TROGON AMB IGUUS .
Doubtful Trog’on.
S p e c i f ic C h a r a c t e r .
Trog. facie, capite, guttureque nigris; pectore, cervice, dorso, tectricibusque caudce superioribus
viridibus; alis brunnescenti-nigris, in medio cinereis lineis gracilibus fexuosis nigris trans-
versim notatis; remigibus externe albo fm b r ia tis ; rectricibus duabus intermediis proxima-
rumque duarum pogoniis externis cupreo-viridibus, harim pogoniis internis omniimque
apicibus nigris, reliquis ad basin nigris, ad apicem albis, in medio albis maculis parvis
nv/merosis sparsis nigris.
Rostrum flavum : tarsi brunnei.
Bill bright yellow; face, top of the head, and throat black; chest, back of the neck, back, and
upper tail-coverts g re en ; wings brownish black, the primaries having their outer edges
fringed with white ; secondaries and centres grey, finely marked with zigzag transverse
lines of b lack; two middle tail-feathers green with bronzy reflections; the two next green
with bronzy reflections on their outer edges only; the inner webs black; the three outer
ones on each side black at their base and white at the tip, the middle portion being
minutely dotted with black on a white ground; feet brown.
Total length about 12 inches; wing, 5x to 5 i ; tail, 7t.
Trogon ambiguus. Gould, Proceedings of Zool. Soc., Part III.
T hose who hav e h ad opportunitie s fo r studying n a tu re a r e well aware how slig h t occasionally are th e shades
o f difference between closely-allied sp e c ie s : it m ig h t be objected th a t th e se differences may be merely casual,
o r those o f variety o n ly ; b u t when we find th a t th ey constantly o btain in two b ird s b ro u g h t from two very
distin c t countrie s, and th a t by a tten d in g to th e ir markings we should b e able to assign to each its peculia r
locality, th e objection falls to th e g ro u n d : i t is tru e th a t th e samfe species may differ in th e intensity o f its
colouring, from th e influence o f tem p e ra tu re , a ir, an d food, b u t it will seldom b e found to vary in th e ch a ra c te r
o f its p e rma n en t markings.
It is upon these views that I have ventured to separate this bird from the Trogon elegans, to which it so
closely assimilates that it requires an experienced eye to note the points of difference; these points consist in
the obscure and pale, but finely-dotted appearance of the outer tail-feathers of Trog. ambiguus, in opposition
to the strong and well-defined black bars on the same part in Trog. elegans; while at the same time the
centre of the wing is much more finely and minutely barred in the former than in the latter. Had I seen only
a single individual of each of these birds, I might have been in doubt on the subject; but my comparisons
having been made upon individuals of all ages, I feel but little hesitation in assigning to the present bird, at
least provisionally, the rank of a distinct species.
The localities in which these two birds appear to be indigenous are distinctly separated from each other;
all the examples I have seen of Trogon ambiguus having been exclusively received from the northern states
of Mexico, while the Trogon elegans is strictly limited to the southern.
The Plate represents an adult male.