TROGON MELANQCEPHALUS, Gould.' 
Black-headed Trog-on. 
Specific Character. 
Mas. — Vertice pectoreque sordide nigris; corpore dorso, in toto, violaceo, viridi lucide lavato; 
rectricibus tribus externis nigris, ad apicem albis. 
Male. —Head, occiput, throat and chest black ; scapularies and back glossy bluish green, passing 
into violet-blue on the upper tail-coverts; wings black, the basal portion of the outer webs 
of the primaries fringed with white; two centre tail-feathers greenish blue, tipped with 
black ; the remaining tail-feathers black, the three outer ones on each side largely tipped 
in a square form with white; breast and under tail-coverts rich gamboge-yellow; thighs 
black; bill horn-colour. 
Total length, HE inches ; bill, 1 ; wing, 6f ; tail, 6 j . 
Female. —Head, throat, chest, all the upper surface, wings and tail slaty black; basal portion 
of the outer webs of the primaries margined with white ; three outer tail-feathers squarely 
tipped with white ; abdomen and under tail-coverts gamboge-yellow ; thighs black. 
Young male. —General plumage slaty black, with a wash of green on the back and upper tail- 
coverts ; the wing-coverts and secondaries with a series of buff markings of different sizes 
and shapes on their outer webs; the two centre tail-feathers deep bronzy-green, the lateral 
feathers slightly toothed with white, and the white of the tips prolonged for some distance 
up the outer web, instead of being of a square form, as in the adult; feathers of the centre 
of the abdomen and the posterior under tail-coverts clouded black and white. 
Trogon melanocephala, Gould, Mon. of Trogons, pi. 12. 
- melanocephalus, Gray, List of Spec, of Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 42.—Gray and 
Mitch., Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 70, Trogon, sp. 17.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 149, 
Trogon, sp. 16.—Selater in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxv. p. 227. 
The Trogons of Central America and Mexico possess peculiar characteristics, which at once separate them 
from the species found in Brazil and other parts of South America. In the present case we find a Trogon 
with a black head, a character not found in any other American species. When fully adult, the male is 
really a fine bird, the greenish blue of the back being very beautiful, and the three black outer tail-feathers, 
with their bold and squarely-formed white tips, showing very conspicuously : this latter feature would seem 
to he common to both sexes, that is, if the birds in my collection with a uniform sooty head, back and chest 
be of this sex. I say, if the birds so coloured be of this sex, because a suspicion has sometimes arisen that 
they may constitute another species; but until this be proved, I shall consider them as females of T. mela¬ 
nocephalus. I possess a youthful male of this species, having slight indications of white bars on the three 
outer tail-feathers, especially on their external margins ; their tips are white, as in the adult; at this age 
these feathers do not present the remarkable truncate form of those of the adult, but are narrower and 
inclined to he pointed. Very young individuals are beautifully marked : one, which I presume to be about 
six weeks old, is represented by the lower figure in the accompanying Plate ; it is in the collection of T. C. 
Eyton, Esq. 
As stated in the former edition of this monograph, the first specimen I obtained of this species was from 
Tamaulipas; since then I have received fine examples from Mexico and Honduras. 
The figures are of the natural size, with a reduced representation of the female. 
