TROGON AURANTIIVENTRIS, Gould. 
Orang*e-breasted Trog*on. 
Specific Character. 
Mas.— Corpore subtus aurantiaco; cauda nigra, rectricibus tribus externis utrinque albo crebre 
fasciatis. 
Male. —Lores, ear-coverts and throat black ; head, all the upper surface and chest bronzy green; 
wings brownish black ; the coverts and secondaries freckled with white, and the primaries 
with a narrow line of white along the basal portion of their outer webs ; all the under surface 
orange, separated from the green of the chest by a semilunar mark of white ; two middle 
tail-feathers deep yellowish green ; the two next on each side yellowish green on their outer, 
and black on their inner webs, the whole six tipped with black ; three outer tail-feathers 
on each side black, crossed by numerous narrow bars of, and narrowly tipped with, white; 
thighs black ; hill orange ; irides reddish brown ; eyelash light eoral-red ; feet grey. 
Total length, 10 inches; bill, i ; wing, 5 ; tail, 5f. 
Female. —Face and throat dull black; chest and all the upper surface olive, becoming richer or 
more yellow on the upper tail-coverts; wings black; the primaries margined externally 
with white ; wing-coverts and secondaries olive, freckled with black ; under surface light 
orange, separated from the olive of the chest by a semilunar mark of white ; two centre 
tail-feathers rich brown ; the two next on each side rich brown on their outer, and black on 
their inner webs, all six tipped with black; three outer feathers on each side blackish 
brown, minutely dotted on their outer webs, and on a portion of their inner webs near the 
tip, with blackish brown on a greyish-white ground, these dottings set so thickly as to form 
a bar near the tip, the extremity of which is greyish white ; base of the upper mandible 
and under mandible yellow ; cidmen brownish black. 
Trogon aurantiiventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxiv. p. 107.—Sclater in Ibid., 
pp. 139, 286. 
—- Salim, Bonap. Compt. Rend., May 1856. 
This bird is much more rare in the collections of Europe than the Trogon puella, from which it differs only 
in the colouring of the under surface being deep orange instead of scarlet. I think it probable that the 
T. puella and T. aurantiiventris may ultimately prove to be merely varieties or races of one and the same 
species. I have seen analogous instances among some of the Brazilian Trogons, and further investigation 
of the subject may throw some light upon this supposition; should it be confirmed, the species of the family 
will be somewhat diminished ; at present I have no alternative but to consider and figure them as distinct, 
a step which would even be necessary were they to prove identical, since representations of both states of 
plumage would be requisite to their due illustration. I believe that no change of colouring from orange to 
scarlet, or from scarlet to orange, takes place, but that each colour is assumed from the beginning. 
The native country of the Orange-breasted Trogon is the Pacific side of Veragua and Costa Rica. In 
Mr. Sclater s “ List of Mammals and Birds collected by Mr. Bridges in the vicinity of the Town of David, 
in the Province of Chiriqui, in the State of Panama,” published in the twenty-fourth part of the “ Pro¬ 
ceedings of the Zoological Society,” it is stated to inhabit the dense forest on the Boqueti, and that it is 
also found further down towards David; and in his “ Catalogue of the Birds collected by M. Auguste Salle 
in Southern Mexico,” published in the same part of the Society’s “ Proceedings,” it is stated that he found 
this bird near the town of Cordova, in the State of Vera Cruz : if this be really the case, the opinion 
given above is greatly strengthened, inasmuch as T. puella is also said to have been found there. 
I must remark that the female, as well as the male, has the breast orange, and that with this exception 
the colouring is precisely the same as that of T. puella. My specimens of T. aurantiiventris , however, are 
a trifle smaller than those of T. puella. 
The Plate represents both sexes of the natural size. 
