TROGON (Neo-Lat., from Gk. rpdrycoP, pres. part. of Tpi.)-yetp, trogcin, to gnaw). A bird of the family Trogonile, including about 50 species remarkable for the beauty of their plumage, which is soft, full, and brightly colored. The bill is short, strong, with a wide gape; the tail generally long, in some species very long; the feet small, and frequently feathered almost to the toes. The toes are two in front and two behind. but, unlike all other zygodactylous birds, the reversed toes are the first and second instead of the first and fourth. All the trogons are tropical. They abound most of all in South America, but a number occur in Asia and a few in Africa. One species, the copper-tailed trogon (Trogon ambig yes), is found as far north as the valley of the Rio Grande. It is 11 inches long, bright me tallic golden green, throat white, breast and belly carmine. middle tail feathers coppery green. the rest of the tail white and black. The most gor geous of the trogons is the quetzal (q.v.). Tro
gons are usually seen singly or in small flocks, and are unsuspicious. They remain most of the time in the thick resting quietly during the heat of the day. The Old World species feed principally on insects, but American trogons eat much fruit, and also catch insects, crabs, crayfish, small lizards, snails, and the like, getting most of this food on the wing or by clinging to the branches of trees, like woodpeckers or mouse birds. Their notes are loud, rather discordant cries, varied by clucking, whistling, and other strange notes. No nest is made, the round whitish eggs being laid in a hole excavated in a rotting tree-stub. The group is ancient, as is known by fossil examples, and sufficiently dis tinct to be ranked as a suborder. Extended ac counts of the American trogons are given by Sclater and Salvin in Riologia ecntrali-dmeri coon, vol. iii. (London, 1S96). See Plate of THOCON, HOOPOE, ETC.