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This page lists books that are totally or partially about Trogons and Quetrzals. The books are listed in order of publication date with the most recent at the top.

Trogons: A Natural History of the Trogonidae

Joseph M. Forshaw

Lynx Edicions

2009

"This is the definitive natural history of the spectacularly beautiful tropical birds known as the trogons, a family that includes the legendary Resplendent Quetzal, the sacred bird of the ancient Mayans and Aztecs. A collaboration between renowned ornithologist Joseph Forshaw and eminent bird artist Albert Gilbert, Trogons combines science and art to create an unprecedented picture of a threatened bird family. Forshaw's text provides the most authoritative and comprehensive account of the trogons ever written, and Gilbert's stunning paintings are the first to accurately depict all species of trogons in their natural habitats and true colors. The book's detailed synthesis of current knowledge about the trogons is enriched by Forshaw's personal field observations in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Americas, while Gilbert's meticulous artwork is based on fieldwork in the same areas. With its large format, more than 40 full-color plates, and state-of-the-art five-color printing, this limited-edition book promises to become a classic and a collector's item."

Trogons and Quetzals of the World

Paul A. Johnsgard

2000

"Beautifully illustrated with color plates and line drawings, this comprehensive review of trogons and quetzals - the first to be published in more than 150 years - covers all 39 extant species. It includes detailed species accounts, range maps, and identification keys as well as a chapter that discusses comparative biology in terms of evolution, anatomy and morphology, behaviour, ecology, breeding, biology, and populations. Forty hand-coloured plates - most by renowned nineteenth-century illustrator John Gould and others by John O'Neill, Dan Lane, Dana Gardner, and James D. McClelland - depict adults of both sexes. Nineteen line drawings by author Paul Johnsgard illustrate behaviour and anatomy."

Trogons, Laughing Falcons, and Other Neotropical Birds

Alexander F. Skutch

1999

"This book reveals the lifetime dedication of an expert naturalist who for seventy years has studied birds in tropical America, from Mexico to Peru and Venezuela."

Marvelous, Mystical, Tropical Trogons

Paul A. Johnsgard

Volume 18 Number 3, pages 18-22

The Living Bird

1999

Opening lines: "Of all the groups of birds in the world, few fit our ideas of "tropical forest birds" as well as the trogons and quetzals. They are found almost entirely between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, from northern Mexico to northern Argentina. Furthermore, nearly all of them depend on hollows in large trees for nest sites, except for a few species that excavate cavities in the paper-mache-like homes of tree-dwelling termites or arboreal wasp nests. Beyond that, trogons and quetzals conform to our ideas of how exotic tropical birds should appear. Nearly all of the approximately 40 species are colored iridescent forest green to bluish violet above and brilliant red, orange, or yellow below—colors as intense as those of the brightest orioles or tanagers. Yet these brilliant hues so effectively hide the birds from the human eye amid their surrounding forest vegetation that they are like one of those picture puzzles designed to test a person’s visual abilities, in which you must discern a familiar shape in a confusing maze of intersecting lines and colors."

Trogons of the Arizona Borderlands

Richard Cachor Taylor

1995

A Monograph Of The Trogonidae, Or Family Of Trogons

John Gould

Revised edition

1875

This revised edition was originally published in four parts between 1858 and 1875.

From the preface:

"It would be presumptuous in me to say that this Monograph is fully completed, or that I have figured every existing species; on the contrary, I have reason to believe that many will yet be discovered, both in the Old and New World, particularly in those remote regions which civilized man has seldom, if ever, visited: but in order to render the work complete up to the present time, I have not only done my utmost to add every species to my own collection, but have visited all the principal Museums of Europe, both public and private, and, as in previous instances, have experienced the greatest kindness and cooperation from the various eminent naturalists, private individuals, and the officers of the natural-history department of every public institution. Indeed, without the liberality I have experienced, it would be impossible that a work of this nature could have been successfully completed; and I am proud to bear my testimony to the liberal spirit which has been manifested towards me by the scientific world in general. ....

Lastly I have to remark that, although I entitle this work a second edition of the Trogonidae, it is in reality a new publication, all the plates having been redrawn, and many new species figured for the first time, so as to bring the history of the family down to the present day.

A Monograph Of The Trogonidae, Or Family Of Trogons

John Gould

1838

From the preface:

"Having brought this my second monograph to a close, I am led to hope that my labours in the elucidation of a tribe of birds hitherto involved in much confusion, will not be destitute of some degree of value, more especially in the eyes of ornithologists, introducing to their notice as it does many new species, and clearing up the difficulties with which many of those even common in our cabinets have been previously surrounded, difficulties arising from several causes, among which may be enumerated the differences in plumage, which obtain so often between the males and females, as well as between the young males and the adults of the same sex, in some of the minor groups; to which may be added the circumstances of the subject not having been attempted by naturalists possessing command of those many resources necessary for extricating the subject from the labyrinth of confusion in which it has long been involved.