Troglodytine
a sub-family of Timaliidæ distinguished by the bill being long and curved, short in proportion to the body. a TROGONIDÆ, in ornithology, family of picarian birds, with seven genera and 44 species. They are tolerably abundant in the Neotropical and Oriental regions; and are represented in Africa by a single genus: bill short, strong, with a wide gape; tail generally long and in some species very long; feet small and often feathered almost to the toes, two of which are placed in front and two behind. They form a wellmarked family of insectivorous foresthaunting birds of small size, whose dense, puffy plumage exhibits the most exquisite tints of pink, crimson, orange, brown or metallic green, often relieved by delicate bands of pure white. In one Guatemalan species, Pharomacrus mocinno, the long-tailed trogon or quesal, the tail coverts are enormously lengthened into waving plums of rich metallic green, as graceful and marvelous as those of the birds of paradise. Trogons are unable to use their feet for climbing, and usually take their station on the branches of a tree, dashing on insects as they fly past, or on some fruit at a little distance from them, and returning to their seat to eat what they have secured.