TROGON VARIEGATUS, Spiz.

Purple-breasted Trogon.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Mas. Trog. viridis ; capite supra pectoreque purpureis, ilo frontem versus nigrescens ; alis in
medio minuté lineolis flexuosis nigris albisque notatis, remigibus saturate brunneis pogonies
externis albis ; rectricibus duabus imtermediis chalybheo-viridibus nigro apiculatis, proxmis
utringue duabus nigris ad margimem exteriorem viridibus, reliquis ad basin nigris apicem
versus nigro alboque fasciatis apicis macula quadraté alba ; corpore subtus, preter pectus,
saturate coccineo ; femoribus nigris.

Trides saturaté brunnee ; rostrum flavescenti-albidum ; pedes ccerulescenti-cinerei.

Fem. Fuliginoso-cinereus, cauda brunneo tincta ; alts in medio albo fasciatis; pectore albo ;

rectrictbus extimis utrinque tribus pogoniis externis negro fasciatis.

Male. Bill yellowish white; head and chest metallic purple merging into black on the forehead ;
ears, throat, back, and upper tail-coverts green; centre of the wings covered with very
minute zigzag markings of black and white; primaries dark brown with their outer edges
white ; two middle tail-feathers steel green tipped with black, two next on each side black
with their outer edges green ; the three outer feathers on each side black at the base, and
barred with white and black, ending in a square mark of white ; whole of the under sur-
face deep scarlet ; thighs black; tarsi bluish grey ; irides very dark brown.

Female. Head, chest, and upper surface dark sooty grey ; centre of the wing distinctly barred
with white ; upper part of the abdomen white, merging into scarlet on the belly and
under tail-coverts; tail deep sooty grey with a tinge of brown, the three outer feathers
barred with black on their outer edges.

Z

Total length, 9 inches ; bill, 1; weng, 4; tal, 5; tars, +.

Trogon variegatus. Spix, Av. Sp. Nov. tom. 1. pl. xxxvii"*. p. 49.

I am indebted to Mr. Swainson for the loan of three highly interesting examples of this species, from which
specimens the figures on the accompanying Plate were drawn. I perfectly agree with this gentleman in con-
sidering the lower one to be a very old male; but with regard to the centre one I am rather uncertain, some
appearances inducing me to believe it to be a young male in the state intermediate between youth and matu-
rity, when it has acquired the perfect wings and tail but wants the brilliancy of the upper surface. I would
here suggest that probably these birds may at some seasons, through the action of light and heat, lose the
metallic lustre of their plumage, and consequently bear the sombre appearance of the centre bird in our Plate.
Although not fully prepared to assert that this is the case, I am borne out in my opinion by discovering, on
minutely examining the bird, that the wing-feathers are old, worn, and partly decomposed. ‘he upper figure
is without doubt that of an adult female.

On examining other specimens of this bird in the collection of M. Natterer, I find that it is subject to a
very unusual and considerable variation of its markings; for although they all bear the general character-
istics of the species, still scarcely two examples are to be found possessing strictly similar markings of the
three lateral tail-feathers: in some specimens the black bars predominate, and in others the white; I have
reason to believe, however, that in very old males the black bars become partially obliterated, as exhibited in
the lower figure of the accompanying Plate.

The Trogon variegatus is a native of Brazil, where, M. Natterer informs me, it inhabits the woods bor-
dering the rivers Negro and Paraguay. It was first discovered by Dr. Spix, in whose work is a good repre-
sentation of the male: it will also form a conspicuous plate in Mr. Swainson’s exquisite work on the birds of

Brazil.

———— SS aS SSeS enn ann ce