that in selecting the Trogons as his subject, he was influenced by the conviction that

"It was not only fraught with interest, but that much was left buried in obscurity, which, when brought to light, would materially tend to the advancement of ornithology."

The Trogons, or Couroucous, like many other groups of birds, have been hitherto involved in much confusion, and it was with a view to the elucidation of many obscurities, the extrication of several of the species from a labyrinth of difficulties, and for the purpose of introducing many new species to science, that Mr Gould undertook this work.

"In order to render the work complete up to the present time," he writes, "I have not only done my utmost to add every species to my own collection, but have visited all the principal museums of Europe, both public and private, and as in previous instances, have experienced the greatest kindness and co-operation from the various eminent naturalists, private individuals, and the officers of the natural history department of every public institution."

The Trogons constitute a family of the fissirostral tribe of the insessorial order, and are divisible into five minor groups or subgenera (respectively named by Mr Swainson), which, in a synopsis of the species, Mr Gould has given, though in his descriptive letter-press he retains the title Trogon as common to all.*

These birds, confined in their habitat to the intertropical regions, are, to a great extent, insectivorous; they seize their insect food on the wing, which the wide gape of their beak enables them to do with facility. Their feet and tarsi are small and feeble, and qualify them merely for resting on the branches, either during repose or for the purpose of watching for their prey, and to which, when the short chase is over, they return.

If not strictly elegant in form, they are surpassed only by the humming-birds in the brilliancy of their plumage, and their splendour compensates for every other defect. They are not, however, like the humming-birds, among the minute of their race; in size they equal a turtle-dove or pigeon, but have not the same contour.

Previously to the publication of this monograph twenty-two species were described; to these Mr Gould has added twelve new species, (of which three belong to the subgenus Calurus,) making in all thirty-four. Of these twenty-three are inhabitants

* Mr Swainson divides this family into the following sub-genera, or perhaps genera:-Trogon, Linn., Harpactes, Swains., Apaloderma, Swains., Temnurus, Swains., Calurus, Swains.

of America and its islands, ten of the Indian islands and India, and one of Africa.

Adorned with a plumage of metallic brilliancy, changing in its hues from green to burnished gold, or dyed with rich and fulltoned colouring, to which the pencil can scarcely do justice, these birds, were their habits and manners animated and lively, would be amongst the most engaging of the feathered race. The head is large, the neck short, so that the former seems to rest upon the shoulders; and the feet are disproportionate to the bulk of the body. The latter, indeed, appears larger than it really is, from the fulness of the plumage, and the laxness and disarranged character of the barbs of the feathers, which remind us of those forming the tail-coverts of the peacock. The skin is extremely thin and delicate, and, as in many of the pigeons, the feathers fall off at the slightest touch.

Retiring and unsocial, the Couroucous affect the recesses of gloomy forests, where, shrouded amidst the dense foliage, they seek a shelter from the glare of day. Except when giving chase to insects, or engaged in the work of incubation, they sit on the branches in a state of apparent apathy, and when discovered, instead of retreating, will suffer themselves to be approached so nearly as to be struck with a stick. Their flight is short, sharp, and undulating.

Their voice is wailing and monotonous, but at the same time loud and strong; it is, however, seldom uttered except during the time of pairing and incubation, when it may be heard in the depths of the forest, sadly sounding to the ears of the traveller, but no doubt grateful to the female as she broods over her eggs.

The place chosen for the nest, at least by the species whose habits have been observed, is the hollow of some time-worn tree; this, if not sufficiently commodious, they enlarge with their beaks; the number of eggs is two or four. When excluded from the shell the young are naked, but in a few days feathers begin to make their appearance.

In addition to insects and their larvæ, berries also constitute a part of their diet, and are swallowed entire.

Though usually solitary, or seen only in pairs, M. Natterer, who had many opportunities of observing these birds in a state of nature, informed Mr Gould that he had seen them, though very rarely, congregating together, and more than one species in company; a circumstance which he considers may be accounted for on the principle, that instinct leads them, by some migratory movement, to abandon one district at a certain season of the in search of another where food is more abundant.

year

"These migrations, however, cannot," states Mr Gould, "be extensive, inasmuch as their wings are not adapted for a lengthened flight; besides which, every new district, of any great extent, presents us with its peculiar species; for example, none of the species inhabiting Mexico have been found in the Brazils; and vice versa."

One source of confusion among ornithologists who have described the Trogons has arisen from the circumstance that the male, at different ages, the female, and the young, differ in their plumage, and hence fictitious species have been recorded.

We have already alluded to the subgenus Calurus. This genus, distinguished from the other genera of this family belonging to America by a crested head and the redundancy of the flowing feathers which form the tail coverts, contains five species, of which three are new.

One of these, and the most beautiful, formerly regarded as the Trogon pavoninus, but now termed Trogon resplendens, is a native of Mexico, where it is called Quesal. We give a copy (by permission) of Mr Gould's magnificent figure.

"It is scarcely possible to conceive anything more rich and gorgeous than the golden-green colour which adorns the principal part of the plumage of this splendid bird; or more elegant and graceful than the flowing plumes which sweep pendant from the lower part of the back, forming a long train of metallic brilliancy. Nature appears to have ordained that birds possessing unusual brilliancy of plumage should be the inhabitants of retired and obscure situations; and in strict conformity with this law, the resplendent Trogon, by far the most beautiful of its tribe, is only found in the dense and gloomy forests of the southern states of Mexico, remote from the haunts of civilized man, which may account for its being so little known to Europeans until within the last few years; for although the long plumes were used to adorn the head-dresses of the ancient Mexicans, and at a later period were transmitted by the Spaniards, from time to time, to Europe, yet is it only very recently that we have become acquainted with the entire bird. I believe the first perfect example was received by the late Right Hon. George Canning: after that statesman's decease it passed into the hands of Mr Leadbeater. The representation of this bird in the Planches coloriées' of M. Temminck is undoubtedly the first that was published; but the author has evidently confounded it with a nearly allied species discovered in Brazil, and figured in the Avium species nova' of Dr Spix."

As the long plumes of this bird and its immediate allies unfit them for the quick but short flight which the more closely feathered Trogons exert when in chase of their prey, we may naturally expect some modification of habits in consonance with their style of plumage. And accordingly M. Natterer states that they tenant the topmost branches of the loftiest trees of the

forest, clinging beneath them like parrots, and feeding almost exclusively on fruits and berries.

Very different are the habits of the Cuba Trogon (Trogon Temnurus), which approximates to the wookpeckers in the more lengthened form of the bill, and in the ridged texture of the outer tail feathers; and which, according to Mr W. S. MacLeay, approaches those birds in its mode of life, giving preference to the holes of trees rather than to the branches, from the bark of which it procures the insects and their larvæ, on which it subsists.

In looking over the magnificent plates of this monograph we cannot sufficiently admire the taste and skill of the artist, the efforts of whose pencil are most ably seconded by the colourist, Mr Bayfield. The brilliant and metallic hues with which these birds are adorned, so difficult to be imitated, and when the imitation is attempted, most frequently rendered harsh and glaring, are here so happily managed, and such truth and effect are produced, that it requires but little stretch of the imagination to believe the birds themselves before us.

Before the monograph of the Trogons was concluded Mr Gould commenced a fresh work, as a supplement to his previous publications, to which he gave the title of Icones Avium, or Figures of new and interesting species of Birds from various parts of the globe.' The first part appeared in August 1837, in imperial folio, and contains figures of ten new birds, with a short description of each. The first is a species of the genus Eurylaimus, recently described by Professor Jameson in the Edinburgh New Phil. Journal,' vol. xviii, p. 389, under the name of Eur. Dalhousie. It is here figured with the intention of completing "a detailed account, by way of synopsis, of all the species on record," published in the first volume of the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London.' It is a native of the Himalayan mountains.

Among the other figures we may particularise, as especially interesting, a beautiful new species of Ianthocincla, and a singular bird, the representative of a new genus (Microura), both from the same range. But the most remarkable bird figured is, undoubtedly, the Paradoxornis flavirostris.

"In the year 1836," says Mr Gould, "I procured a single example of this anomalous bird, together with the Eurylaimus Dalhousie, and several other rare Himalayan species, from a person who was not aware of the precise locality in which they had been obtained. I believe that my specimen, since added to the collection of the Zoological Society, is quite unique, and that no other bird, even approaching it in form, has yet been discovered. A knowledge of its habits, and the examination of other allied species, which in all probability yet remain to be known, will