Notes on the Anatomy of the Cuban Trogon

286 CLARK,Anatomy of the Cuban Trogon. [July[Auk Izist of Insectsrepresented in Abbot'sPortfolio of GeorgiaBirds. Plate 6. "Sphinx lineata." " 20. "Small blue Butterfly"= JLycoena. " 25. "Noctua g•aroe." " 32. "Great Tiger Moth"= Arctia. " 45. "Clouded yellow Butterfly" = Colias. " 61. "'Great meadowbrown Butterfly"--- Satyrus. " 62. "Purple hair streak Butterfly"= Thecla. " 65. "None so pretty Moth"= Deiopeia. " 67. "Cream spottedTyger Moth."= Callomorpha. " 85. "Papilio arythia"= J•nonia. " 87. (Grasshopperon ground; not named)= Chorto- phaga. " 88. "Ajax Butterfly?=Papilio. " 91. "•:ellowspotted Tyger Moth"= Alypia. " 1.06. "Small yellow Butterfly"= Terias. " 111. "Yellow hook tip Moth" (Bombycid?). " 122. (Butterfly- namecut off) = Agraulis. NOTES ON THE ANATOMY OF THE CUBAN TROGON. BY HUBERT LYMAN CLARK. THANKSto the kindnessof Mr. Outram Bangs and Mr. J. L. Peters,a Cuban Trogon (Priotelustemnurus temnurus) collected by Mr. Peters,was sometime ago placedin my handsfor study. It was well preservedin alcoholand in excellentcondition. The pterylosisof the trogonswas describedby Nitzsch, who examinedfour species,but probablyfrom skins.'Subsequent writers seem to have relied on Nitzsch's figures. The spinal feather tract is quite passerineand thoseof the ventral surfaceare nearly as much so. The Cuban Trogonwas not howeverseen by Nitzschand showssome peculiarities which are worthy of alescrip- Vol. XXXV] 1918 J CLARK•Anatomy of the CubanTrogon. 287 tion. These are however,mostly confined to the headand neck for the humeral, fernoral, sternal, ventral and dorsal tracts are very similarto thoseof Trogonviridis as shownby Nitzseh'sdescription and figures;the dorsal"saddle" however, is elongatedelliptical rather than "elongatedrhombie," as there are no distinctlateral angles. The tracts of the head are entirely separatedfrom thoseof the lower neck and throat, to a degreeand in a manner which I have never seenin any other bird. On the middleof the forehead,between the eyes,is a dense,sharply defined tract, which forks anteriorly,a broadband passing forward and downwardto the base of the uppermandible on eachside; posteriorlythe mediantract becomes diffuse and loses itself on the back of the head. There are no contourfeathers on the uppersurface or on eitherside of the anterior end of the neck. On the lower surface of the head, be- ginningclose to the baseof the bill in the medianline is a sharply definedtract aboutfive featherswide which very soondivides, the two branchesdiverging and narrowingrapidly; each passesup onto the sideof the head, where it endsbelow the ear. The only other contourfeathers on the headare in a smalltract on eachside, just in front of the eye; somefew of thesefeathers extend up over the eye but morecomprise a narrowband running from the angle of the mouth to the ear; anteriorly this tract doesnot quite con- neet with the lateral fork of the forehead tract. On the upperside of the baseof the neck,the spinaltract begins abruptly with a width of about five feathers; from its very start this tract is dense and well defined. On the lower surface of the neck, a lower cervicaltract beginsnearly as far forward as the ear; it is six or sevenfeathers wide and sharplydefined from the first. It soonwidens and forks, each fork giving rise to a sternal tract. From the anteriorend of eachsternal tract a branchpasses upward onto the shoulderand joins the humeraltract. The outer distal corner of the humeral tract extendsoutward along the humerus to the elbow, the feathersof this area remindingone of tertiaries. The secondaries are eleven or twelve in number but one or two of those at the elbow are very small and in examinationof a skin, there wouldseem to be but ten; Nitzsehsays there are eight to ten secondariesin the trogons. The primariesare ten in numberwith 288 CLARK,Anatomy of the Cuban Trogon. [July['Auk the sixth longest; the sequenceis 6, 7, 5, 8, 4, 9, 3, 2, 1, 10; the eighth is 97 ram. long, the fourth is 90 min. and the tenth, 45 ram. The rectricesare twelve with ten major coverts; there is no covertfor rectrixno. 1 (middlepair); the covertfor no. 2 lies over its outer side; those for nos. 3, 4 and 5 are in the same relative positionwhile that fox'no. 6 lies over its inner side. This is the usualpasserine arrangement. The posteriorend of the spinaltract becomesbroad (ten feathers) and denseat the oil-glandwhere it ends,instead of beingnarrow there as shownin Nitzsch'sfigures; it is distinctlyseparated from the seriesof majorupper tail coverts. The oil-gland itself is naked, without a tuft. The major under tall covertsare 14 in number but on each side passinto a well markedpost-anal tract of covertfeathers; the major covertsof the middlerectrices are pushedout of position,so that coverts1 and 2 lie, one over the other under rectrix 2, covert 3 is betweenrectrices 3 and 4, covert 5 is under rectrix 4, 6 is under 5 and 7 under 6. It is not clearwhether covert 7 is properlya majorcovert or is merely a largeminor covertpushed into the major covertline. The whole question of the relation of under coverts to rectrlces demands investigation. Passingto the internal anatomy,we find the palate is essentially as Forbes found it in Pharomacrus,1 but the vomer is shorter and stouter than in that trogon and does not extend forward between the maxillopalatines. The sternum,as in other trogons,has two deepincisions on eachside, in the posteriormargin, and the lnanu- brium thoughlong and stout is not at all forked. Four pairs of ribs reachthe sternumbut the fifth pair fallsshort by overa milli- meter, its tip restingonly againstthe baseof the fourth. The tongueis not "short and three-sided,"as trogon'stongues are said to be, but is 10 min. longand hasa blfurcatetip, eachhalf of whichis a pointedhorny bit, onemillimeter long. Posteriorly the tongueis 4 min.wide with eachposterior corner developed into a conspicuousconical horny point over a millimeterlong. There is no cropand the gizzardis largeand spherical,18 min.in diameter. It was crammedfull of fruits 7-8 min. long by 4-5 mm. thick; there were 10-12 of thesefruits, someof whichwere considerably 1Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1881, p. 836. Vol.191S XXXV] J MOUSLZY,Birds of Harley,Quebec. 289 macerated,however. The intestinewas 180 mm. long while the emeawere 36 and 28 ram. respectively. The emeaare thus rela- tively very long,much longer than in the spedesof Trogonand Pharomaerusexamined by Gatrod. FURTHER NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIRDS OF HATLEY, STANSTEAD COUNTY, QUEBEC, 1916-1917. BY H. MOUSLEY. I• 'The Auk' for1916, Vol. XXXIII, pp.57-73, 168-186; will be foundmy firstaccount of the birdsof thisdistrict covering a period of five years (1911-1915)and embracing122 differentspecies. Since that account was written a further 41 have been added to the list, and in this paperI proposeto dealwith thesenew species in the sameway as previously,carrying on the numberingalso from whereit left off. Beforeproceeding with thesehowever, I wouldlike to make'a few remarkson the seasonsof 1916and 1917, and the increaseor otherwiseof certaininteresting birds, as well as to mentionthe fact that the breedinglist hasbeen increased from 63 to 77 species,the fourteennew oneswhose nests, eggs or young had not beenpreviously taken being,Marsh Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, SparrowHawk, Long-earedOwl, Belted Kingfisher,Red- headedWoodpecker, Meadowlark, Pine Siskin, Scarlet Tanager, Nashville,Black-throated B[ue, Blackburnian, and Black-throated Green Warblers, as well as the Water-Thrush. Of the two More- mentionedseasons probably 1917 was the coldest,wettest and most backwardof the two, and many species,especially the warblers, wereheld up on migration,and werefrom ten daysto a fortnight behindtime. Ruffed Grousesuffered severely, most of the chicks beinglost in both seasonsfrom exposureto the wet and cold, and thesebirds in my opinionbadly need a threeyears close season, not only here but in many other parts of the country,to recuperate. .

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