Ceryle americana, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 103; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 185 (Buenos Ayres); Salvin, Ibis, 1880, p. 361 (Salta); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 26 (Entrerios); Sharpe, Mon. Alc. pl. xxvi. p. 89. Chloroceryle americana, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 447 (Paraná).
Description.—Above bronzy green; line along sides of head and neck-collar white; wings spotted with white; tail above green, beneath blackish, barred with white on the inner webs; throat white; breast chestnut-red; belly and crissum white, flanks with bronzy-green spots; bill and feet black: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 3·1, tail 2·5. Female similar, but no chestnut on the breast, which is crossed by a bronzy-green band.
Hab. South America.
[This is] the smallest of our three Kingfishers, and nearly resembles C. amazona in plumage. Durnford found it “not uncommon” about the creeks and streams at the mouth of the Paraná, and also obtained specimens in the north of the Republic near Salta, during his last journey. Prof. Burmeister met with it at Paraná and Tucuman.
Mr. Barrows gives us the following notes on this Kingfisher:—
“Resident through the year at Concepcion, but especially abundant in winter, when it haunts the main river, the island-shores, and all the streams, big and little. It is not in the least shy, and one once perched in some willows directly over my boat and not 10 feet away, while he swallowed a tiny fish he had just captured; after which he twitted such a hearty little song that I really felt as if his proper place must be among the Oscines, in spite of all anatomical defects. On the Pampas, we found this a rather common bird on the small streams, and its presence on some streams whose waters are entirely absorbed by the desert before they can reach either sea or lake, first called my attention to the presence, even in these streams, of numbers of a small fish which is found in many of the pools as well all over the Pampas. Although both this and the preceding species must nest about Concepcion, I did not succeed of learning anything of the nest or eggs.”
[ Fam. XXV. TROGONIDÆ, or TROGONS.]
The Trogons, a family peculiar among all zygodactyle birds for having the inner toe instead of the outer toe reversed in position, are found in the Old World as well as in the New. But they are much more abundant in the Tropics of America, where they number some thirty species, and attain an astonishing development of ornamental plumage in the celebrated Quézal (Pharomacrus) of Guatemala. In Argentina two stray species only have, as yet, been recorded as met with in the northern provinces.
The Trogons are purely arboreal in habits, and frequent the larger trees of the denser forests, feeding mainly on insects.