TROGON PULCHE L LUS , Gould.
Beautiful Trogon.
Trog. capite, gula, corpore supra hu/meris, tectricibus aloe, cauddque splendide aureo-viridibus ;
primariis rectricibusque caudcc seoc intermediis nigris; rectricibus tribus externis albis et ad
basin nigris ; abdomine, lateribus, crissoque coccineis; rostro jla vo ; pedibus plumbeis.
Head, throat, all the upper surface, shoulders, wing-coverts, and upper tail-coverts rich golden
green; primaries and six middle tail-feathers je t black ; the three lateral tail-feathers black
at the base, and pure white for the remainder of their length ; abdomen, flanks, and under
tail-coverts rich carmine red ; bill yellow ; feet lead colour.
Total length, 14 inches ; bill, I t ; wing, 7±; tail, 7 1 tarsi, £.
Trogon (Calurus) pulchellus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., P art VI. 1838.
F o r the discovery of this beautiful species science is indebted to M. D’Orbigny o f Paris, who obtained it,
together with many other rarities, during his travels in Peru. When recently at Paris, I was permitted by
the Officers of the Zoological Department of the “ Jardin de Plantes” to take a sketch and description of
the specimen in the national collection, from which the accompanying drawing was executed.
No species of this group exceeds the present bird either in the richness of its colouring or in the elegance
of its form. It differs from the Resplendent Trogon in being rather less in size ; in having an elevated tuft
of feathers springing from the forehead and covering the nostrils and the greater part of the bill, instead of a
rounded and compressed crest covering the whole of the head as in that species ; in the greater extent of
the white on the three lateral tail-feathers, and in the prolonged upper tail-coverts exceeding the tail by
about two inches only.
At the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Liverpool in September
1837, I proposed the name of Perumanus for this species; but as their Report is not yet published, and
Mr. Swainson has since characterized another species under that name, I have found it necessary to alter
my specific appellation to pulchellus in order to prevent confusion.