TROGON MEXICANUS 
Mexican Trog’on. 
(Adult male.) 
Specific Character. 
Trog. supra et ad pectus viridi ; gutture auribus, alisque nigris, his cinereo punctatis ; 
alba; ventre crissoque coccineis ; rectricibus duabus intermediis viridibus 
apiculatis, duabus proximis utrinque nigris^ reliquis ad basin nigris ad apicem albis. 
Rostrum flavum : tarsi brunnei. 
Beak bright yellow ; throat and ear-coverts black, gradually blending with the green which 
covers the chest and the whole of the upper surface ; two middle tail-feathers green with 
black tips ; the two next on each side wholly black ; the three outer on each side black 
with white tips ; wings black, the whole of which, with the exception of the primaries, 
is finely dotted with grey ; a crescent of white encircles the chest; breast, belly, and under 
tail-coverts fine scarlet ; feet brown. 
Total length, 11 to 12 inches; wing, 5f ; tail, 7f. 
It is only by the careful examination of a great number of specimens of different ages that the ornithologist 
is enabled to understand the changes of plumage which birds of this trihe undergo while passing from youth 
to maturity, and which render them in specific distinction so extremely perplexing. The preceding remark 
applies more particularly to the Trogons of the New World, which exhibit in their harred tails a feature that 
will at all times readily distinguish them from those of the Old ; hut though we find that the barred tail is 
characteristic of most of the species at a certain period of their existence, yet in some it is only the sign of 
immaturity, while in others it is a striking feature in the adult. 
The bird here represented was evidently considered by Mr. Swainson as a different species from Tr. Mexi- 
canus, as on looking over the collection of birds in the possession of John Taylor, Esq., I observed a speci- 
men in the plumage of the present Plate, with a label attached to it bearing the name of Trogon Morgani 
in Mr. Swainson’s handwriting ; under which name I should have figured it, had I not discovered in an- 
other collection recently received by Mr. Taylor from Real del Monte, specimens directly intermediate be- 
tween the Barred-tail Trogon as figured by Mr. Swainson in his Zoological Illustrations and the bird here 
represented ; and as this difference is not effected by a change in the colouring of the feather, but by tbe 
accession of a new one, the evidence is the more conclusive. One of these birds possessed the strongly-barred 
tall on one side, while on the other it had a new feather, bearing all the characteristics of mature age in 
being more square at the end and in being wholly black with a white tip. 
I cannot close this account without offering my sincere thanks to Mr. John Taylor for the assistance which 
he has rendered me in the investigation of this tribe of birds, by the loan of specimens in the most interesting 
stages of plumage. 
Habitat Northern Mexico. 
