TROGON AURANTIIVENTRIS, Gould.

Orange-breasted Trogon.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

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Mas.—Corpore subtus aurantiaco ; caudd migra, rectricibus tribus externis utringue albo crebre

Sasciatis.

Male.—Lores, ear-coverts and throat black : head, all the upper surface and chest bronzv ereen;

wings brownish black ; the coverts and secondaries freckled with white, and the primaries

with a narrow line of white along the basal portion of their outer webs ; all the under surface

orange, separated from the green of the chest by a semilunar mark of white ; two middle

tail-feathers deep yellowish green ; the two next on each side yellowish green on their outer,

and black on their inner webs, the whole six tipped with black ; three outer tail-feathers

on each side black, crossed by numerous narrow bars of, and narrowly tipped with, white :

thighs black ; bill orange ; irides reddish brown : eyelash light coral-red ; feet erey.
Total length, 10 inches ; bill, 3; wing, 5; tail, 52.

Female.—Face and throat dull black ; chest and all the upper surface olive, becoming richer or

more yellow on the upper tail-coverts ; wings black; the primaries margined externally
with white ; Wing-coverts and secondaries olive, freckled with black ; under surface light

orange, separated from the olive of the chest by a semilunar mark of white ; two centre

tail-feathers rich brown ; the two next on each side rich brown on their outer, and black on

their inner webs, all six tipped with black; three outer feathers on each side blackish
brown, minutely dotted on their outer webs, and on a portion of their inner webs near the
tip, with blackish brown on a greyish-white ground, these dottings set so thickly as to form
a bar near the tip, the extremity of which is greyish white ; base of the upper mandible
and under mandible yellow ; culmen brownish black.

Trogon aurantiiventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xxiv. p. 107.—Selater in Ibid.,

pp. 139, 286.
—— Salle, Bonap. Compt. Rend., May 1856.

 

Tuts bird is much more rare in the collections of Europe than the Trogon puella, from which it differs only
in the colouring of the under surface being deep orange instead of scarlet. I think it probable that the
LT. puella and 7’. aurantiiventris may ultimately prove to be merely varieties or races of one and the same
species. I have seen analogous instances among some of the Brazilian Trogons, and further investigation
of the subject may throw some light upon this supposition ; should it be confirmed, the species of the family
will be somewhat diminished ; at present I have no alternative but to consider and figure them as distinct,
a step which would even be necessary were they to prove identical, since representations of both states of
plumage would be requisite to their due illustration. I believe that no change of colouring from orange to
scarlet, or from scarlet to orange, takes place, but that each colour is assumed from the beginning.

The native country of the Orange-breasted Trogon is the Pacific side of Veragua and Costa Rica. In
Mr. Sclater’s “ List of Mammals and Birds collected by Mr. Bridges in the vicinity of the Town of David,
in the Province of Chiriqui, in the State of Panama,” published in the twenty-fourth part of the « Pro-
ceedings of the Zoological Society,” it is stated to inhabit the dense forest on the Boqueti, and that it is
also found further down towards David; and in his « Catalogue of the Birds collected by M. Auguste Sallé
in Southern Mexico,” published in the same part of the Society’s ‘ Proceedings,” it is stated that he found
this bird near the town of Cordova, in the State of Vera Cruz: if this be really the case, the opinion
given above is greatly strengthened, inasmuch as 7’ puella is also said to have been found there.
| I must remark that the female, as well as the male, has the breast orange, and that with this exception
the colouring is precisely the same as that of 7: puella. My specimens of 7° aurantiiventris, however, are
a trifle smaller than those of 7! puella.

The Plate represents both sexes of the natural size.

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