i6 
PICARIAN BIRDS. 
the quezal (.Pharomacrus mocinno ) of Guatemala. Every naturalist who has 
had the good fortune to see this bird in its wild state describes it as extremely 
beautiful, and even when preserved, its plumage differs from that of its congeners 
in its retention of the original coloration; a skin which has been exposed to the 
light in the British Museum for some half a century still being almost as brilliant 
as when first mounted. In the other species, on the contrary, the bright yellow 
or crimson of the breast fades with sad rapidity. The range of the quezal 
extends from Guatemala to Panama, but as considerable numbers of the skins of 
these birds are sent yearly to Europe as plumes for bonnets, the species has 
become very scarce. Ornamented with a large rounded crest on the head, the 
male bird has the ground - colour of the plumage a brilliant metallic green, while 
the throat and chest are likewise metallic green, as are also the wings and 
upper tail-coverts; the two central plumes of the latter being enormously 
developed, and fully four times as long as the tail; while the rest of the under¬ 
parts, from the chest downwards, are deep blood - red. The median wing- 
coverts are metallic green, and so produced as to form elegant drooping plumes; 
while the outer tail-feathers are white with black bases. The female is much 
less brightly coloured than her mate, having a brownish breast and the bill 
black instead of yellow. The head is golden-green, and the outer tail-feathers 
are white barred with black. Mr. Salvin gives an interesting account of 
his hunting the quezal in Guatemala. After a difficult march through 
the forest, the way barred by swollen torrents and fallen trees, he at last 
managed to get within sight of one of the birds, which had been attracted 
by his guide imitating its notes. This imitation is not difficult, since the 
whistle is described as “ a low double note, whe-oo, whe-oo, uttered softly at first, 
and then gradually swelling into a loud but not unmelodious cry; this is succeeded 
by a long note which begins low, and, after swelling, dies away as it began.” The 
other cries of the bird are harsh, discordant, and not so easily imitated. When 
detected, the bird was observed sitting almost motionless on its perch, merely 
moving its head slowly from side to side, with the tail somewhat raised and 
occasionally jerked open, and again as rapidly closed, thus causing a vibration 
of its long upper-coverts. In spite of the length of the streaming tail-feathers, 
which appear to form no bar to its progress, the flight of this trogon is straight 
and rapid. Of the golden-headed trogon (P. auriceps), of Peru, Mr. Stolzmann 
writes that it is exclusively a bird of the forests, frequenting the lower 
branches of the highest trees at a considerable distance from the ground. It is 
generally seen in pairs, but sometimes two or three pairs may be met with 
together. “ I was struck,” he writes, “ with the vertical position which it assumes 
on the large horizontal boughs, and I observed by the aid of my field-glasses that, 
instead of perching on the upper surface of the branch, it remains attached to the 
side of the latter, just as woodpeckers glue themselves to the trunks and vertical 
branches of trees. Its flight is rapid but weak. It feeds on fruits, especially on 
nectandras; and in the stomach of one I found a nectandra-fruit so large as to 
fill the whole stomach. I suppose, therefore, that the trogon, like the guacharo, 
rejects the nut after having digested the flesh, because otherwise some time must 
elapse before it could swallow another fruit. The species has two cries, both well 
