, 
and the tail long and broad. M. Vaillant has described the 
habits of the T, Narina, a species peculiar to South Africa ; 
this bird frequents the most retired parts of the forest, 
and during the heat of the day sits motionless on a branch; 
during the morning and evening it is active, and flies about 
in search of its food, which consists chiefly of insects, re- 
turning to its perch when it has captured them. The eggs 
are laid in the hole of a tree, which the parents enlarge by 
means of their bills. Mr. Natterer informed Mr. Gould, 
the well-known author of the Monograph of the family, that 
the South American species are solitary in their habits, 
though they occasionally congregate, impelled by their in- 
