TROGON MELANOCEPHALUS Black-headed Trogon. Gould. SPECIFIC CHARACTER. cy. a PIN Boll : Blas. —V erlice pectoreque sordide Mgrs ; corpore dorso, in toto, violaceo, viridi lucid? lavato ; rectricibus tribus externis nigris, ad apicem albis Vale.—Head, occi S jeae ee Male ad, occiput, throat and chest black ; scapularies and back glossy into violet-blue on th ' tail-coverts ; wines c e upper tail-coverts ; w ings black, the basal portion of the oute two centre tail-feathers greenish blue, black ; the remaining tail-feathers black, the three outer ones on each side | breast and under tail-coverts rich gamboge-yellow ; thighs 2 : r webs of the primaries fringed with white : i 5 tipped with | . argely tipped in a square form with white - black ; bill horn-colour. Total length, 103 inches ; Ail, 1 - wing, 6+; tail, 62. Female —Head, throat, chest, all the upper surface, wings and tail slaty black; basal portion of the outer webs of the primaries margined with white ; three outer tail-feathers squarely tipped with white ; abdomen and under tail-coverts gamboge-yellow ; thighs black. Young male.—General plumage slaty black, with a wash of green on the back and upper tail- coverts ; the wing-coverts and secondaries with a series of buff markings of different sizes and shapes on their outer webs; the two centre tail-feathers deep bronzy-green, the lateral feathers slightly toothed with white, and the white of the tips prolonged for some distance up the outer web, instead of being of a square form, as in the adult; feathers of the centre of the abdomen and the posterior under tail-coverts clouded black and white. Trogon melanocephala, Gould, Mon. of Trogons, pl. 12. ——— melanocephalus, Gray, List of Spec. of Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 42.—Gray and Mitch., Gen. of Birds, vol. 1. p. 70, Trogon, sp. 17.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 149, Trogon, sp. 16.—Sclater in Proce. of Zool. Soc., part xxv. p. 227. Tue Trogons of Central America and Mexico possess peculiar characteristics, which at once separate them from the species found in Brazil and other parts of South America. In the present case we find a Trogon with a black head, a character not found in any other American species. When fully adult, the male is really a fine bird, the greenish blue of the back being very beautiful, and the three black outer tail-feathers, with their bold and squarely-formed white tips, showing very conspicuously : this latter feature would seem to be common to both sexes, that is, if the birds in my collection with a unitorm sooty head, back and chest be of this sex. I sav. if the birds so coloured be of this sex, because a suspicion has sometimes arisen that sex. say, Ss 1 il this “OV shall consider them as females of 7. meda- they may constitute another species; but until this be prov ed, I shall consider them ¢ ‘ ° eC 7es ing shige nocephalus. possess a youthful male of this species, having sligl oe on ’ - . oe i E « ‘ . BGR heir external margins ; their tips are w hite, as in the adult; at this age truncate form of those of the adult, but are narrower and it indications of white bars on the three outer tail-feathers, especially on t these feathers do not present the remarkable x inclined to be pointed. Very young individuals are beautiful six weeks old, is represented by the lower figure in the accom Eyton, Esq. As stated in the former edition of this monograph, the first sp from Mexico and Honduras. ly marked: one, which I presume to be about panying Plate ; it is in the collection of 'T. C. yecimen I obtained of this species was from Tamaulipas ; since then I have received fine examples ; ; sees -epresentation of the female. The figures are of the natural size, with a reduced representé bluish green, passing oe eee 34 a eee ee eee ne ae eee) ae ee ae = a =