Fam. XIV. Trogonidae.–The Trogons are the sole tenants of the Sub-Order Trogones, a very distinct group of birds of brilliant coloration–the Quezal, as will be seen below, being the most splendid of all. Their general aspect is somewhat heavy; the neck is abbreviated; the bill, stoutest in Pharomacrus and most slender in Euptilotis, is short and strong, with a wide bristly gape, and a curved culmen terminating in a hook. The maxilla in these genera, as well as in Harpactes and Hapalarpactes, has a terminal notch, while both mandibles are more or less serrated in adults of Trogon, Hapaloderma, Tmetotrogon, and Prionotelus. The foot is comparatively small and weak, with the short metatarsus feathered and somewhat scaly; the second toe is reversed, a heterodactylous arrangement (p. [10]) unique among birds. The moderate wing has ten primaries, and from eight to ten secondaries; the upper wing-coverts being elongated in Pharomacrus, especially in the males. The long rectrices are twelve in number, and are concave at the end with divergent tips in Prionotelus; the feathers, moreover, are often square at the extremity–a noticeable peculiarity in the Family; while in the Quezal, Pharomacrus mocinno, the male has enormously developed upper coverts to the tail, which extend far beyond it, the two median being the longest; in its congeners and in females generally they equal the rectrices; in Euptilotis they are only half the length. The furcula is U-shaped; the tongue flat; the syrinx tracheo-bronchial; the aftershaft long; the nostrils are bristly; the adults have no down; and the nestlings are said to be naked for a short period. The large soft feathers are easily detached from the delicate skin. The male of Pharomacrus mocinno has a fine rounded crest, less developed in the female and in its other congeners. Euptilotis, Tmetotrogon, and Prionotelus have the ear-coverts filamentous and hair-like. Pharomacrus pavoninus has a red bill, as has Prionotelus in part; the usual colour in the former genus, and in Trogon and its allies, being yellow for the cock and more horn-coloured or black for the hen, but in Harpactes violet or bluish, with a duller tip in the female. The orbits are partially or entirely bare in Hapaloderma, Harpactes, and Hapalarpactes, the skin being, it would seem, yellow, violet, or blue. The Family ranges through the tropical portions of the Indian, Ethiopian, and Neotropical Regions, Harpactes and Hapalarpactes being found in the first, Hapaloderma in the second, and the other five genera in the third. Trogon ambiguus reaches northwards to Arizona and Texas. The number of species is nearly fifty, of which the largest (Pharomacrus mocinno) measures some fourteen inches, the smallest (Harpactes duvauceli) about nine.
Trogons are usually seen singly or in pairs, though sometimes in small flocks; they are rarely shy, and often so unsuspicious that they may be killed with a stick. They customarily sit almost motionless in the mid-day heat, with the head drawn in upon the shoulders and the body vertical, every now and then opening and shutting the tail. Their haunts are in the thickest forests, which they seldom leave for more open or sunny places; here they creep about the trees or sit some half-way up on leafless branches, darting off to catch a passing insect or to secure a tempting fruit, since nearly all their food is taken on the wing. The noiseless flight is rapid, but short and jerky, with occasional undulations. The Quezal, at least, clings to trees like a Woodpecker, but the feet are ill adapted to climbing, and perfectly unfit for walking. The voice of this species consists of two plaintive sibilant notes, gradually swelling into a loud cry, and varied by discordant sounds; many forms, however, utter a reiterated "cou-cou," and will also cluck, whistle, or chatter, though ordinarily silent, except when breeding. The food of the New World species is stated to consist principally of fruit, but lizards, grasshoppers, lepidoptera, caterpillars, ants, beetles, small crabs, and terrestrial molluscs are eaten; while the Old World forms seem to prefer an insect-diet. No nest is made, but a hole is usually bored or enlarged in the top or side of a rotten stump or branch, in which are deposited from two to four roundish eggs of a white, bluish, greenish, or buff colour. Trogon surucura has been observed clinging to a tree-trunk and excavating a cavity in an ants' nest. The male at times incubates. The flesh is not unpalatable.
Hapalarpactes reinwardti of Java is dark bluish-green above with a more olive crown, and yellow below with orange abdomen; the primaries are black and white, the secondaries and their coverts green with yellow bars, the rectrices purplish as compared with the back, the lateral pair freely marked with white. The female has brown instead of yellow on the wing. H. mackloti of Sumatra has the rump chestnut in the male. The genus Harpactes ranges from India and Ceylon to Cochin China, the Indo-Malay Islands, and the Philippines. H. kasumba has the crown, throat, and chest black, the nuchal collar and under parts crimson, while a white band divides the two colours below; the upper parts are orange-rufous; the two median rectrices chestnut tipped with black; the rest of the tail and the wings black and white. The hen is brown above, becoming rufous towards the rump; the throat and chest are grey, the remaining lower surface and the wing-markings buff. H. orescius has an olive-yellow head, a brilliant orange breast, and a chestnut back; the female being more sombre. Hapaloderma narina, ranging from North-East Africa to Cape Colony and thence to Angola, is brilliant bronzy-green above; the wings and tail are black and white with a blue and green wash, the secondaries and wing-coverts being vermiculated with white; the chest is green; the breast and abdomen are crimson. The hen has the throat and chest brown, the breast duller. H. constantia extends from the Calabar River to Fantee, H. vittatum is East African. The genus Trogon is found from South Arizona and Texas to North Argentina. T. mexicanus is bronzy-green above and on the chest, the sides of the head and the throat being black, and the remaining under parts crimson, surmounted by a white band; the wings are blackish with white vermiculations on the secondaries and coverts; the two median rectrices are green with black tips, the others black and white. The female has the chest and upper surface, including that of the tail, brown, the wing-vermiculations buff. T. surucura has the most southerly range of the two dozen species. Prionotelus temnurus, peculiar to Cuba, has the sexes similar; the upper parts are bronzy-green, the head is black, glossed with purple and blue, the under parts are grey with crimson abdomen.
Fig. 92.–Quezal. Pharomacrus mocinno. × ¼.
The six middle tail-feathers are bronzy-green, tinged with purple, the remainder and the wings black and white. In Tmetotrogon rhodogaster, restricted to San Domingo, the upper surface is bronzy-green, the lower grey with crimson abdomen. The blackish wings have white-edged primaries, the median pair of rectrices are purple and green, the others purplish-blue. The female has white bars on the upper wing-coverts. Euptilotis neoxenus of Mexico has a greenish-black head and throat, and a crimson breast and abdomen, while the rest of the plumage is bronzy-green, except for the black and white wings and the six purplish-black median rectrices. The hen has a greyish head, throat, and chest. Pharomacrus mocinno, the Quezal of the higher districts from Guatemala to Veragua, is brilliant iridescent green above, tinged with blue on the far extended tail-coverts; the throat is green, the under parts are gorgeous crimson, the remiges and the six median rectrices are black, the remainder chiefly white. A full crest and elongated wing-coverts add to the bird's appearance. The female has the long feathers less developed; the head and under surface brownish-grey, with a green tinge on the former and on the chest; the vent crimson. Three other species range from Colombia to Bolivia. The decorative feathers of the Quezal were reserved for chiefs in olden times.
Trogons are ancient forms which once occurred within the Palaearctic countries, as is shewn by the discovery of the fossil Trogon gallicus in the Lower Miocene of France.
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The Sub-Order Pici contains, according to Dr. Gadow, the Families Galbulidae, or Jacamars and Puff-birds, Capitonidae, or Barbets and Honey-guides, Rhamphastidae or Toucans, and Picidae, or Woodpeckers and Wrynecks. All these undoubtedly belong to that author's Order Coraciiformes, though Garrod and W. A. Forbes included the Galbulidae and several of the allied Families in their Passeriformes.
Fam. XV. Galbulidae.[[252]]–This may be divided into the Sub-families, (1) Galbulinae, or Jacamars, and (2) Bucconinae, or Puff-birds.[[253]] The former have a long straight bill, compressed and pointed, with angular genys; Jacamerops, however, having it curved, ridged, and dilated basally. The feet are weak, the metatarsi being scutellated in front and smooth behind, with the toes zygodactylous; while Jacamaralcyon alone lacks the hallux. The rounded wings have ten primaries, with the outer much reduced, and from ten to twelve secondaries; the tail of twelve feathers is sometimes short and square, sometimes long and more or less graduated, the external pair of rectrices being diminutive or absent. The furcula is U-shaped, the tongue long, tapering, and membranous; the nostrils are slightly bristly, with an internal membrane in Jacamerops; the aftershaft is rudimentary; and there is no down on the adults or the blind nestlings. The plumage is particularly soft.