PHAROMACRUS ANTISIANUS.

Beautiful Train-bearer.

Spectric CHARACTER.
Mas.—Capite viridi, semi-cristato ; rectricibus tribus externis utringue albis.

Male.—Head, throat, chest, all the upper surface of the body, wing- and_ tail-coverts deep
bronzy green, the green hue prevailing on the lower part of the back ; wings black ; under
surface of the body and under tail-coverts deep blood-red ; thighs black; four centre tail-
feathers black ; the three outer ones black at the base, and white for the remainder of their
length, with black shafts ; bill bright yellow.

Total length, 13% inches; bill, 1; wing, 72; tail, 72.

Female.—Head and chest brown, the latter washed with green ; wing-coverts and back reddish
green ; upper tail-coverts golden green ; wings black ; primaries brownish black, margined
with buff; lower part of the abdomen and under tail-coverts light blood-red ; tail black,
the three outer feathers on each side toothed on their outer webs and narrowly tipped

with greyish white.

Trogon Antisianus, D’Orb. Mag. de Zool. 1837, Ois. pl. 85.

—— antisiensis, D’Orb. Voy. de l’Am., pe ose ple S6y i. Ie

—— (Calurus) pulchellus, Gould, Mon. of Trog., List of Plates, sp. 22.

—_— pulchellus, Gould, Mon. of Trog., pl. 22.

———— Peruvianus, Gould, MSS.

Calurus antisianus, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p- 71, Calurus, sp. 7.—Ib. List of
Spec. of Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., part u. sect. 1, Fissirostres, p. 46.—Selater in Proe. of
Zool. Soc., part xxiii. p. 137.

——— pulchellus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 152, Calurus, sp. 6.

 

Ir would appear that science is indebted to M. Alcide D’Orbigny, the celebrated French traveller, for the
discovery of this exceedingly beautiful species ; for it was in his collection that I first saw an example during
my visit to Paris in 1837. At that time the female was unknown, nor had it been discovered when the first
edition of this monograph was published. In the interval between 1837 and 1858 many novelties have been
obtained, not only in this group of birds, but in most other departments of zoology and the allied sciences,
and I am now, therefore, enabled to figure both sexes of this fine bird, and to state that it not only inhabits
Peru, but that it is also found in Ecuador, and as far south as Santa Fé de Bogota in New Grenada, as is
proved by my having at this moment before me a specimen from the latter province, and another sent me
by Professor Jameson from Quito : in all probability Bogota is its utmost northern limit, and Ecuador and
Peru its true and native habitat. It is without question a truly beautiful species, the bright raised tuft of
green feathers which rise above the nostrils adding much to its elegance, and, together with the all but
wholly white outer tail-feathers, at once distinguishing it from the P. fulgidus.

“*We have met with this species,” says M. D’Orbigny, “in the midst of the hot and humid forests of the
Yungas to the east of the Andes in the republic of Bolivia: there it is always rare, and almost entirely con-
fined to the neighbourhood of the torrents in the thickest parts of the woods. Its manners, like those of
the other members of the genus to which it belongs, are melancholy and wild. One often hears in the
morning and in the evening its monotonous cry, which nearly resembles the word Cowroucou ; but how
many difficulties are there to be conquered before one can reach this bird in the midst of a country perhaps
the most unfrequently visited of the world!”

The Plate represents both sexes of the size of life.

ee el ee ae ee Lae ee ra ee ane