TROGON VARIEGATUS, Spix. 
Purple-breasted Trog*on, 
Specific Character. 
Mas. Trog. viridis; capite supra pectoreque purpureis, illo frontem versus nigrescens; alis in 
medio minute lineolis jlexuosis nigris albisque notatis, remigibus saturate brunneis pogoniis 
externis albis; rectricibus duabus intermediis chalybeo-viridibus nigro apiculatis, proxmis 
utrinque duabus nigris ad marginem exteriorem virklibus, reliquis ad basin nigris apicem 
versus nigro alboque fasciatis apicis macula quadratd alba ; corpore subtus, prceter pectus , 
saturate coccineo ; femoribus nigris. 
Irides saturate brunneae; rostrum flavescenti-albidum ; pedes coerulescenti-cinerei. 
Feem. Fidiginoso-cinereus, cauda brunneo tincta ; alis in medio albo fasciatis; pectore albo ; 
rectricibus extimis utrinque tribus pogoniis externis nigro fasciatis. 
Male. Bill yellowish white; head and chest metallic purple merging into black on the forehead; 
ears, throat, back, and upper tail-coverts green; centre of the wings covered with very 
minute zigzag markings of black and white ; primaries dark brown with their outer edges 
white ; two middle tail-feathers steel green tipped with black, two next on each side black 
with their outer edges green; the three outer feathers on each side black at the base, and 
barred with white and black, ending in a square mark of white ; whole of the under sur¬ 
face deep scarlet; thighs black; tarsi bluish grey ; irides very dark brown. 
Female. Head, chest, and upper surface dark sooty grey; centre of the wing distinctly barred 
with white ; upper part of the abdomen white, merging into scarlet on the belly and 
under tail-coverts; tail deep sooty grey with a tinge of brown, the three outer feathers 
barred with black on their ou ter edges. 
Total length, 9 inches ; bill, 1 ; wing, 4 ; tail, 5 ; tarsi, 1. 
Trogon variegatus. Spix, Av. Sp. Nov. tom. 1. pi. xxxvin 1 . p. 49. 
I am indebted to Mr. Svvainson for the loan of three highly interesting examples of this species, from which 
specimens the figures on the accompanying Plate were drawn. I perfectly agree with this gentleman in con¬ 
sidering the lower one to be a very old male; but with regard to the centre one I am rather uncertain, some 
appearances inducing me to believe it to be a young male in the state intermediate between youth and matu¬ 
rity, when it has acquired the perfect wings and tail but wants the brilliancy of the upper surface. I would 
here suggest that probably these birds may at some seasons, through the action of light and heat, lose the 
metallic lustre of their plumage, and consequently bear the sombre appearance of the centre bird in our Plate. 
Although not fully prepared to assert that this is the case, I am borne out in my opinion by discovering, on 
minutely examining the bird, that the wing-feathers are old, worn, and partly decomposed. The upper figure 
is without doubt that of an adult female. 
On examining other specimens of this bird in the collection of M. Natterer, I find that it is subject to a 
very unusual and considerable variation of its markings; for although they all bear the general character¬ 
istics of the species, still scarcely two examples are to be found possessing strictly similar markings of the 
three lateral tail-feathers : in some specimens the black bars predominate, and in others the white; I have 
reason to believe, however, that in very old males the black bars become partially obliterated, as exhibited in 
the. lower figure of the accompanying Plate. 
The Trogon variegatus is a native of Brazil, where, M. Natterer informs me, it inhabits the woods bor¬ 
dering the rivers Negro and Paraguay. It was first discovered by Dr. Spix, in whose work is a good repre¬ 
sentation of the male: it will also form a conspicuous plate in Mr. Swainson’s exquisite work on the birds of 
Brazil. 
