HARPACTES ERYTHROCEPHALUS, 
Red-headed Trog’on. 
Specific Character. 
Harp, capite guttureque sordide sanguineis, torque gutturali angusto albo; corpore reliquo subtiis 
coccineo; tergo arenaceo-castaneo ; tectricibus alarum superioribus nigro alboque fimbriatis ; 
remigibus nigris, extus albo limbatis; rectricibus duabus mediis castaneis nigro apicatis, 
duabus proximis utrinque nigris, reliquis nigris, albo late terminatis. 
Fcem. Capite guttureque arenaceo-brunneo; torque pectorali magis distincto; tectricibus alarum 
brunneo nigroque fasciatis. 
Rostrum brunneum ; mandibularum basis et regio parotic a nudae coccineae. 
Male— The head, throat, and chest dull red, with a narrow band of white separating the chest 
from the breast; the rest of the under surface bright scarlet; back and upper tail-coverts 
sandy-brown; the wing-coverts finely lined with black and white ; primal ies black, 
externally margined with white ; two middle tail-feathers chestnut-brown tipped with 
black, the next two on each side wholly black, the rest black only at their base, with 
the remaining portion white ; naked space round the eyes red; bill black. 
Female. —Similarly clothed to the male, except that the whole head and chest are sandy brown, 
and the linear markings on the wing are brown on a black ground instead of white, which 
is characteristic of the male only. 
Total length from 12 to 13 inches; wing 5 ; tail 6| to 7. 
Trogon erythrocephalus. Gould, P. Z. S. 1834, p. 25.—Id. Monogr. Irogon. pi. 33. 
- -flagrans. Midi. Tijdschr. N. G. 1835, p. 336, pi. 8. fig. 2. 
Harpactes erythrocephalus. Sw. Classif. B. ii. p. 337.—Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 71. Id. Hanu-1. 
B. i. p. 84. 
-— flagrans. Gray, Gen. B. iii. App. p. 4.—Bp. Consp. i. p. 151. 
Pyrotrogon flagrans. Bp. Consp. Volucr. Zyg. p. 14.—Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. 
p. 160, note. 
Messrs. Cabanis and Heine, in their excellent account of the Trogonidse in the ‘ Museum Heineanum,’ 
separate Pyrotrogon hodgsoni and P. erythrocephalus as two distinct species, keeping the latter title for the 
Sumatran bird. They state that the latter is very like P. hodgsoni, but is smaller in every way, with a 
shorter wing and tail, the bill being a trifle shorter and stouter and brighter-coloured. As will be seen by 
a reference to the first edition of this * Monograph,’ the above remarks are very similar to those made by 
myself respecting these two species ; but I have not been able since the publication of that opinion, to add 
to it either one way or the other; for, beyond the specimens submitted to me by Mr. Temminck, I have 
seen no more Sumatran examples. While admitting the smaller size and probable distinctness of the island 
form, I must remind ornithologists that it will probably have to bear the title of H. flagrans (Mull.), as my 
H. erythrocephalus came from Burmah, and the probability is that the Burmese and Nepalese Red-headed 
Trogons are not distinct from each other. The following are the comparative measurements of H. 
hodgsoni and Sumatran H. erythrocephalus :— 
H. hodgsoni. Total length 13i inches ; wing 51; tail 8 ; tarsus t. 
H. erythrocephalus. Total length 111 inches; wing 5 ; tail 6J ; tarsus f. 
The figures in the Plate are, as nearly as possible, of the natural size. 
