39

TROGON.

No species of this beautiful family of birds occurs in
this country, or even in Europe. The following account
of them is necessarily borrowed:—‘‘The trogons,”’ says
Linneeus Martin, “constitute a family of birds, the members
of which are peculiar to the hotter regions of America,
and of India, and its adjacent islands—Ceylon, Java,
Borneo, Sumatra, etc.; one species only having as yet
been discovered in Africa. Among the most conspicuous
of the feathered tribes for beauty and brilliancy of plumage,
the trogons stand confessedly pre-eminent. The metallic
golden green of some species is of dazzling effulgence;
in others less gorgeous: the delicate pencillings of the
plumage, and the contrasted hues of deep scarlet, black,
green, and brown, produce a rich and beautiful effect.

It is difficult to convey the idea of a bird, or indeed
of any natural object, by description solely; the pictorial
specimen, however, will render the details connected
with the family features of the present group easily
intelligible.

The trogons are zygodactyle, that is, they have their
toes in pairs—two before, and two behind, like the parrots
and woodpeckers; the tarsi are short and feeble, the
beak is stout, and the gape wide; the general contour
of the body is full and round, and the head large; the
plumage is dense, soft, and deep; the wings are short
but pointed, the quill feathers being rigid; the tail is
long, ample, and graduated, its outer feathers decreasing
in length; in some species the tail feathers are elongated,
so as to form a pendent plumage of loose feathers.