TROGON AMBIGUUS, Gow.

Doubtful Trogon.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Mas.—Facie nigra ; pectore et corpore supra aureo-viridibus ;
cinereis et fusco wroratis ; rectricibus tribus externis

puncetis ; rectricibus quatuor intermediis fusce

humeris tectricibusque alarum ornate

 

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utringue albis, cerebro Suscescenti-nigro

scenti-rufis cum apicibus nigris.

Soe

Male.—F ace and throat black ; chest, sides and back of the neck, and upper surface rich

golden bronze, gradually passing into golden green on the lower part of the back : primaries

raf black, margined externally with white ; wing-coverts and secondaries erey,
yy :

| with transverse zigzag lines of black ; two centre tail-feathers rich tiery-red bronze, broadly

tipped with black ; the two next on each side blackish brown, broadly tipped with black ;
three outer feathers on each side brownish black at ¢]

finely marked

SSS

1e base and white at the tip, the |
intermediate portion being white, minutely dotted or freckled with bl

ack, the freckles
assuming the form of a distinct but irregular narrow bar where the freckling terminates ;

breast and under surface rich scarlet, separated from the green of the thr

~~. ~~

oat by a crescent
of white ; tarsi slate-grey, gartered below with scarlet and white ;

bill bright yellow.
Total length, 11 inches ; bill, z; wing, 5; tail, 6+.

 

Female—A mark of white behind the eye and on the ear-coverts ; head, upper surface and chest

ak light olivaceous brown ; primaries brown, margined with white ;
os

— ag a OE eae,

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wing-coyverts and outer
7 | webs of the secondaries light olivaceous brown, minutely rayed with bl

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ack; two centre tail-

{ feathers cinnamon-brown, tipped with black; the two next on each side brown, margined
- | with cinnamon-brown ; three lateral feathers brown at the base, crossed on their margins

and near the extremity with regular freckled bands of brown on a white ground ; upper

FEL SF SD

part of the breast pale brown ; lower part of the abdomen and under tail-coverts scarlet,
j s : .
} separated from the brown by a band of greyish white ; bill yellow.
Ms
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/ Trogon ambiguus, Gould in Proe. of Zool. Soc., part iti. p. 30.—Ib. Mon. of Trogons, pl. 4.—
- Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 69, Trogon, sp. 11.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av.,
4 p- 149, Trogon, sp. 11.

 

I have ventured to separate this bird from the Trogon elegans, to which it closely assimilates. The points .

of difference consist in the obscure and pale, but finely-dotted markings of the outer tail-feathers, in
opposition to the strong and well-defined black bars on the same part in Trog. elegans, while at the same
time the centre of the wing is much more finely and minutely barred in the former than in the latter. Had
I seen only a single individual of each of these birds, I might have taken a different view of the subject;
but my comparisons having been made upon several individuals, I feel but little hesitation in assigning
to the present bird, at least provisionally, the rank of a distinct species.

The localities in which these two birds appear to be indigenous are distinctly separated from each other,
—all the examples I have seen of Zrogon ambiguus having been exclusively received from the northern and
western States of Mexico, while the Trogon elegans is strictly limited to the southern and Guatemala.

A figure and description of this bird appeared in the first edition of this monograph, and after a lapse of

twenty years I am unable to add any further information respecting it, save that I have in the interval

RR RSS a a

received other specimens from San Blas. Besides the differences pointed out gore I observe that the
tail is fully an inch shorter than that of 7” elegans, and that the 7 ambiguus is altogether smaller
than that species. Another point of difference also occurs in the bright ey oe colouring of the two
middle tail-feathers, which cannot be excelled in richness, and which is but slightly indicated in 7” elegans,
the corresponding feathers in that bird having only a wash of this fine tint.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.