TROGON PUELLA, Gowda

Rayed-tail Trogon.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
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Mas.—Corpore subtis coccineo ; caudd nigra ; rectricibus tribus externis crebr? albo fasciatis,

Male.—Lores, ear-coyerts and throat black ; head, all the upper surface and chest green ; wings

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 scarlet.
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 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 dark grey.

Total length, 102 inches ; Bill, z; wing, 5+; tail, 6.

Female.—Face and throat dull black: chest and all the upper surtace olive-brown, becoming
richer or more yellow on the upper tail-coverts ; wings blackish brown ; the primaries

margined externally with white ; wing-coverts and secondaries brown, freckled with black :

under surface light scarlet, separated from the brown 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

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thickly as to form @ bar near the tip, the extremity of which is greyish white ; under man-

dible, and base of the upper, yellow ; culmen brownish black.

Trogon puella, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xiii. p- 18.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds,
vol. i. p. 70, Trogon, sp. 24.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 149, Trogon, sp. 8.
—— NXalapensis, DuBus, Esq. Orn. pl. 5.

 

Tuts well-marked Trogon is an inhabitant of Central America, particularly the countries of Honduras
and Guatemala; and that it must be common in the Vera Paz Mountains, is evidenced by the numbers
which have been sent to this country by George U. Skinner, sq. The only figure of this bird with which
I am acquainted is that published by the Baron DuBus in his “ Esquisses Ornithologiques ” under the name
of Trogon Xalapensis, from which appellation it would appear that it extends its range to Mexico; but per-
sonally I have not received or seen examples from that country.

The Trogon puella is rendered one of the most conspicuous members of its family by the markings of the
tail, which consist of a series of narrow cross-bars of white on a jet-black ground, extending throughout
the apical portion of each of the three outer tail-feathers ; the usual terminal broad band of white being
absent, or but slightly indicated by the last white bar being a trifle broader than the rest. The female
differs very much Bact the male, not only in having those parts of her plumage brown which are green in
the other Rane but also in the total absence of bars on the three outer tail-feathers, those feathers being
merely clouded or sprinkled with extremely small dots of dark brown on a light greyish white ground, with
a narrow bar of black succeeded by another of white at the tip.

The Plate represents both sexes of the natural size.

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