TROGON MALABARICUS.

Malabar Trogon.

SpeciFic CHARACTER.

Mas. Trog. capite, gutture, pectoreque Sulginoso-nigris, hoe torque lato albo ; ventre coccineo ;
dorso tectricibusque caude superioribus sordide arenaceo-brunneis; scapularibus tectricibusque
ale maporibus nigris albo flexuosim strigatis ; remigibus nigris, pogonws externis albo fim-
briatis ; rectricihus duabus intermediis subcastaneis ngro apiculatis, proximis duabus utrin-
que nigris prope rhachidem brunneis, reliquis ad basin nigris ad apicem albis.

Foem. Capite, dorso, gutture, pectoreque sordidé brunneis ; ventre luteo ; pectore haud torquato ;
scapularibus nigro brunneoque strigatis.

Rostrum nigrum ; mandibularum basis regioque ophthalmica nuda ceerulee.

The male has the whole of the head and throat and chest sooty black; a crescent of white
separates the black of the chest from the breast, which, with the whole of the under surface,
is scarlet; the back and upper surface brownish yellow ; the middle of the wings black,
with fine transverse lines of white; primaries black, with their extreme outer edges white ;
the two middle tail-feathers chestnut brown; the two next black, with a streak of chestnut
down the sides of the shafts; the three outer ones on each side black at their base, with
white tips; naked space round the eyes deep blue, gradually uniting with black on the
bill; legs and feet lead colour.

The female has the crown of the head, chest, and all the upper surface brown, inclining to grey
on the chest; breast and under surface yellowish brown; wings black, their centres having
fine transverse lines of brown; the tail-feathers nearly resembling those of the male, but
much duller in hue; naked space round the eyes blueish lead colour; feet and legs dark
brown.

Total length, 11 to 114 inches; weng, 5 inches ; taz/, 64 to 7.

Trogon Malabaricus. Gould, Proceedings of Zool. Soc., Part IL. p. 26.

 

I am unwilling in most instances to bestow as a specific title upon any bird the name of the country of which
it is an inhabitant ; in the present instance, however, I have been induced to depart from this rule, from
the circumstance of the present species being, as I believe, extremely local in its habitat. The Trogons in
general do not appear to be a migratory tribe ; it is therefore probable that that portion of the eastern con-
tinent alone which includes Malabar is the only country in which this fine species is to be seen in a state of
nature. Iam the more strengthened in this opinion as I have never observed it in collections brought from
the adjacent islands.

In point of affinity it is somewhat allied to the Trogon Temmincki, while its inferior size, lengthened
form, and more elegant contour, together with the total absence of the red ear-coverts and nuchal band,
at once distinguish it from that species.

Capt. Walter Smee informs me that it is a solitary species, inhabiting the jungles which run parallel to
the coast; and that it is generally seen in pairs in the most dense parts of the forest, sitting motionless on
the dead branch of some elevated tree, until passing insects arouse it to exertion. Being partly nocturnal in
its habits, it becomes animated on the approach of evening, when it glides after its prey (in the pursuit of
which it displays the greatest activity and adroitness) with meteor-like swiftness, returning again to some
dead branch, much after the manner of the Flycatchers.

Habitat, Malabar.

The Plate represents a male and female.

 

 

 

 

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