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THE NARINA TROGON. 
Honduras and Mexico being in the collection of the British Museum. In size it is rather large 
measuring fourteen inches in total length. 
In the tinting of the plumage the two sexes are very different from each other, and are 
colored briefly as follows. In the male, the crown of the head, the back and chest, a, re a deep 
rich green, contrasting well with the jetty, glossy black of the ear-coverts and throat ; the 
breast and abdomen are of a rich scarlet. The ground tint of the centre of the wings is a soft 
gray, pencilled -with exquisitely delicate lines of jetty black. The quill-feathers of the wing 
are jetty black, each feather being edged with pure white ; and the quill-feathers of the tail 
are also black, with the exception of the two central feathers, which are imbued with change- 
able hues of dark green and purple throughout the greater part of their length, and are tipped 
with a black patch at the extremity. The bill is light yellow. 
The female bird possesses a more sober plumage than her mate. The upper parts of the 
body, instead of being richly colored with deep green, are of a dark bluish-gray ; and the 
wings, instead of being finely pencilled with black upon gray, are powdered with the same 
tints. The abdomen and breast are scarlet, and the bill is rather curiously colored, the upper 
mandible being black and the lower yellow. 
This diversity of coloring in the sexes, which holds throughout the entire group, is pro- 
ductive of very great trouble to the systematic naturalist, as the two sexes are in many cases 
so very unlike each other that there is hardly any criterion for' settling the species to which 
they belong, except by patient and careful observation of their habits when at liberty in their 
native haunts. When, moreover, the birds are shy and retiring in their habits, as is the case 
with many of the Trogons, the amount of labor which is entailed upon the observer is more 
than doubled, and the value of such a work as Mr. Gould’s monograph is proportionately 
increased. 
The Mexican Trogon is, as its name implies, an inhabitant of that country whose name 
it bears, being generally found in the northern districts of Mexico. It is worthy of remark 
that the Trogons of America are all similar in their coloring ; the upper parts of the adult 
males being green, and the under portions either scarlet or yellow. The young male and the 
female birds are not so brilliant in hue. In most instances the outer quill -feathers of the tail 
are barred with black and white. The beak of these species is marked with notches along the 
tip of the mandibles and pointed with bristly hairs at the base. 
The N arina Trogon is an inhabitant of Africa, and is generally found in the densest 
forests of the southern portions of that continent. Its rather graceful name was given to it by 
Le Vaillant, in remembrance of Hanna, a young Gonaqua Hottentot girl, whose dusky charms 
and savage graces made an instantaneous and most powerful impression on the heart of the 
susceptible Frenchman. 
This species has many of the habits of the fly-catcher, with the exception of its partially 
nocturnal mode of life. During the daytime it seeks the darkest recesses of its native forests, 
and, selecting a dead branch as its perch, sits dull and motionless until the evening. It then 
sallies from its place of refuge, and settling upon a convenient bough, sweeps upon every 
insect that may pass within a convenient distance, and carrying its prey back to the perch, 
devours it at leisure. 
The general color of this beautiful bird is emerald green, shining with an almost metallic 
lustre. This hue is spread over the whole of the upper surface, except the wings and tail, and 
also tinges the throat and chest. The abdomen and remainder of the under surface are bright 
red. The wings are brown covered with minute dots of gray upon the secondaries and greater 
coverts, and the tail is colored with several shades of green above, diversified by the pure 
white of the three outer feathers on each side. The beak is yellowish-blue. The female bird 
is differently colored, her plumage being of the following hues : — The green of the upper sur- 
face and throat is not quite so resplendent as in her mate, and a rusty-brown tint is spread 
over the throat and round the eyes, warming into a delicate rose upon the chest. The total 
length of the bird is nearly one foot. 
