XU 
INTRODUCTION. 
“The Creepers and Woodpeckers and others drive the insects out of their hiding- 
places under bark, amongst moss, and in withered leaves. The Flycatchers and Trogons 
sit on branches and fly after the larger insects, the Flycatchers taking them on the wing, 
the Trogons from the leaves on which they have settled. In the breeding-season the 
Trogons are continually calling out to each other, and are thus easily discovered. They 
are called "viduas ’ (that is, "widows’) by the Spaniards.” 
The habit of consorting with other species was also noticed by my late friend 
John Natterer, who, as recorded in my first edition, informed me that he has seen them, 
though very rarely, congregating together, and more than one species in company—a 
circumstance which he considers may be accounted for on the principle that instinct leads 
them by some migratory movement to abandon one district at a certain season of the year in 
search of another where food is more abundant. These migrations, however, cannot be 
extensive, inasmuch as their wings are not adapted for a lengthened flight; besides which, 
every new district of any great extent presents us with its peculiar species; for example, 
none of the species inhabiting Mexico has been found in Brazil, and vice versa. 
The disposition of the feathers in the Trogonidse is, according to Nitzsch, very similar 
to that prevalent in Passerine birds ; but the neck is completely bare for a considerable 
space. The feathers are peculiarly soft and dense. The skin of the Trogon is perhaps 
thinner and more delicate than that of any other bird, and exceedingly difficult to remove, 
as the feathers drop out on the slightest touch; so that many a specimen is spoilt by 
the bird falling against a branch after being shot. 
Much confusion has arisen in the synonymy of this family from a want of knowledge 
of the peculiarities of young and maturing birds. An examination of a very extensive series 
shows that the tail-feathers in young individuals are longer and more pointed ; and when barred, 
the white bars are wider and less numerous. In the maturing bird the rectrices become 
squarer with successive moults, and the amount of white in the bars less in quantity. 
The wing-coverts, too, are subject to considerable variation in the young; these are frequently 
distinctly mottled with buff, as is shown in the Plates of T. melanocephalus and Pharomacrus 
auriceps, juv. These markings are replaced by the style of colours shown in the adult. 
