Smithsonian miscellaneous collections

OoOtits

Fic. 1—The Tacarcuna wood quail, gallito del monte fajeado (Odontophorus
dialeucos Wetmore), found on Cerro Mali and Cerro Tacarcuna, Darién (see

4

page 327). Painting by Walter Weber.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS
VOLUME 150 (WHOLE VOLUME)

Wee BikwS OF THE REPUBLIC
OF PANAMA

Part 1.—TINAMIDAE (Tinamous) to
RYNCHOPIDAE (Skimmers)

By
ALEXANDER WETMORE

Research Associate
Smithsonian Institution

(Pustication 4617)

CITY OF WASHINGTON
PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
DECEMBER 27, 1965

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CONTENTS

Page
Hera ER OCLERCE TONES Seayeec eee eave oho Ra NaN chee tine cake epee es eeterclereievarelcce sperenene 1
Be MEI OL IB ILIS erent yk cicero Oia TIRES Coo teuoeieiacroiere Z
PEPRTOMICMOTOCUES, 8.055 yc eciere coins Bate rh ce oe «nal emntmete eee vee ain seas 4
Wrder LENAMIRORMES . 02. sae eR ee eae e cee Ree he Te ape ass 5
Pauly Tinamidae: Tinamous< Pimamous. osc. ves. s 2 apes ose s 5
Wrder sCODICIFEDIFORMES! ceils ve tote totais ert arsinin is Sener ae eet 24
Family Podicipedidae: Grebes; Somormujos.......................- 24
Rirder PROCKLEARITRORIMES ia. 4 ans doaniassort ie aad baie weet ca waeaee 31
Family Diomedeidae: Albatrosses; Albatroses..................+2-- 31
Procellariidae: Shearwaters, Petrels; Pardelas, Petreles..... 35
Hydrobatidaes) Stotm betrels:) Patmos. -e-e sec lceee cee oos 42
WrdermeELECANTRORMES moms a5). nee Se ee Soon sale Sate ese haere 48
Family Phaethontidae: Tropicbirds; Aves del Tropico.............. 48
Pelecanidae:. Pelicans; Pelicatsiris sais ox acu fa pastes aateo us 51
Sulidae: Boobies, Gannets; Bobas, Piqueros................. 55
Phalacrocoracidae: Cormorants; Cuervos Marinos........... 64
Anhingidae: Snakebirds; Cuervos de Aguja................. 69
Fregatidae: Frigatebirds; Tijeretas de Mar................. 72
PEECERC ICONIECORMEEG (Ni. JP Shi aes SUS ba Se eee xno Meee eee 78
Bamily ‘Arieidae herons: Garzase cos oecoc. teteviese.s Ga tiaws Pa aes 78
Cochleariidae: Boat-billed Heron; Garzota Cuchara......... 114
Crieontidae s" Storkss, Gignenass : coc cwasn sa naccseahcancesex ee 119
Threskiornithidae: Ibises, Spoonbills; Cocos, Garzas Paletas.. 122
Breer EN SERERURRLES SCs. ete ea tute re cigreid ee Sorted cme e nee ore 129
iPamily Anatidaes- Ducks > ‘Patos os. 022k: te eee 129
Peer ETAT CONTFOR MES. (6.4% S 2 N58 oe et7) ee Ei cs Ye ee te te 153
Family Cathartidae: American Vultures; Buitres Americanos ...... 153
Accipitridae: Hawks, Eagles, and Allies; Gavilanes, Aguilas, y
Species: Anes. 2. 5 satis od. Cont athena aie Oe a eae oe 171
Pandionidae: Osprey; Aguila Pescadora................000- 256
Falconidae: Falcons, Forest Falcons, and Caracaras; Halcones,
Ealcones del “Monte, y ‘Caranchos.. 2. M50) 0. osc acc aces 259
DIET ANG ADETHORAKES! . iS, Sasa dagen en Suc eects oes: A uk RNR 293
Family Cracidae: Curassows and Guans; Pavones y Faisanas........ 293
Phasianidae: Quails, Pheasants, and Peacocks; Codornices,
Baisatias) ya Pavos Reales. cia. s a) i, ois eet ho, telat 310
PCP RIMEGRSERS JUG lucene ae t Suet e hc nthe ee aoe ee 334
Baguy Atamidae: Lataphaa> Cartage. 2. oc <cue< seule Adina k wanna 334
Rallidae: Rails, Gallinules, and Coots; Cocalecas y Gallinetas
AES EN OTely ia tote Ute eet eae ee C es Ug Stee ne Ret 338
Heliornithidae: Finfoots; Zambullidores de Agua........... 365
Eurypygidae: Sunbitterns; Abanicos..................-000% 369

iv SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Page
etler (SE ARADRITKORMCES |x a.53sic sR LDR en aa a eet tes cee eieik we seein 372
Family Jacanidae: Jacanas; Gallitos de Agua................s02005 372
Haematopodidae: Oystercatchers; Ostreros................. 378
Charadriidae: Plovers; “Ghorlit0s.... 025 ..00s\das creo aeces 382
Scolopacidae: Snipe, Sandpipers, and Allies; Agachadizas;
Players ay Aligdos.¢ aries uinsicias anie mete nhcbek Ween aac 393
Family Recurvirostridae: Avocets and Stilts; Avocetas y Cigtiefiuelas. 427
Phalaropodidae: Phalaropes; Falaropos.......+ «2 .sasstesiunsa 429
Stercorariidae: Skuas and Jaegers; Gaviotas Salteadoras..... 433
Laridae: Gulls and Terns; Gaviotas y Gaviotines........... 438
Rynchopidae: Skimmers; Rayadores.........-ccecnccccsess 463

THE BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA,
PART 1: TINAMIDAE (TINAMOUS) TO
RYNCHOPIDAE (SKIMMERS)

By ALEXANDER WETMORE
Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution

INTRODUCTION

Tue long, narrow Isthmus of Panama, which unites North America
on the one hand and South America on the other, is a geographic area
outstanding in its interest to biologists in the systematic field as the
land connection between these two regions of the Northern and
Southern Hemispheres. Present understanding of geologic history
indicates that the two areas were separated by open sea in the Tertiary
period for a vast space of time that began in the Paleocene epoch
and extended toward the end of the Pliocene. For 50 million years
South America remained isolated from other lands, while North
America had periodic union with Asia through land connections in the
present region of Bering Sea. The great diversity in plant and animal
life that now marks the Panamanian land bridge is a reflection of
invasions from the two adjacent continental areas. Study of present-
day distribution, variation, and relationship in any group is of deep
interest and valuable in details of scientific information.

The present account is the first installment of a summary of what is
known of the birdlife of the area. My personal studies in the field
began in 1944 and have continued annually for approximately three
months each year since 1946, with laboratory investigation of speci-
mens and a survey of the published works of others who have made
contributions in this region.

The number of kinds of birds known from the isthmus is so large,
and materials available are so extensive, that completion of the report
has required more time than originally contemplated. As there is in-
creasing demand for information on this subject, especially from those
engaged in investigation of diseases where species of birds may be
suspected as carriers, it has become desirable to present the summary
accounts family by family as they are completed in order that the
information may be available. This first installment covers the
families in systematic sequence from the tinamous, family Tinamidae,

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 150 (WHOLE VOLUME)

2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

through the order that includes the shorebirds, gulls, and their
allies. A general account of personal field work, with a review of
the studies of other ornithologists, and general discussions of the
avifauna will be left for the end.

It may be sufficient here to outline briefly the character of the
isthmus as included in the present political boundaries of the Republic
of Panama. The entire Caribbean slope and eastern Darién on the
Pacific side are the regions of heaviest rainfall. In the northwest,
in the Province of Bocas del Toro, there is no marked break in
precipitation for any lengthy period throughout the year. The
Pacific slope, from the Costa Rican boundary eastward, has a definite
dry season, mainly between the latter part of December and the
middle or end of April. Because of this difference the denser forest
areas are found on the north and in Darién, where originally tree
growth was continuous. On the Pacific side there are extensive
areas of open savannas. And forest where found is more open and
in part deciduous, so that many trees lose their leaves in dry season.
These were the original conditions, now extensively modified over
great areas that have been cleared for agricultural use. These
changes are most marked from the western boundary in Chiriqui
east through the Province of Panama, where most of the original
forest cover is gone, and are proceeding rapidly elsewhere. The
main areas that still are primitive lie on the Caribbean drainage in
the inland mountain and hill area of interior Bocas del Toro, over
the interior hills of San Blas, and on the Pacific side on the
mountains and hills of the interior from the eastern end of the
Province of Panama through Darién.

The isthmus in the main is in the Tropical Zone, with subtropical
zone forest in the mountain regions of the western half. Additional
areas of the latter zone of lesser extent are found along the central
spine of the Azuero Peninsula, and in the mountains near the
Colombian boundary. Limited Temperate Zone conditions extend
across the top of the Chiriqui volcano and on some of the higher
ridges to the east in Chiriqui and Veraguas.

THE LIST OF BIRDS

Each family is introduced by a brief general statement on the
group as a whole throughout its entire range. This is followed, where
necessary, by a key to the species that have been recorded in
Panama, based on the most evident characters of color, size, and
form. While this may be of assistance in naming birds in life, it is

INTRODUCTION 3

intended primarily for the identification of specimens in hand. The
arrangement in the keys is artificial, and may not follow any order
of close relationship. The order of the families is that in my latest
revision of the classification for living and fossil birds of the world
(Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 139, no. 11, June 23, 1960, pp. 1-37).

References to literature, given in parentheses, are sufficiently com-
plete to allow their consultation if desired. A complete bibliography,
and with it a gazetteer of localities, will be included in the final part.

The account of each bird begins with the scientific name, followed
by vernacular names in English and in Spanish. Where the species is
divided into geographic races, if two or more of these are found in
Panama, general information that applies to all is given under a
species heading. This includes brief phrases on characters that may
help in identification, and a description. The subspecies follow, each
with its scientific name and reference, details of color, size, or form
on which the race has been recognized, measurements, range in the
Republic, and any other pertinent information. If the nominate
form is included among these, reference to this name is given under
the subspecies in question. Where this race does not reach Panama,
the species heading carries this reference. In variable species of wide
range, where only one of the forms is found all these data are in-
cluded under the heading with the trinomial scientific name. Ver-
nacular names used apply to the species as a whole. No such names
are given to separate subspecies.

Vernacular names have been selected with care, with particular
reference to usage in standard works that cover the area. This fre-
quently has involved choice, since in wide-ranging species divided
in several geographic races it was early custom to assign such a
name to each subspecies, often without regard to its related forms.
Modern practice gives vernacular names to the species in its entirety,
since the former method was cumbersome and frequently mislead-
ing. In the case of migrants from the north, the names used are
those of the official A.O.U. check-list (Check-list of North American
Birds Prepared by a Committee of the American Ornithologists’
Union, fifth edition, 1957). With others, particularly tropical species
of wide distribution, names frequently have varied so that a choice
has been necessary. The attempt with these has been to select the
term most often used, and the one most appropriate. In this, the list
proposed by Eugene Eisenmann (The Species of Middle American
Birds, Trans. Linn. Soc. New York, vol. 7, 1955) is definitely
valuable.

4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The Spanish names in many instances offer difficulty. Where the
species are known to Panamanian countrymen there is no complica-
tion, but there are scores of kinds of birds that are not so recognized.
With those that range widely in the American Tropics often there
are appropriate names available from other Spanish-speaking coun-
tries, and these I have taken wherever practicable. Occasionally
with birds of obscure habit it has been necessary to propose names
both in English and in Spanish, with care that they may be
appropriate.

The scientific names follow the International Code of Zoological
Nomenclature of 1961 (with certain reservations and some mis-
giving ).

Outlines of range and important records are based on an extended
survey of literature and of specimens in museums, in addition to
information available from my own work in the field. To avoid
misunderstanding it should be explained that many of the names of
localities on skins collected by J. H. Batty in Panama at the beginning
of this century are not valid. This is particularly true of skins
labeled from islands off the coast of Chiriqui. It is certain that
Batty visited Isla Coiba, but a considerable part of the specimens
that he labeled as from this island came from the mainland, and data
attributing numerous skins to other islands in the area are without
question fictitious. (See Wetmore, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 134,
no. 9, 1957, pp. 6-8.)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Throughout my personal field work in the Republic I have had close
association with the Museo Nacional of Panama, through its director,
Dr. Alejandro Méndez Pereira, and with the staff of the Gorgas Me-
morial Laboratory, especially with its former directors, the late Dr.
Herbert Clark and his successor, Dr. Carl Johnson, and with Dr.
Pedro Galindo, entomologist. This collaboration has continued under
Dr. Martin Young, who became the head of the Laboratory in 1964.
During my studies on the avifauna of the Republic of Panama I
have had the friendly cooperation of Dr. Eugene Eisenmann, who
has placed at my disposal many records of occurrence and other data
from his personal notes, in addition to the information in his numerous
publications. All have been of major assistance.

The illustrations, presented to show the form in characteristic
species in each family, are from the skilful hand of Walter A. Weber.

FAMILY TINAMIDAE 5

Governmental authorities of the Republic of Panama have been
uniformly courteous in assistance, especially the officials of the Mi-
nisterio de Relaciones Exteriores, through credentials that have rec-
ognized the scientific nature of my travels and work. I have to thank
especially Coronel Bolivar Vallarino, Comandante Jefe de la Guardia
Nacional, for permission to visit Isla Coiba. Authorities of the
Panama Canal Zone have been universally helpful, and I owe much
to the assistance of the Air Force and of the Department of the
Army located in the Canal Zone, especially in transportation to remote
areas, accessible without such help with much difficulty if at all. In
my travels in the course of my studies, which have taken me widely
throughout the Republic, from the Costa Rican border in Chiriqui
and Bocas del Toro to the Colombian frontier in Darién and San
Blas, I have had courteous and friendly reception everywhere from
residents of the country, and I owe much to many for their assistance.

Order TINAMIFORMES
Family TINAMIDAE: Tinamous; Tinamous

The family of tinamous, presumed to be of South American origin,
has more than 40 living species in the present range, from southern
México south through Central America and South America to the
Straits of Magellan. The three found in Panama, known there uni-
versally as perdices, are shy inhabitants of forests or thickets, seldom
seen as they remain constantly under cover of the ground vegetation.
All three are heavy-bodied birds, with long, rather slender necks and
small heads. The short tail has its stiffened feathers hidden by the
elongated upper and lower tail coverts, so that the body appears short
and compact like that of a guineafowl. In traversing their haunts, one
occasionally sees a tinamou burst out near at hand with a startling roar
of wings, but usually the birds slip away on foot so that their presence
is known mainly from their calls. The smallest of the three is the
most common, being present universally throughout the Tropical Zone
wherever there are thickets or second growth to offer it secure cover.
The great tinamou is widely distributed wherever natural forest re-
mains, from sea level to the lower edge of the subtropical zone in the
mountains. Though important game birds, these two cannot with-
stand excessive hunting. The highland tinamou is known only from
the subtropical zone forests around the Volcan de Chiriqui, where it
is local and far from common.

6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

KEY TO SPECIES OF TINAMIDAE

1. Size large (equal to a small domestic fowl); wing more than 180 mm.;
posterior face of tarsus rough, with upper margins of scutes prominent
and projecting’: v2.0.5). Sea tts cee ates ote Ma aes Santa tte intels Fe ne Beets 2
Size much smaller (equal to a medium-sized pigeon); wing less than
130 mm. ; posterior face of tarsus smooth, like the anterior surface.
Little tinamou, Crypturellus soui, p. 17
2. Tarsus strong, with projecting upper margin of posterior scutes sharp
and rough; toes, including claws, relatively shorter and heavier, with
middle toe and claw less than 40 mm.; general color grayer; throat
white jor (whitish)... ) tbasiZtee Rive. Gee Great tinamou, Tinamus major, p. 6
Tarsus more slender with projecting upper margin of posterior scutes prom-
inent but smooth; toes, including claws, longer, more slender, with
middle toe and claw more than 45 mm.; general color bright buffy brown,
with throat brown (ochraceous tawny).
Highland tinamou, Nothocercus bonapartet, p. 14

TINAMUS MAJOR (Gmelin): Great Tinamou; Perdiz de Arca
Ficure 2
Tetrao major Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 767. (Cayenne.)

Size of a small domestic fowl, with heavy body, slender neck, and
small head.

Description —Length 400 to 460 mm. Adult (sexes alike), above
brownish olive to grayish olive, with narrow, irregular, black bars on
back and wing ; crown sooty black to chestnut ; below grayish white to
brownish white, barred heavily on the flanks, and narrowly and indis-
tinctly elsewhere, with grayish black.

Chicks, as they hatch, covered with soft down; chestnut-brown on
the body, darker above, paler below, and whitish on the abdomen ;
flanks barred with whitish ; rump and lower back barred with cream-
buff ; crown paler brown, with a blackish-brown band, lighter in cen-
ter, extending transversely from eye to eye; a similarly colored band
from the base of the bill back through the eye to the ear coverts ; sides
of the head brownish beneath the eye, grayish above the ear region ;
chin and throat grayish white.

Juvenile wing quills begin to grow immediately, and the down is
replaced quickly by a second plumage of firm feathers, in general
appearance like those of the adult, but darker in color, barred less
definitely above, but more heavily below, with the dorsal surface
sparsely spotted with buff.

An adult male (Tinamus m. saturatus, intermediate toward fusci-
pennis) shot near Mandinga, Comarca de San Blas, February 12,
1957, had the iris dark brown; maxilla dusky neutral gray ; mandible

FAMILY TINAMIDAE 7

fuscous, with tip light neutral gray; tarsus and toes neutral gray,
except for the roughened scales on the back of the tarsus, which are
mouse brown.

The great tinamou, resident in heavily forested areas of the

Fic. 2.—Great tinamou, perdiz de arca, Tinamus major. The head shows the
smooth crown of the subspecies of western Panama.

Tropical and lower Subtropical Zones throughout the Isthmus, is
much in favor as a game bird because of the meat, white with a
slight greenish tint, of the heavy breast. This is delicious in flavor,
excelling that of any other bird known to me when properly
prepared. Tinamous have been much reduced in number over ex-
tensive areas through destruction of their forest cover and through

8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

hunting, but some are still found in most extensive tracts of original
forest, where they are able to maintain themselves through their
secretive habits. In unsettled regions, especially in hill country, they
are often common. Occasionally several may be found together, but
it is more usual to encounter pairs or single birds. In thinly settled
sections they are unsuspicious and, though they seek cover, are not
difficult to see ; but when much hunted careful approach is necessary
to obtain a glimpse of them, as at any alarm they slip quietly away
through the ground cover, aided in concealment by the dim light
and heavy shadows characteristic of their haunts. Occasionally one
that becomes startled will fly, rising at a sharp angle with a roar of
wings to 3 to 15 meters from the ground, and then drive swiftly away
behind the protective screen of the leaves of the undergrowth and
lower branches of the trees. The flight does not continue far, and
when once more on the ground it is seldom that the bird will flush
again. In areas where they have been little molested rarely one may
alight on a large tree limb, but this is unusual. E. A. Goldman in a
manuscript note records one such incident, and on one occasion I
had one stop briefly on a horizontal tree trunk projecting from the
side of a wide barranca. Where the jungle is sufficiently dry it is
common to find their dusting places in open areas on the forest floor.

The call note is a tremulous whistle, repeated several times, at first
slowly and then, toward the end, more rapidly in slightly higher
tone. Though heard in daytime, especially in early morning and
late afternoon, their calls come also through the night, carrying to
the human listener a feeling of the mystery that surrounds the
nocturnal life of the darker hours. Occasionally a tinamou is en-
countered in night hunting but though the birds may be seen the
eyes are so small that it is sometimes difficult to detect their deep red
reflection in the beam of the jack light.

The accumulated data indicate a laying season in Panama that
begins in January and extends to July. The available information
covers a period of 40 years and comes mainly from the Pacific slope
between Chiriqui and Darién and the Atlantic drainage at Barro
Colorado Island. It indicates that the breeding period is initiated at
the opening of the dry season and continues into the period of rains.
It must vary in its period with individual groups of the birds, since
so far as is known there is only one brood each season.

The nests that I have seen have been placed against the base of a
tree, living or dead, sheltered between the projecting flanges of

FAMILY TINAMIDAE 9

buttressed roots. The location has been in heavy forest, with the site
protected by undergrowth so that it is aside from the more open
areas that would be traveled normally by predators. The nest sites
invariably were carefully sheltered so that it has been chance that has
brought them to my attention. Large dry leaves that have fallen be-
tween the roots are molded to line a depression 250 mm. in diameter
and about 75 mm. deep in the center. The parent sits close and flushes
only at near approach, rising then directly from the nest. Native
hunters say that it is always the male that incubates. On the two
occasions on which I have shot incubating birds as they roared off
on the wing they have been males. One killed two hours after sunrise
had the cloaca and lower end of the intestine for a distance of 8
centimeters packed with a bolus of feces almost 24 cm. in diameter,
indicating that it had remained on the nest through the night. The
normal clutch seems to be 6 or 7 eggs. The shell of the egg is
smooth, with a porcelainlike sheen that reflects light, causing the
blue-green color to appear more brilliant than it really is. In fresh
eggs the yolk is colored dark orange. The chicks are active and
leave the nest within a day or so after hatching. As their wings
begin growth at once, the young are able to fly when no larger in
body than a brown robin.

Usually this species is known as the perdiz de arca, though in the
eastern part of the Republic I have heard it called perdiz de montana,
and in Bocas del Toro a common name is mountain hen. As one
explanation of the first of the names mentioned, I was told an attrac-
tive tale of local folklore. According to this, when the Rainbow of
Promise appeared in the sky following the Flood, the brilliant colors
so frightened the perdiz that it flew out in terror from the company
of other birds in the Ark of Noah to shelter in the forest, where
it has remained hidden ever since!

The species ranges from southeastern México through Central
America to western Ecuador, eastern Pert, northern Brazil, and
French Guiana. Four subspecies are found in Panama. In each of
these there are two color phases, one of which is grayer, and the
other more rufescent, a fact that needs to be borne in mind in
identifying specimens.

In the measurements under subspecies, in this and in the other
species of the family, tail length has been omitted since the coverts
above and below are so intermingled with the rectrices that the correct
dimension may not be determined satisfactorily.

Io SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

TINAMUS MAJOR FUSCIPENNIS Salvadori

Tinamus fuscipennis Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 27, after Sept. 6, 1895,
p. 500. (Escondido River, and San Rafael, Nicaragua= Rio Escondido,
Nicaragua, restricted by Peters, Checkl. Birds World, vol. 1, 1931, p. 13.)

Characters——Crown sooty black, usually with a few very small
spots or narrow bars of chestnut, particularly toward the nape;
averaging darker on the dorsal surface than the other races found
in Panama.

Measurements ——Males (7 specimens from Costa Rica and Bocas
del Toro), wing 222-244 (233.3), culmen from base 33.3-37.1 (34.9),
tarsus 67.4-74.2 (70.0), middle toe with claw (5 specimens) 36.4-39.4
(37.6) mm.

Females (8 specimens from Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro),
wing 224-240 (233.9), culmen from base 32.0-40.0 (36.4), tarsus
71.0-75.8 (72.7), middle toe with claw (7 specimens) 36.0-42.4
(39.3) mm.

Resident in the Tropical and lower Subtropical Zones. From the
Province of Bocas del Toro (Changuinola, Almirante, Boquete Trail)
eastward on the Caribbean slope across northern Veraguas and west-
ern Colon, intergrading with T. m. saturatus in the valley of the Rio
Indio in the Caribbean section of Coclé (El Uracillo) and in Colon.
On the Caribbean slope it extends northward through Costa Rica to
northern Nicaragua.

It seems certain that birds of this race range into the lower Sub-
tropical Zone in the mountains. There is one skin in the Museum of
Comparative Zoology taken at about 600 meters on the Boquete
trail back of Laguna de Chiriqui; and another, a typical specimen, in
the British Museum (Natural History), received from Enrique
Arcé, is labeled “Veraguas” without other information as to locality.
It is probable that the latter was taken near the Continental Divide,
presumably on the Caribbean side.

Charles O. Handley, Jr., recorded a nest near Almirante, January
23, 1960, with 5 fresh eggs, and another February 13 in which in-
cubation was well advanced. Huber (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil-
adelphia, 1932, p 206) reported the dimension of 3 eggs found April
5, 1922, in northeastern Nicaragua, as follows: 59.2x46.4, 61.7
48.8, and 63.2 x 49.7 mm.

TINAMUS MAJOR CASTANEICEPS Salvadori

Tinamus castaneiceps Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 27, after Sept. 6,
1895, p. 507, pl. 6. (Southern slope of the Volcan de Chiriqui, Panama.)

FAMILY TINAMIDAE II

Characters—Crown chestnut to chestnut-brown; dorsal surface
paler.

Measurements—Males (10 specimens from Costa Rica and
Chiriqui), wing 219-232 (227.4), culmen from base 30.8-36.6 (34.4),
tarsus 65.4-70.8 (67.7), middle toe with claw (8 specimens) 34.2-40.2
(37.5) mm.

Females (8 specimens from Costa Rica and Chiriqui), wing 221-
240 (233), culmen from base 31.7-38.8 (35.6), tarsus 67.4-76.5
(71.3), middle toe with claw (6 specimens) 38.0-40.9 (39.4) mm.

Resident. In forests on the Pacific slope from western Chiriqui
through central Veraguas and western Province of Panama to the
Canal Zone, extending into the lower part of the Subtropical Zone to
1,500 meters elevation in Chiriqui (Santa Clara, El Volcan). The
extralimital range extends along the Pacific slope west to central
Costa Rica (Puntarenas, Rio Pirris).

Intergradation with the subspecies T. m. saturatus begins near the
original continental divide in the Canal Zone, as is shown by an adult
male from Barro Colorado Island that has the feathers of the back
of the crown very slightly elongated. Though this appears to be a
hint of the nuchal crest that marks saturatus, the coloration is that
of castaneiceps.

Van Tyne (Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 1950, pp. 2-4)
gives the following data from 2 nests, one of 4 and one of 6 eggs,
found on Barro Colorado Island: Size, 56X45 mm. to 6250 mm.;
weight 56.0 to 81.4 grams. He described the color as beryl green.

In examining other races of this tinamou from northern South
America one is aware immediately of the close resemblance of
castaneiceps to T. m. zuliensis, the form that is found from the
lower Rio Sint Valley in Colombia eastward through the Santa
Marta region to eastern and southern Venezuela. The principal
characters of difference that mark castaneiceps are the somewhat
duller reddish brown of the crown, the more buffy, less reddish brown
of the hindneck and the sides of the head, and the average darker
coloration of the upper surface. In considering the evident close
resemblance one has the definite impression that castaneiceps and
zuliensis of today represent the descendants of one stock found for-
merly throughout the tropical lowland areas from Panama to Vene-
zuela that has been divided by the intrusion of the much darker
saturatus, an intrusion permitted through environmental change
occasioned by the heavier annual rainfall found in the range of the
darker form.

I2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

TINAMUS MAJOR BRUNNEIVENTRIS Aldrich

Tinamus major brunneiventris Aldrich, Scient. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist.,
vol. 7, Aug. 31, 1937, p. 28. (Paracoté, 1 mile south of mouth of Rio Angulo, ~
Veraguas, Panama.)

Characters.—Generally similar to Tinamus m. castaneiceps, but
darker above and below; sides of head and crown darker brown
(darker than in T. m. saturatus).

Measurements.—Males (2 specimens), wing 214, 234, culmen from
base 34.0, 34.2, tarsus 67.6, 70.2, middle toe with claw 37.5 mm.

Female (1 specimen), wing 229, culmen from base 34.0, tarsus
69, middle toe with claw 37.1 mm.

Resident. In forests of the Tropical Zone of southern Veraguas
adjacent to Golfo de Montijo. Recorded to the lower Rio San
Lorenzo (east of Bahia Honda), the western slope of the Azuero
Peninsula at Altos Cacao (450 meters elevation, between the Rio
Negro and Rio Mariato), and on the slopes of Cerro Montuosa and
Cerro Hoya on the central divide.

On Cerro Hoya Handley found it common through the forests
to an elevation of 1,000 meters. Little is known of this race other
than the few specimens that have been collected.

TINAMUS MAJOR SATURATUS Griscom
FIGURE 3

Tinamus major saturatus Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 69, April 1929,
p. 150. (Cana, 650 meters elevation, Darién.)

Characters.—Differs from other races in Panama in having the
feathers on the back of the head elongated to form a small crest;
crown chestnut as in Tinamus m. castaneiceps, but dorsal surface
darker, in this like T. m. fuscipennis.

Measurements.—Males (14 specimens from Panama), wing 215-
238 (227), culmen from base 32.8-37.5 (35.3), tarsus 64.5-73.1
(69.3), middle toe with claw (6 specimens) 37.4-40.1 (38.6) mm.

Females (12 specimens from Panama), wing 218-242 (230),
culmen from base 33.0-38.5 (35.3), tarsus 66.5-73.3 (69.5), middle
toe with claw (6 specimens) 38.1-40.2 (39.5) mm.

Resident. In forest areas on the Pacific slope from the Cerro Azul,
eastern Province of Panama, eastward through Darién; and on the
Caribbean side from Madden Lake through the San Blas; ranging
upward in Darién into the Subtropical Zone (1,400 meters on Cerro
Mali).

Intergradation toward Tinamus major fuscipennis is evident in

FAMILY TINAMIDAE 13

specimens from Cerro Azul, the Rio Pequeni (Salamanca Hydro-
graphic Station), and Mandinga in the western San Blas. To the
eastward this race extends into northwestern Colombia through
Chocé to northern Antioquia and Cordoba.

On March 7, 1964, at Tacarcuna Village, Darién, when one of
these tinamous flushed in dense undergrowth near the bank of the
Rio Tacarcuna we found that it had come from a nest beside which
rested two chicks a few hours old that proved to be male and female.
The nest, the usual shallow depression molded in dried leaves
accumulated between two buttressed roots at the base of a large

ee

ge.

is As

LE Sigh

Ge Uh

on A ee ig
Lv) WN i! fe a
i) pie
eH IMAM
ri

Fic. 3.—Crested head of Tinamus major saturatus, the race of the great tinamou
found from the Canal Zone through eastern Panama.

tree, held the shells of the eggs from which the two had hatched,
each divided in half near the center. In general pattern the down
in the young birds was warm brown on the upper surface, across the
breast, and on the sides, with the throat, foreneck, and abdomen
grayish white. The side of the head was darker gray, barred nar-
rowly with dull black. The lower back and rump were paler than
the hindneck and upper back. One, which proved to be a male, is
somewhat brighter colored, more reddish brown, with lower back
and rump basally warm buff tipped with dull brown dotted faintly
with dull black. The front half and sides of the crown are grayish
white, barred narrowly and indistinctly with dull gray, with the
forehead tinged with brown. A narrow black line borders the
brown posterior part of the crown and hindneck, and a similar narrow

I4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

black line leads back from the base of the bill to divide the gray
anterior area in two portions. There is also a line of chestnut
bordered narrowly above and below with black, that extends across
the lores back beneath the eye through the auricular area. In the
female chick the anterior crown area is slightly paler brown than
the posterior section with only a faint, narrow median line. The
brown lateral stripe is restricted on the loral region, and is reduced
posteriorly to a brown spot back of the eye. The pattern of the
markings in general outline is like that of the male but is only
lightly indicated. The differences described need further check to
determine whether they indicate two color phases that occur without
regard to sex.

A set of 6 eggs of this subspecies taken at the base of Cerro
Chucanti in the Serrania de Majé, Province of Panama, March 10,
1950, measures 62.8X47.3, 62.7X48.2, 61.6X45.9, 60.0x 48.4,
58.4 x 47.0, and 57.6 45.7 mm. Another set, also of 6 eggs, collected
at Jaqué, Darién, March 25, 1946, measures 60.3 x 46.5, 59.4 x 46.0,
59.0 45.9, 58.5x48.6, 56.8x45.0 and 56.0X43.6 mm. Color in
the two sets varies from glaucous-blue to light glaucous-blue. The
shells of two eggs from Tacarcuna Village, from which the young
described above had hatched, were lumiere blue, a brighter color.

On the Rio Cangandi, back of Mandinga, Charles O. Handley, Jr.,
recorded eggs near hatching May 17, 1959, and a day-old chick,
May 21. He found a nest with 4 eggs at the Mandinga airstrip on
May 28. Near Armila, San Blas, a male and a female taken
February 24 and 25, 1963, were breeding.

Lionel Wafer, surgeon and traveler, undoubtedly refers to this
race of the great tinamou in his account of Darién (Isthmus of
America, 1699, p. 115) when he writes, ‘““There is also a Russet-
colour’d Landbird shap’d not unlike a Partridge; but has a longer
Neck and Legs, yet a short Tail. He runs most on the ground, and
seldom flies. His flesh is very good meat.”

The Cuna Indians at Armila called these birds pati.

NOTHOCERCUS BONAPARTEI FRANTZII (Lawrence): Highland Tinamou;
Perdiz Serrana.

Tinamus frantzii Lawrence, Ann, Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. 9, 1869, p. 140.
(Cervantes, Costa Rica.)

Size of a small domestic fowl; slightly smaller and definitely
brighter brown than the great tinamou.
Description—Length 350 to 400 mm. Adult (sexes alike), crown

FAMILY TINAMIDAE 15

and sides of head blackish; upper surface dark brown, with the
feathers crossed by irregular black bars, so narrow that the two
colors blend to produce an olive appearance; wings and lower back
more or less spotted with buff; undersurface from the throat to the
abdomen cinnamon-buff, with the throat plain, and the rest sparsely
barred with narrow lines of black; sides and under tail coverts olive
brown, barred with black ; abdomen buff, barred with black.

The finer black barring above and the cinnamon-brown throat, with
smaller size, smoother posterior surface of the tarsus, and longer
middle toe and claw, separate this bird from the great tinamou.

A recently hatched chick in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
from Costa Rica (no. 55339) has the crown and hindneck dull black,
with partly concealed barring of dull white; rest of dorsal surface
mingled rufous and black; sides of head dull black, spotted with
white; throat whitish, spotted indistinctly with neutral gray; under
surface cinnamon-buff, with foreneck darker and mingled with black.
The coloration as a whole is decidedly darker than that of the chick
of Tinamus major.

José Zeledon on the label of a specimen in the U. S. National
Museum noted the following colors of the soft parts in a breeding
female taken at La Palma de San José, Costa Rica: Iris brown;
base of mandible whitish, rest of bill black; tarsi and toes plumbeous,
with a slight olivaceous tint.

Measurements.—Males (8 specimens from Chiriqui and Costa
Rica), wing 200-209 (205), culmen from base 31.2-35.4 (33.1),
tarsus 66.6-71.3 (69.0), middle toe with claw 48.4-52.0 (50.3) mm.

Females (10 specimens from Chiriqui and Costa Rica), wing
208-233 (220), culmen from base 32.7-36.8 (34.5), tarsus 68.1-74.6
(72.5), middle toe with claw 50.2-55.4 (52.3) mm.

Resident. Through the uppermost Tropical and Subtropical Zone
forests of the Volcan de Chiriqui and the higher ridges adjacent.
Recorded from 1,400 to 2,000 meters elevation near Boquete, and
from 1,400 to 1,800 meters on Cerro Pando, above the Rio Chiriqui
Viejo. It is found also in subtropical zone forests of central and
southern Costa Rica.

The present subspecies, N. b. frantzii, a highland bird, is isolated
geographically from its nearest relative, N. b. intercedens of the
western Andes of Colombia, by the central depression of the Isthmus
of Panama. It differs from intercedens, and from the three addi-
tional races at present recognized from Colombia, Ecuador and
Venezuela, as follows: General coloration more buffy, less rufescent,

16 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

especially on the lower surface; dark color of nape extended down
over less than half of hindneck, instead of nearly to the back; under
primary coverts plain, or with faint markings on the innermost,
instead of appreciably barred throughout.

This is a forest bird that is even more retiring than the great
tinamou, so that little is known of it in Panama, aside from the
few specimens that have been taken.

In the Boquete region the Monniche collection has specimens from
Alto de Chiquero, taken between April 19 and May 17, 1933, and
Quebrada Velo, August 8, 1939, at elevations of 1,650 to 2,000
meters (Blake, Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p. 504). In the
western area, beyond El Volcan, these tinamous are present in small
numbers on Cerro Pando, above Palo Santo, west of the Rio Chiriqui
Viejo. Two specimens from this area, taken February 18, 1953, and
March 6, 1956, have been presented to the U. S. National Museum
by Dr. Frank A. Hartman. I had report of this species on the
forested ridge above the Quebrada Santa Clara farther to the west,
and it is probable that it ranges from 1,400 to 1,800 meters or higher
throughout the still unsettled forest section that covers the mountain
slopes from Volcan Bart to the Costa Rican border. Available
records from Panama come from the Pacific slope.

Armaguedén Hartmann, who is familiar with this bird in the
Tisingal-Santa Clara area, tells me that in April, with the first
rains, these birds begin to call, a double note quite different from
the whistling of the other two tinamous found in the Republic. As
they call usually when moving over the forest floor, it is difficult to
approach them because of this movement and of the shelter of low
growth in which they live. ;

My only view of the bird in life has been of one that I flushed
above the Silla de Cerro Pando on February 6, 1960. I had hunted
slowly out an old logging road and then returned to the main trail,
when one rose from scanty cover, where it had hidden within 6
meters of me, and flew 20 meters or so to disappear in a dense
thicket. The wings whistled more loudly than in the other species
of the family found in Panama, and the bird appeared very brown.

The little that is known of the breeding habits of the race N. b.
frantzii comes from a few observations made in Costa Rica. An
egg in the U. S. National Museum taken from the oviduct of a
bird collected by José C. Zeledén at La Palma de San José (located
in the depression between Volcén Irazi and Volcan Barba), on
May 1, 1884, is deep glaucous-gray, the smooth surface of the shell
reflecting light as usual in birds of this family. It measures

FAMILY TINAMIDAE 17

72.6 50.0 mm. While the shell is fully formed, so that the measure-
ments are accurate, the full depth of color had not been developed.
Four eggs in the British Museum (Natural History) collected at
Estrella de Cartago, Costa Rica, by C. F. Underwood (date un-
known) are near myrtle green. They measure 74.2 x 49.6, 71.2 x 49.0,
71.3X 52.1 and 71.0x48.9 mm. Two other eggs in the same collec-
tion ascribed to N. b. frantzti, while said by Oates (Cat. Eggs Brit.
Mus., vol. 1, 1901, p. 11) to be “of uncertain origin,” are listed
as purchased from M. Parzudaki, but without other data. They meas-
ure 76.6X 53.3 and 79.0X52.5 mm. Carriker (Ann. Carnegie Mus.,
vol. 6, 1910, pp. 377-378) on September 12, 1907, recorded a male
accompanied by 5 small chicks, near Ujarras (de Térraba) near the
southern end of the western slope of the Cordillera de Talamanca,
Costa Rica.

It is interesting that the eggs of this tinamou are larger than those
of the races of the great tinamou, Tinamus major, found in Panama,
though the bird itself is slightly smaller in body.

CRYPTURELLUS SOUI (Hermann): Little Tinamou; Perdiz de Rastrojo
FIGcurE 4

Tinamus sowi Hermann, Tabl. Aff. Anim., 1783, p. 165. (Cayenne.)

Smallest of the tinamous found in Panama; size of a large
pigeon, with heavy body, very short tail, small head, and slender
neck.

Description.—Length 200 to 230 mm. Two color phases, one grayer,
the other more buffy or rufescent. Adult, male, general color, bearing
this in mind, is grayish brown above, with a dark gray or blackish
crown; below clay color to brown, with foreneck and upper breast
distinctly gray and throat white.

Female, much more rufescent below, except in the race modestus,
where the two sexes are nearly alike.

Back of the tarsus is smooth. Males are slightly smaller in body
than females.

A downy young (either C. s. poliocephalus or C. s. panamensis),
less than a week old, is chocolate-brown above and on the sides;
forehead and indistinct bars on the crown, flanks, and tail buffy
brown; throat buffy white; rest of lower surface cinnamon-brown.

This downy stage is followed by a second plumage as follows
(description taken from American Museum of Natural History no.
232292, C. s. panamensis, SJ juv., Chiman, Panama, March 6, 1927) :
Crown dusky neutral gray, with the feathers ticked with cinnamon

18 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

on sides; back, tertials, rump, and upper tail coverts dull cinnamon-
brown, with a narrow tip and a broad crescent-shaped subterminal
spot black; under surface grayish brown, shading toward light olive
on the sides, barred strongly but brokenly with black; under tail
coverts sepia, tipped with clay color and light cinnamon. This very
distinct plumage appears to be retained only briefly before it is re-
placed by the adult dress. Few examples showing it are found in
museum collections.

SIE:
4 gee
p SATII

Ys MIG eh

Us
Phe

Fic. 4.—Little tinamou, perdiz de rastrojo, Crypturellus soui.

An adult male C. s. panamensis, taken at Puerto Obaldia, San Blas,
March 15, 1963, had the iris orange; maxilla fuscous black, except
the tip which was olive-brown; mandibular rami and gape honey
yellow; distal part of mandible dull yellowish brown; tarsus and
toes, including claws, dull greenish yellow.

An adult female of the race C. s. poliocephalus, taken at Tonosi,
Los Santos, March 28, 1957, had the iris light brown; base of
mandible brownish (avellaneous) ; maxilla and tip of mandible dark
neutral gray; front of tarsus greenish gray, with the margins of the
scutes brownish; back of tarsus and toes brownish; claws neutral

FAMILY TINAMIDAE I9

gray. A male shot at the same time had the tarsal colors duller,
more olive green.

The perdiz de rastrojo is the most common species of the family
and is resident throughout the isthmus from sea level to 1,500 meters
elevation. It lives in thickets, in low vegetation, and in the second
growth—the rastrojo—of abandoned plantations, and along the
borders of cultivated fields. Where extensive stands of tall forest
still remain it ranges mainly near the banks of streams.

Like the other species of its family it is extremely shy and is
seen with difficulty in the dense growths of grass, weeds and brush
that it frequents, its concealment being aided by its small size.
It has been able to maintain itself in many rather densely popu-
lated areas in spite of constant hunting, as it is adaptable in shifting
about when clearing for cultivation encroaches on parts of its habitat.
On many occasions in small villages I have awakened at night to
hear its call where it seemed hardly possible that the birds could
exist amid the abundance of dogs, active small boys, and other
potential enemies. Often I have heard them in daytime very near at
hand, when even the sharp-eyed country boys with me could not
see them. I recall in particular one Choco Indian house in Darién
—the usual elevated platform with open sides—where a pair of these
tinamous came daily into the matted ground vegetation of the small
surrounding plantation. Often they called not more than 12 meters
away, but we never had a glimpse of them during a three weeks’
stay, though we were certain that they were watching us from the
depths of their cover. Rarely one may detect a slight movement
as the bird retreats to a more secure location, and still more rarely
is one seen walking quietly, or running. In early morning I have
come on them in the open at the edge of fields or pastures when
they often rise in rapid flight to disappear immediately in nearby
cover. The call is a tremulous, whistled note, repeated several times
in an insistent tone, with ascending cadence, gaining in strength
and rapidity with each repetition, and then falling rather quickly
into silence. It is common for others to answer. They call through-
out the day, and their regular nocturnal whistling indicates activity
at night, though I have never observed one during night-hunting
expeditions.

Nesting seems to be irregular throughout the year. I have taken
females with ovaries in breeding condition from February through
May, and have records from literature of young hatching the mid-
dle of July, and a nest with eggs on August 4. Two eggs constitute

20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

a set, placed on a few leaves and other dried vegetation in a slight
depression on the ground. The site is selected in open brush or
near the borders of woodland, and is concealed beneath overhanging
leaves and branches. Gross (Ann. Rep. Smiths. Inst. for 1926,
1927, p. 337) describes one incubating bird that allowed him to
touch it and that only left the nest when he moved his hands be-
neath it to feel the eggs. Van Tyne has reported similar experiences.
While working at Boca del Rio Indio, in western Colon, in 1952,
a boy brought me two fresh eggs on February 18. Two more ob-
tained through the same means on February 20 were about two-
thirds incubated. In color these varied from pale to light brownish
drab. Measurements of these are given under C. s. panamensis.

In stomachs that I have examined I have found a variety of seeds
and berries with a few bits of small insects, the egg case of a
roach, and, in one, bones of a small frog.

Occasionally, in places frequented by washerwomen or others,
where the small perdiz is little molested, it becomes less shy and may
even walk about in the open, but never far from cover. In the
Province of Los Santos where sheltering vegetation is frequently
too scant during the prolonged dry season to afford protection,
country boys said that the perdiz often hides beneath piles of the
dead leaves accumulated at this time of the year beneath the trees.
In this province the birds were called tapara; elsewhere they were
often known as perdicita. The Cuna Indians knew them as Su-ira,
a term that was in common use for the species among Panamanians
and Colombians at Puerto Obaldia.

The species as a whole ranges from northern Oaxaca and south-
ern Veracruz south through the tropical lowlands of Central America
to eastern Bolivia and south central Brazil. There is much varia-
tion in color in this vast area so that 14 subspecies are recognized,
of which 4 are found in Panama.

CRYPTURELLUS SOUI MODESTUS (Cabanis)
Crypturus modestus Cabanis, Journ. fiir Orn., 1869, p. 212. (Costa Rica.)

Characters.—Differs from the other races found on the isthmus
in having male and female closely similar in color; the entire plum-
age gray, except for a wash of clay color on breast and abdomen;
in general darker colored than the other races of the Pacific slope.

Measurements.—Males (9 specimens from Costa Rica and Chi-
riqui), wing 121.8-128.5 (124.5), culmen from base 20.0-22.4 (21.0),
tarsus 38.0-43.6 (40.0) mm.

FAMILY TINAMIDAE 2I

Females (6 specimens from Costa Rica and Chiriqui), wing
127.3-135.5, culmen from base 20.3-22.7 (21.6), tarsus 38.8-42.0
(40.3) mm.

Resident. Found widely throughout the Tropical Zone on the Pa-
cific slope in western Chiriqui; recorded in the Subtropical Zone to
1,250 meters near the Rio Chiriqui Viejo, west of El Volcan, and to
1,600 meters on Horqueta, above Boquete.

This is the form of western Costa Rica also. Birds from the
highlands around the Chiriqui volcano are intermediate toward
C. s. capnodes of the Caribbean slope. The most eastern specimens
seen from Chiriqui are from El Banco, on the lower slopes of the
volcano below Boquete. The subspecific status of birds of eastern
Chiriqui and western Veraguas is uncertain.

At the Finca Palo Santo, west of El Volcan, on February 15, 1960,
I was given the shells of 2 eggs from which the young had just
hatched. One of them, brought to the Museum for comparison,
agrees in color with the eggs of C. s. panamensis collected at Rio
Indio in western Colon. Skutch (Condor, 1963, p. 225) gives the
following measurements of 16 eggs of this race examined near San
Isidro del General, Costa Rica: 40.5-45.6 x 31.8-33.3 mm. He found
the complete set to be 2 eggs.

CRYPTURELLUS SOUI CAPNODES Wetmore

Crypturellus sout capnodes Wetmore, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 76,
Aug. 2, 1963, p. 173. (Almirante, Bocas del Toro, Panama.)

Characters.—Darker throughout than C. s. modestus; darker red-
dish brown above with crown blacker; darker below, with the fore-
neck and upper breast darker gray.

Measurements—Males (5 from Bocas del Toro), wing 117.4-
125.0 (121.9), culmen from base 19.4-21.3 (21.0), tarsus 38.1-40.8
(39.7) mm.

Females (4 from Bocas del Toro), wing 124.0-127.4 (125.5),
culmen from base 20.0-22.1 (21.2), tarsus 40.7-42.8 (41.6) mm.

Resident. Local in the tropical lowlands of western and central
Bocas del Toro (Zegla, at mouth of Rio Teribe; Changuinola; Al-
mirante; Cricamola).

Birds from Cricamola on the Chiriqui Lagoon belong with this
race, but begin to show an approach to C. s. panamensis. It is probable
that C. s. capnodes is found in the lower Sixaola Valley in Costa
Rica. Specimens from the higher elevations of the mountains

22 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

around Volcan Bart in western Chiriqui show indication of darker
color, but belong with modestus.

CRYPTURELLUS SOUI POLIOCEPHALUS (Aldrich)

Crypturornis soui poliocephalus Aldrich, Sci. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist.,
vol. 7, Aug. 31, 1937, p. 30. (Paracoté, east shore of Montijo Bay, 1 mile
south of mouth of Rio Angulo, Veraguas, Panama.)

Characters—Compared with modestus, male browner above and
more cinnamon-buff below; female decidedly different, being rufes-
cent brown on the lower surface.

Measurements.—Males (17 specimens), wing 116.3-126.7 (121.9),
culmen from base 19.5-23.0 (21.3), tarsus 35.3-42.1 (38.3) mm.

Females (8 specimens), wing 122.8-134.5 (129.7), culmen from
base 20.5-24.6 (22.3), tarsus 38.7-43.4 (40.9) mm.

Resident. Through the Tropical Zone on the Pacific slope, ascend-
ing to the lower edge of the Subtropical Zone in the mountains ; from
western Veraguas (Sona) to the Canal Zone (Empire), and the
Province of Panama, eastward to the lower Rio Bayano (Chico;
Chepo; San Antonio), including both slopes of the Azuero Pen-
insula, south to the Tonosi Valley. Isla del Rey, in the Archipiélago
de las Perlas.

Birds from Azuero Peninsula are slightly grayer on the crown
than those from southern Coclé eastward, but the difference is not
sufficient to warrant recognition of two races. The range of
poliocephalus thus extends over most of the area included by recent
authors under the name panamensis. Those taken by W. W. Brown,
Jr., on Isla del Rey in 1900 and 1904 do not differ from birds of
the mainland. It seems possible that the species was introduced there,
either by Indians or later, as the bird is one that is kept frequently in
captivity.

An egg from the oviduct of a female collected near Chepo, April
6, 1949, has the shell fully formed but lacks the full color and gloss
of one completely ready to lay. It measures 41.2 30.4 mm., being
slightly smaller than the two sets of C.s. panamensis seen.

CRYPTURELLUS SOUI PANAMENSIS (Carriker)

Crypturus soui panamensis Carriker, Ann. Carnegie Mus., Aug. (Sept. 7), 1910,
p. 379. (Loma del Leén, Panama = Lion Hill, Canal Zone, Panama.)

Crypturus soui harterti Brabourne and Chubb, Ann. Mag. Hist. ser. 8,
vol. 14, Oct. 1914, p. 321. (Vaqueria, Province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador.)

Characters.—Decidedly darker than C. s. poliocephalus in both sexes
(the female being browner on the undersurface than the male) ;

FAMILY TINAMIDAE 23

crown and hindneck blacker; foreneck and upper breast darker gray.

Measurements.—Males (20 specimens from Panama), wing 117.4-
128.0 (122.4), culmen from base 20.0-22.5 (21.1), tarsus 36.9-
41.3 (38.4) mm.

Females (20 specimens from Panama), wing 124.6-138.0 (129.8),
culmen from base 20.0-22.6 (21.7), tarsus 37.4-42.2 (40.6) mm.

Resident. Found in the Tropical Zone and lower Subtropical Zone
on the Pacific slope from the far eastern area of the Province of Pana-
ma (Rio Majé) through Darién; on the Caribbean slope from
western Colon, east through the northern Canal Zone, the upper
Chagres drainage (Rio Boqueron), and San Blas.

Two sets of two eggs each from Boca del Rio Indio, western Colon,
taken February 18 and 20, 1952, are between pale and light brownish
drab in color. One set measures 42.732.0 and 42.432.5 mm.,
the other 43.3 x 32.0, and 43.8 33.2 mm. The first was fresh, the
second incubated about one-third. At the mouth of the Rio Paya,
Darién, on February 24, 1959, I found the lower half shells of two
eggs evidently recently hatched that are deeper in color than those
described above, being near brownish drab.

Van Tyne (Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan, no. 525,
1950, pp. 2-3) records the measurements of three sets of two eggs
each found on Barro Colorado, as from 40.7 x 30.5 to 44.0 32.0 mm.,
with a range in weight from 20.4 to 23 grams. He reports the
weight of a male bird in breeding condition as 209 grams.

In laboratory examination of six stomachs, the greater part of
the food was found to be seeds of a wide variety of kinds, among
which grasses of the genera Panicum and Paspalum, the sedge
Scleria, Amaranthus, a spurge, oxalis, species of mallow, grape, and
passionflower, Styrax, and Solanum were identified. Smaller amounts
of animal food, often only traces, included fragments of a roach,
ants, beetles, a bug (heteropteran), and bones of a small frog. Gravel,
as a grinding agent, was present in varying amounts, up to 20
percent of the contents.

The name panamensis was proposed by Carriker in 1910 to cover
the little tinamous of Panama east of the range of C. s. modestus.
Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1932, pp. 309-310) noted that birds
from eastern Panama were darker and listed them under the
name harterti Brabourne and Chubb. It has been readily evident that
there are two populations in the central and eastern part of the
isthmus, but there has been confusion relative to them owing to
lack of comprehension of local geography, particularly in the Canal

24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Zone, coupled with limited material available from the Pacific side
in that area. Loma del Ledn, or Lion Hill, the type locality of
panamensis, now submerged in the northern area of Gatun Lake, was
in the lower part of the Rio Chagres drainage of the Caribbean
slope, about 10 miles south of Colén on the northern coast. It was
therefore in the Caribbean area and well removed from the Continen-
tal Divide that separates the Chagres Valley from the Pacific. Be-
cause of lack of specimens from the Pacific side in the area between
Veraguas and the eastern part of the Province of Panama it has
not been recognized that these Lion Hill birds agree in color with
the Caribbean and eastern Panamanian population, which is accepted
at present as extending south through western Colombia to western
Ecuador, the type locality of harterti. The name panamensis of
1910 has application to this population, previously listed under the
name harterti of 1914. All birds of the Pacific side between
Veraguas and the central part of the Province of Panama, formerly
listed under panamensis, are now placed with poliocephalus of the
Azuero Peninsula, as indicated above.

Order PODICIPEDIFORMES
Family PODICIPEDIDAE: Grebes; Somormujos

The species of this family are among those birds most specialized
for life in the water. Their strongly muscled legs, placed far back
on the elongated, streamlined body, project at an angle that permits
maximum efficiency in swimming. Tail feathers are reduced to
hairlike plumes, which may be erected in display, or while swimming
in the sun, but otherwise are little apparent. The wings are small
but are functional except in one species, Centropelma micropterum
of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. The feet, in their adaptation for swimming,
have the tarsi compressed, and the flattened toes, joined at the bases
in webs, have broad lateral lobes at the ends. One curious cir-
cumstance in birds of this family is found in the quantities of feathers
invariably present in the large stomach. The body plumage is closely
set and abundant, and as the birds preen, feathers are loosened
and are swallowed. Often the stomach is filled with these, and
the small pyloric lobe leading from the main stomach cavity to the
small intestine may have a plug of partly digested feathers. The
function concerned is not understood; it is possible that the feather
mass aids as padding for the harder fish bones or the chitin of
larger insects, until these are digested.

FAMILY PODICIPEDIDAE 25

While grebes usually are confused with small ducks, and are
called “paticos,” they may be recognized by the slender bill. Two
of the 20 species that are known are found in Panama.

KEY TO SPECIES OF PODICIPEDIDAE

ADULTS

1. Bill longer and more slender, plainly colored; size smaller, 200 to 230 mm.
Watigeere cn aoc nc aus ore ae neon Least grebe, Podiceps dominicus, p. 28
2. Bill heavier, with a distinct black band around its center; size larger, 300
FOR SIO mT IONS. sco eas.c 0 ole Pied-billed grebe, Podilymbus podiceps, p. 25

Downy YouNG

1, Forehead and nape blackish, with a single white or cinnamon line running
back to a patch of the same color in the center of the crown.
Least grebe, Podiceps dominicus, p. 28
2. Forehead white, with two parallel white lines on either side extending back
above the eye; center of crown and band across nape cinnamon.
Pied-billed grebe, Podilymbus podiceps, p. 25

PODILYMBUS PODICEPS (Linnaeus): Pied-billed Grebe; Buzo
Ficure 5

Larger than the least grebe with a heavier bill that is banded
broadly through the nostrils with black.

Description—Length 300 to 350 mm. Grayish to dusky brown
above; whitish more or less mixed with gray below, washed lightly
with brown on the upper breast and lower foreneck; adult with a
prominent black throat patch.

Immature birds, in first plumage, resemble those of the least
grebe, but have the sides of the neck spotted instead of streaked.
Light streaks remain on the sides of the neck and head until the
bird is well grown.

Like the other grebe this species is completely aquatic, and by
many it is considered to be a small duck because of this and of its
general form. In Panama it is found on larger ponds and bodies
of fresh water, where it is fairly common. It is a wary bird that
seldom allows close approach, as it dives at any alarm, swims far
under water, and often when it rises shows only the bill and the
forepart of the head to allow it to look about while the body remains
beneath the surface. Frequently its diving takes it to the shelter of
bordering vegetation, or to a distance where it feels completely safe.
While fairly strong on the wing it does not take flight readily, in
this differing from its small companion. It is unlike that species

26 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

also in being highly aggressive, so that, except during migration,
only pairs or small family groups are found in company.

In the nesting season the male has a loud call, cow cow cow cow
cow repeated rather slowly, that carries for some distance. It is often
given from cover. Males fight savagely and also attack other
aquatic birds that may approach their nesting territory. The nests
are rounded masses of wet vegetation, pulled together in raftlike
form to project a few centimeters above the surface, located amid
open stands of water plants.

In Panama I have noted mated pairs from January to March and

Fic. 5.—Head of pied-billed grebe, bare. Zipaniep podiceps, with large, banded
ill.

have seen fully grown immature birds at the same season, indicating
a prolonged nesting period. The following notes are from eggs
collected in the United States and México. The usual set numbers
5 to 7, but occasionally 10 are found. The pointed oval eggs are
faintly bluish white in color, thick-shelled, smooth, or occasionally
with small excrescences, and measure 39.0 to 47 mm. long by 28 to 32
mm. wide. Their color is darkened irregularly by stain from wet nest
material during incubation.

The species ranges locally from Canada south through Central
America and the West Indies, and throughout South America to
Chubut in south central Patagonia. Two of the 3 geographic races
reach Panama. The third, Podilymbus podiceps antillarum Bangs,
of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, differs from the other two mainly
in shorter wing (¢', 122-126; ?, 112.8-114.2 mm.).

FAMILY PODICIPEDIDAE 27

PODILYMBUS PODICEPS PODICEPS (Linnaeus)

Colymbus podiceps Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 136. (South
Carolina).

Characters—Adult, browner on the foreneck and on the sides
of the head, and faintly lighter, on the average, on the dorsal surface ;
juvenile, until nearly grown retains streaks on head and neck, with
the background color of this area darker.

Measurements——Males (13 specimens), wing 124.6-134.3 (129.6),
exposed culmen 20.8-23.7 (22.7), tarsus 40.0-43.8 (42.3), middle
toe with claw 55.3-57.0 (56.2, average of 7) mm.

Females (18 specimens), wing 115.0-125.7 (120.4), exposed cul-
men 17.3-20.8 (19.3), tarsus 35.5-41.0 (38.5), middle toe with claw
47.7-54.0 (51.7, average of 14) mm.

Resident. Breeding locally in Bocas del Toro. Migrant elsewhere
in western Panama during the period of northern winter.

Mated birds were seen in February 1958 on one of the temporary
water impoundments at Changuinola ; and on March 14 I shot a laying
female there. Eisenmann (Condor, 1957, p. 249) saw adults and
young in juvenile plumage in the same area at the end of June
1956. A skin of this subspecies recorded by Peters (Bull. Mus.
Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 302) as a bird of the year, taken
December 22, 1927, near Almirante, may have been from the
resident stock or a northern migrant. It is probable that this race
is the one that nests around the lakes near El Volcan in Chiriqui,
where I noted males calling in March 1954; and on February 19,
1960, I saw one, apparently an adult male, that appeared to be
guarding a nesting territory. Some of those seen there seemed to be
northern migrants, as in 1954 I noted a decrease in their number at
the end of the first week in March.

Two immature birds in the British Museum (Natural History)
collected by Enrique Arcé in Veraguas, one of them, taken in 1869,
marked “Castillo,” also are of this race. It is probable that migrants
will be found east as far as the Gatun and Madden lake areas.

PODILYMBUS PODICEPS ANTARCTICUS (Lesson)

Podiceps antarcticus Lesson, Rev. Zool., vol. 5, July 1842, p. 209. (Valparaiso,
Chile.)

Characters—The race antarcticus differs from typical Podilymbus
p. podiceps in longer and heavier bill and in larger foot; wing on
the average longer; adult somewhat darker on the dorsal surface,

28 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

particularly on the hindneck; grayer, less brown, on foreneck, upper
breast, and sides of head.

Measurements.—Males (13 specimens), wing 130.0-138.0 (132.1),
exposed culmen 23.6-26.1 (24.3, average of 12), tarsus 41.3-47.2
(44.7), middle toe with claw 57.1-64.1 (60.7, average of 6) mm.

Females (8 specimens), wing 119.2-131.0 (123.6), exposed culmen
20.6-23.1 (21.9), tarsus 39.4-42.0 (41.5), middle toe with claw 53.3-
59.0 (56.4, average of 2) mm.

Resident. Fairly common locally in the Canal Zone on the back
waters of Gatun Lake, and on the Rio Chagres above Gamboa;
grebes seen on Madden Lake probably are of this race. Breeds
rarely in the marshes of the Rio La Jagua, eastern Province of
Panama, where I collected a fully grown immature bird on June
27, 1953. There is also an immature in first fall plumage in the
Museum of Comparative Zoology labeled Tocumen taken July 25,
1936.

The first report of the race for the isthmus is that of Van Tyne
(Auk, 1937, p. 379) who shot an adult male in breeding condition
at Barro Colorado Island in Gatun Lake on August 5, 1927. I have
taken several on the Rio Chagres between Gamboa and Juan Mina,
where these birds are fairly common.

There are no records as yet in Panama east of La Jagua. It
remains to be learned whether birds that breed at the Ciénaga
Macana, near El Rincon, Herrera (that I saw here in March 1948),
belong to the present subspecies or to the preceding one.

On January 13, 1961, a pair had pulled together a mass of aquatic
plants to serve as the base of a nest opposite the dock at Juan Mina.
A few days later this had been destroyed and the birds had moved,
disturbed by my traveling in and out in cayucos. By January 18,
other mated pairs were scattered through the bays and side channels
bordering the main river, but I saw no other nests.

PODICEPS DOMINICUS BRACHYPTERUS (Chapman): Least Grebe; Tigua
FIGURE 6
Colymbus dominicus brachypterus Chapman, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol.
12, Dec. 23, 1899, p. 256. (Lomita Ranch, Hidalgo County, Texas.)

Size and general form of a small duck, but with long, slender neck,
thin, pointed bill, and feet placed far back on the body; in flight
with definite white markings at the ends of the secondaries.

Description —Length 200 to 230 mm. Adult (sexes alike), dusky
gray above, whitish below, with light-colored eyes.

FAMILY PODICIPEDIDAE 29

Immature, grayer colored, streaked with white on head and neck.
These markings may appear to resemble those of the immature
pied-billed grebe, but the bill in the present species is longer and
more slender, the depth at the base being one half or less the length.

Iris light orange to yellow; bill dark neutral gray to nearly black,
sometimes tipped lightly with yellowish white; tarsus and toes dull
black, varying in some to greenish neutral gray on front and inner
side of tarsus and on toes; claws dusky neutral gray tipped narrowly
with grayish white.

Fic. 6.—Least grebe, tigua, Podiceps dominicus brachypterus, with slender bill.

Measurements—Males (23 specimens), wing 85.5-93.8 (90.7),
exposed culmen 19.8-23.5 (21.7), tarsus 30.5-33.8 (32.8) mm.

Females (26 specimens), wing 83.8-91.0 (87.4), exposed culmen
18.2-22.7 (21.1), tarsus 29.3-32.5 (30.9) mm.

Resident. Locally common on fresh-water ponds and lakes through-
out the Republic, from coastal areas to 1,200 meters or more in the
mountains.

Actual records are as follows: Chiriqui (lakes near El Volcan at
1,250 meters, pond at Palo Santo at 1,280 meters) ; Bocas del Toro
(Changuinola, Almirante); Veraguas (old records at Laguna de
Castillo, and Chitra); Los Santos (Pedasi); Herrera (Ciénaga
Macana) ; Canal Zone (Gatun Lake, Gamboa, Juan Mina) ; Panama
(Rio La Jagua); Darién (La Laguna at 850 meters elevation on
base of Cerro Mali) ; Isla Coiba,

30 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Least grebes are especially common on the extensive backwaters
of Gatun Lake and the Rio Chagres above Gamboa. In Bocas del
Toro many frequent artificial ponds made in connection with the
banana farms around Changuinola. It is probable that they have
increased in number in recent years because of the greater extent of
suitable habitat, formed by dams, now available. On large expanses
of water least grebes may congregate in groups of a dozen or may
remain in scattered pairs. It is common to find them on smaller pools
of 50 to 100 meters in extent, where usually they remain in the
cover of aquatic vegetation. They seem to fly about to a considerable
extent, as I have seen them appear overnight on small ponds in
mountain areas several miles distant from larger lakes.

They present an attractive appearance as they swim with head
and neck erect, rest in the sun to preen, often rolling far over
on the side to reach the breast feathers, or dive alertly in feeding.
When approached in a boat they may rise in flight and with wings
beating quickly, gather momentum by pattering the feet on the
water, and then, when fully under way, fly with neck and feet
outstretched. Such flights, barely above the water surface, are of
short duration, and usually when the bird alights it dives.

In nesting they arrange a rounded mass of plant materials,
anchored to twigs of a submerged tree or amid aquatic vegetation,
with the top from 30 to 60 centimeters across, elevated sufficiently
so that the eggs, placed in a slight depression in the center, are a
few centimeters above the water. Such nest structures may be
concealed, or in larger water bodies may be visible for some distance.
The nesting season appears to be irregular, for I found half-grown
young on Isla Coiba January 14 (1956), eggs at Changuinola March
4 (1958), and fully grown immature birds at Pedasi March 17
(1957). Eisenmann (Condor, 1957, p. 249) records them as breeding
in June and July near El Volcan. Information available, mainly from
the northern end of the range of this subspecies, indicates that the
eggs number 3 to 6 in a set and measure 30 to 38 mm. long by 22
to 25 mm. broad (Bent, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 107, 1919, p. 37).
They are dull white in color when laid but become stained im-
mediately to a deep buff from the wet material with which the parent
covers them whenever it leaves the nest. One incubating bird that
I shot in this act at Changuinola was a male.

Zimmerman (Auk, 1957, p. 390) has recorded what appeared to
be courtship display in these grebes seen at the end of April on a
forest pond in Campeche. Two birds (apparently male and female,

FAMILY DIOMEDEIDAE 31

as they differed slightly in size) rested side by side until suddenly
they raced across the surface for about a meter with bodies half out
of the water at an angle of 45° and then sank down to a sudden
stop. After preening and dabbling as though feeding, the display
was repeated. Both had the throat patches somewhat distended, and
one bird uttered a high-pitched nasal note.

These grebes feed on aquatic life, from insects to small fishes.
One taken at La Laguna, Darién, had the stomach crammed with
large dragonfly larvae, mixed with fragments of aquatic beetles.
The stomach regularly is filled with feathers from the bird itself,
that are loosened and swallowed during preening.

The least grebe as a species has a vast distribution from north-
western México and southern Texas south throughout the Americas
to Tierra del Fuego, including the Bahama Islands and the Greater
Antilles. The present subspecies ranges locally from southern Texas
south through México and Central America.

The subspecies P. d. brachypterus, compared to P. d. dominicus
of the Bahama Islands and the Greater Antilles, has the bill slightly
smaller and the white color of the secondaries reduced in extent
toward the tips of the feathers. The race P. d. speciosus Lynch
Arribalzaga of South America is similar in size of wing and bill to
brachypterus but has the white markings on the secondaries extensive,
more so than in the typical race dominicus.

(The eared grebe, Podiceps caspicus californicus Heermann, of
western North America is recorded in winter south to Guatemala
and also on the eastern Andean lakes of Colombia (De Schauensee,
Birds Colombia, 1948, p. 350). It is possible that it may be found
as a migrant in Panama. It resembles the least grebe in slender bill
and yellow eye, but is similar to the pied-billed grebe in size.)

Order PROCELLARIIFORMES
Family DIOMEDEIDAE: Albatrosses; Albatroses

Though the narrow wings and general body form of albatrosses
are like those of their cousin shearwaters, their much greater size
identifies them with no uncertainty. When away from their nesting
grounds they are birds of the open seas. Little is known of their
occurrence in Panamanian waters. The only records are of vagrants
that have been encountered in the Gulf of Panama. The range of
those species that may be expected lies in the Pacific Ocean to the
south,

32 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

KEY TO SPECIES OF DIOMEDEIDAE

1. Size large, decidedly more than a meter long, body white above and below.

Wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans, p. 33

2; “Size smaller, less than a meter longest Soo. ove aes sates ase ee ee eae ess 3

3) Rump whites 1. i208 Gray-headed albatross, Diomedea chrysostoma, p. 32
Rump dark, barred narrowly with white.

Galapagos albatross, Diomemea irrorata, p. 34

DIOMEDEA CHRYSOSTOMA Forster: Gray-headed Albatross; Albatros
Cabecigris

Diomedea chrysostoma J. R. Forster, Mém. Math. Phys. Paris, vol. 10, 1785,
p. 571, pl. 14. (South Georgia; designated by Murphy, Oceanic Birds of
South America, vol. 1, 1936, p. 516.)

An albatross with head and neck light gray ; sides of the bill black.

Description—Length 700 to 800 mm. Head and neck light gray ;
upper back dark gray; wings black, with a grayish wash; a dull
black mark around eye; under surface, including under side of
wings, white.

Iris brown; bill black on the sides, with a bright yellow stripe
down the culmen, that is darker on the hook at the tip; a yellow line
on the side of the mandibular rami; tarsi and toes bluish gray; claws
whitish. (From Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., vol. 1, 1936, pp.
514-515.)

Measurements (from Murphy, cit. supra, p. 515).—Males (14
specimens), wing 480-555 (510), tail 175-205 (195), exposed culmen
106-122 (114.3), tarsus 79-91 (85.6) mm.

Females (5 specimens), wing 473-523 (504.3), tail 175-199
(189.3), exposed culmen 108-119 (114.7), tarsus 79-89 (84.6) mm.

Accidental. One report on the Pacific coast.

Salvin (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 25, 1896, p. 451) records an
adult specimen secured by Thomas Bridges on the “Coast of
Panama.” Salvin and Godman (Biol. Centr.-Amer., vol. 3, 1904, p.
438) list it as “said to have been procured in the Bay of Panama,”
and Godman (Mon. Petrels, 1910, p. 355) cites the same bird as
“obtained by Mr. T. Bridges, near Panama.” Griscom (Bull. Mus.
Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 291) undoubtedly refers to these
sources when he lists the species as “off coast of Chiriqui (once).”
The specimen has disappeared. It is not included in a manuscript
list of the albatrosses in the British Museum (Natural History)
prepared in 1951, nor could I find it in the collections in July 1954.
A further search in the museum catalogs in September 1964, did not
locate this bird. Thomas Bridges came to Panama in 1855, where

FAMILY DIOMEDEIDAE 33

he collected mollusks for several months in the Bay of Panama,
then proceeded to David, where he arrived in January 1856 (Sclater,
Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1856, pp. 138-142). It is possible that the
albatross may have been obtained during the sea journey from
Panama City to David.

The gray-headed albatross breeds on various islands in the far
south, ranges mainly over south temperate seas, and is found casually
northward. In considering possible occurrence in Panama it should
be borne in mind that Murphy (Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, pp.
515-516) points out that sight records for the gray-headed albatross
may not be accepted, as other species that range along the west
coast of South America resemble it closely. He indicates especially
that Diomedea bulleri and D. cauta salvim are so closely similar
that they may not be identified except by those familiar with these
species with the bird in hand. In D. bulleri the raised base of the
culmen is decidedly broader back of the nostrils, with a transversely
flattened posterior margin. D. c. salvini averages somewhat larger
and has the bill gray, with the culmen shell ivory and a black spot
at the end of the mandible.

DIOMEDEA EXULANS Linnaeus: Wandering Albatross; Aibatros Errante

Diomedea exulans Linnaeus, Syst. nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 132. (Cape of
Good Hope.)

Largest of the albatrosses to be expected in Panamanian waters, and
one of the largest of living flying birds.

Description—Length about 14 meters; wing spread about 34
meters. Adult (sexes alike), wing feathers, and part of coverts
blackish ; rest of plumage, including under side of wing, white.

Immature, dark brown with white face and throat.

Iris brown; bill salmon-pink (except in breeding season, when it
is buffy yellow) ; tarsi and feet bluish gray (from Murphy, Oceanic
Birds S. Amer., vol. 1, 1936, pp. 538, 550).

Measurements (from Murphy, lLc., p. 539).—Males (10 speci-
mens), wing 590-674 (644), tail 186-202 (195), exposed culmen
156-173 (168), tarsus 115-128 (120.7) mm.

Females (4 specimens), wing 585-611 (601), tail 177-200 (187),
exposed culmen 157-167 (161), tarsus 111-119 (114) mm.

Accidental. One record for the Bay of Panama.

Murphy (Condor, 1938, p. 126) reports one captured in August
1937, brought alive to Balboa, where it was photographed by Lee B.

34 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Carr, and then released. He describes it from the photo as “a year-
ling, with white face and wing-lining.”

The species is one of southern range that wanders casually into
northern seas. Two races differing in size, particularly of the bill,
are recognized. The typical form, D. e. exulans, is found in its
wanderings in both Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The other race, D. e.
dabbenena, which is smaller (exposed culmen 144-149, tarsus 108-
109 mm.), breeds at Gough Island and in the Tristan da Cunha is-
lands. As this form is known to range in the South Atlantic, prob-
ably also in the Indian Ocean, it may be presumed that the record for
the Gulf of Panama is of a bird of the typical subspecies.

DIOMEDEA IRRORATA Salvin: Galapagos Albatross; Albatros Galapagiiefio

Diomedea irrorata Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1883, p. 430. (Callao Bay,
Pert.)

Differs from other smaller albatrosses in shorter tail, and much
larger bill.

Description —Length, a little less than a meter; wing spread about
2.3 meters. Adult, head and neck white, washed with yellowish
buff; above grayish brown, with white markings; below blackish
brown freckled with white ; bill yellow.

Immature, brown throughout; under wing coverts grayish white.

Iris dark brown; bill yellow (in life), tarsi and feet dull leaden
blue (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., vol. 1, 1936, p. 530).

Measurements (from Murphy, L.c., pp. 530-531).—Males (9 speci-
mens), wing 517-551 (542), tail 130-138 (134), exposed culmen
149-156 (152.8), tarsus 99-105 (102.1) mm.

Females (5 specimens), wing 491-555 (528), tail 127-140 (133.8),
exposed culmen 137-148 (141.6), tarsus 93-100 (96.6) mm.

Uncertain. Reported as a casual visitor.

Eisenmann (Trans. Linn. Soc. New York, vol. 7, 1955, p. 10)
says “ranges north to Panama,” and De Schauensee (Birds Colom-
bia, 1952, p. 1141) reports that it “ranges northward to the Gulf of
Panama.” No definite record is known to me.

This species breeds on Hood Island in the Galapagos group and
comes to the offshore waters of South America. De Schauensee,
on the basis of information from Robert Cushman Murphy, reports
it on the Pacific coast of Colombia between Octavia Rocks and
Bahia de Aguacate; hence it may wander casually into the Gulf of
Panama.

FAMILY PROCELLARIIDAE 35

Family PROCELLARIIDAE: Shearwaters and
Petrels; Pardelas y Petreles

Only one species of this family, a race of Audubon’s shearwater
that nests on a rocky islet on the coast of Bocas del Toro, is a
permanent inhabitant of Panamanian waters. Others have been
recorded as ocean wanderers from the outer reaches of the Gulf of
Panama, or casually from nearer the Pacific coast. Most of the re-
ports have been sight records of uncertain status, since not many
naturalists have had sufficient experience with the shearwater and
petrel group to identify them in life. It is probable that several
species will be found regularly, and others casually, when more
information is available.

The name fardela by which shearwaters are known along the
western coast of South America, appears to be a corruption of pardela,
the usual term in the Spanish language for birds of this group on
the coasts of Spain.

KEY TO SPECIES OF PROCELLARIIDAE

1. Tarsus heavier, much compressed; space between nostrils as wide or wider
than the nasalwopenings) (sents ups). 1 oe teleie eel siisineie eile Z
Tarsus heavier, not compressed; space between nostrils narrow, less in

width than the nasal openings (genus Pterodroma).
Dark-rumped petrel, Pterodroma phaeopygia, p. 35
2. Tail nearly half the length of the wing, definitely graduated, wedge-shaped.
Wedge-tailed shearwater, Puffinus pacificus, p. 42
Tail definitely less than half of the length of the wing, rounded, or only
Slighitlyparaduated ria ctetarec a's Grete oarn seleteoOe s'arteeeicns orsisleereeraeatersseeee 3

3. Under surface white; smailer, wing less than 200 mm.

Audubon’s shearwater, Puffinus lherminieri, p. 37

Under surface gray, or dusky, wing more than 260 mm.
Sooty shearwater, Puffinus griseus, p. 36

PTERODROMA PHAEOPYGIA PHAEOPYGIA (Salvin): Dark-rumped
Petrel; Petrel de Rabadilla Oscura

Oestrelata phaeopygia Salvin, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 9, May 1876, p.
507, pl. 88, fig. 1. (Chatham Island, Galapagos Archipelago. )

A large petrel with sides of the head black.

Description Length 400 to 431 mm. Brownish black above; wings
and tail black with concealed white patches; forehead and under
surface white ; sides of head black.

Iris brown; bill black; tarsus and base of toes bluish flesh color ;
distal part of web and toes, with most of outer toes black.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., vol. 2,

36 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

1936, p. 698).—Sexes alike (5 specimens), wing 294-304 (299), tail
134-137 (135.4), exposed culmen 33.0-34.8 (34), tarsus 37.1-39.3
(38.2) mm.

Reported as casual in the Gulf of Panama. Sight records of Robert
Cushman Murphy (Eisenmann, Trans. Linn. Soc. New York, vol. 7,
eo

The bird nests at the Galapagos and wanders toward the coast of
South America from off Pert to Colombia. Murphy (in De
Schauensee, Birds Colombia, 1952, p. 1142) reports it as found
regularly off Malpelo Island, Colombia, to the south of the Gulf of
Panama.

PUFFINUS GRISEUS (Gmelin): Sooty Shearwater; Pardela Sombria
Procellaria grisea Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 564. (New Zealand.)

A shearwater with the size of a small gull; lower surface of body
dark in color.

Description—Length 430 to 460 mm. Blackish brown above, paler
on lower surface; under wing coverts white, marked with gray at
tips.

Iris brown; bill fuscous or black; outer side of tarsus and outer
toes blackish; inner side of tarsus, inner toes and webs bluish neutral
gray.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., vol. 2,
1936, p. 667).—Sexes alike (40 specimens), wing 280-309 (293),
tail 84.0-99.2 (89.4), exposed culmen 38.0-45.6 (41.7), tarsus 52.5-
59.5 (55.4) mm.

Status not certain. Recorded as a visitor in the Gulf of Panama.

A specimen taken June 8, 1915, by Thomas Hallinan, found floating
with several others, all appearing exhausted, near Naos Island at
the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, was identified originally
as Puffinus tenuirostris (Hallinan, Auk, 1924, p. 306). The bird,
now in the American Museum of Natural History, is, however, the
present species (see Serventy and Eisenmann, Emu, 1962, p. 200).
Robert Cushman Murphy saw shearwaters of this species near
Isla San José on February 21, 1941, a sight record substantiated by
specimens that he secured nearby while traveling on the schooner
Askoy. Another report is that of Robins (Condor, 1958, p. 300), who
made scattered sight records on 8 days between July 15 and 26,
1957, from near Isla Taboga through the eastern side of the Gulf to

FAMILY PROCELLARIIDAE oF

45 kilometers south southwest of Bahia Pifias. Through the courtesy
of Oscar W. Owre I have examined the skin of a male caught by
Robins in a dipnet at Isla Camote, on July 25.

Apparently this species, which nests far to the southward, may
enter Panamanian waters with some regularity during its wanderings
outside the nesting season.

PUFFINUS LHERMINIERI Lesson: Audubon’s Shearwater; Pardela Chica

A small shearwater, pure white underneath.

Description.—Length 300 to 330 mm. Blackish brown above, white
below ; under tail coverts black and white.

Iris brown; bill black, becoming dark neutral gray on mandible,
and at base of culmen; outer side of tarsus and outer toes dull
black ; inner side of tarsus, rest of toes, and webs, flesh color.

Three subspecies of Audubon’s shearwater are recorded from
Panama, one a wanderer from its nesting grounds in the Galapagos
Islands, one established in a breeding colony on the coast of Bocas del
Toro, and the third recorded from a single specimen taken on the
Caribbean coast near the Colombian boundary.

PUFFINUS LHERMINIERI LHERMINIERI Lesson

Puffinus (sic) Lherminieri Lesson, Rev. Zool., vol. 2, no. 3, April (May), 1839,
p. 102. (Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles.)

Characters—Like P. 1. loyemilleri in color but larger in size.

Measurements.—Males (31 specimens from Bermuda, Bahama
Islands, and Lesser Antilles), wing 195-209 (201), tail 83.5-95.0
(88.2), culmen from base 28.1-31.8 (30.0), tarsus 37.8-42.5 (40.2)
mm.

Females (29 specimens from Bermuda, Bahama Islands, and Lesser
Antilles), wing 193-210 (200), tail 83.7-95.0 (88.9), culmen from
base 25.7-31.0 (29.2), tarsus 38.0-41.8 (40.4) mm.

Casual on the Caribbean coast. One record for eastern Comarca
de San Blas.

A male in the Herbert Brandt Collection in the museum of the
University of Cincinnati was collected by Wedel at Puerto Obaldia
on March 10, 1934. The wing measurement of 202 mm. places it
with the typical subspecies. The nearest known breeding colony of
this form is the one on Crab Cay off Isla Providencia mentioned
in the account of the race P. l. loyemilleri that follows.

38 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

PUFFINUS LHERMINIERI LOYEMILLERI Wetmore
FIGurE 7

Puffinus lherminieri loyemilleri Wetmore, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 72,
April 22, 1959, p. 19. (Tiger Rock, Tiger Cays, off Cabo Valiente, Bocas
del Toro, Panama.)

Characters.—Like P. l. lherminieri but smaller. Tail longer than in
P. 1. subalaris, 80 millimeters long or more, and flanks white.
Measurements—Males (6 specimens), wing 185-193 (188), tail

Fic. 7.—Audubon’s shearwater, pardela chica, Puffinus lherminieri, at entrance
of nesting burrow.

80.7-87.7 (85.2), culmen from base 27.1-30.1 (29.3), tarsus 38.4-
39.8 (39.3) mm.

Females (5 specimens), wing 185-195 (190), tail 82.8-88.5 (86.3),
culmen from base 27.7-31.2 (29.2), tarsus 38.2-40.0 (39.0) mm.

Resident. Breeds on Tiger Rock in the Tiger Cays at the end of
the Valiente Peninsula, Bocas del Toro; recorded off the nesting
colony and at Puerto Obaldia, Comarca de San Blas.

The Tiger Cays lie in line from 3,000 meters north to 5,000 meters
northwest of Cabo Valiente. The outermost, nearly submerged
rock, is called Tiger Breaker on the sailing chart (no. 5029, Laguna
de Chiriqui). Next is a higher rock bearing a navigation beacon,
which is designated Tiger Rock on the chart, and then comes a
slightly larger islet that is not named. Following this to the east is

FAMILY PROCELLARIIDAE 39

a longer island, separated in several sections, which is known to
local fishermen as Tiger Rock. At the western end the higher part
is nearly divided by a cleft through which storm waves may wash.
The shearwater colony is located in burrows at the summit of the
eastern sector of this islet, on the steep, landward slope beneath a
scattered grove of guarumos and coconut palms, with undergrowth
of cafia blanca, coarse-leaved grasses, and other herbaceous plants.

The birds were noted here first by Loye Holmes Miller in 1936,
during a brief visit to the Chiriqui Lagoon area, where he had
quarters on a survey ship of the Hydrographic Office of the Navy.
According to notes that Dr. Miller has supplied he was told by a
seaman of birds nesting in holes on a rocky island. He visited the
site on March 12 and found 4 occupied burrows of Audubon’s
shearwater with eggs. He collected two skins, a skeleton, and some
miscellaneous bones from bodies left by vultures. The specimens,
in the collections of the University of California at Los Angeles,
attracted no special attention, for it was not realized that they marked
a considerable extension of range.

During my work in the Almirante region in 1958 Thomas W. Dunn,
through his detailed knowledge gained in fishing these waters,
identified the locality shown on the sketch map Miller had furnished.
And on February 28, with favorable weather, I crossed from Al-
mirante to the Tiger Cays in a small cayuco driven by an outboard
motor. Though a heavy swell prevented our beaching the boat, I
landed without difficulty at the cleft on the leeward side of Tiger
Rock and within a few minutes had located the shearwaters on the
upper slopes of the island. The colony, or the part of it that I
examined, covered an area about 10 by 20 meters on the leeward
side of the eastern knob near its summit. The occupied section lay
midway on the steep slope between the high ridge and the point where
there was a nearly vertical descent to the sea. Here there was an
accumulation of humus and fine clay, dotted with openings leading
into the numerous burrows excavated by the birds. Since the soil was
penetrated by tangles of roots of the broad-leaved plants that shaded
the surface, the birds had difficulty in digging, as the average length
of the burrows was less than three-quarters of a meter. Part, located
in pockets where rainwater accumulated, were wet, so that breasts and
ends of wings and tails of birds that inhabited them were heavily
stained with mud. In nests with proper drainage birds and their eggs
were clean. The series of 9 shearwaters collected included 4 males and
5 females, each found with a single egg, except one, and there may

40 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

have been an egg here that I did not locate. One egg seen lay in a
depression beneath some roots with no bird near. All the birds were
silent, the only indications of their presence being a few scattered
feathers and droppings and the strong shearwater scent. It required
an hour and a half to secure the specimens mentioned, when the wind
began to freshen, so that I had to leave without exploring the island in
detail. It is possible that there are other colonies on adjacent islets,
or elsewhere along the coast.

Because of smaller size, I have separated these Panamanian birds
as the subspecies loyemilleri, named for Loye Holmes Miller, who
first discovered them. The wing measurement varies from 185 to 195
mm., compared to 193 to 210 mm. in Puffinus lhermimieri lherminiert.
There are no differences in color.

In addition to the specimens from Tiger Rock, there are two males
in the U. S. National Museum from 10 miles off Punta Valiente, taken
May 30, 1962, by H. R. Bullis, Jr., and P. Struhsaker. Wedel
secured two at Puerto Obaldia, Comarca de San Blas, January 31
and June 22, 1934, which came to the Herbert Brandt Collection
now in the museum of the University of Cincinnati.

The 5 eggs that I was able to prepare ranged from fresh to
heavily incubated. They are pure white, with the shell slightly
pitted, and vary in shape from subelliptical to long subelliptical and
long oval. The measurements are 48.3-53.9 x 34.5-36.3 with the
average 51.8 35.2 mm. Bent (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 121, 1922, pp.
74-75) gives the following dimensions for the eggs of P. 1. lherminieri:
49.2-57.3 x 34.0-40.8 mm.; average 52.5x36.2 mm. The eggs of
the newly described race, as well as the birds, thus average slightly
smaller.

In the original description of the form of the coast of Bocas del
Toro I overlooked one record of the species for the Caribbean area.
Cory (Auk, 1887, p. 181) listed Audubon’s shearwater among birds
collected at Isla de Providencia by Robert B. Henderson “during the
winter of 1886-87.” Bond (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol.
102, 1950, pp. 52-53) during a visit on April 28, 1948, found that
the colony was located on Crab Cay off the northeastern coast. Emmet
R. Blake of the Chicago Natural History Museum has lent for
examination the 10 specimens taken by Henderson on March 12,
1887. Two are downy young, one of them recently hatched. Two
of the adults have the tips of the primaries too badly worn and
abraded to give an accurate indication of size, and a third has the
wing in molt. The 5 remaining vary in length of wing from 195

FAMILY PROCELLARIIDAE Al

to 204 mm., which places them within the size range of typical
lherminieri.

Dr. W. H. Phelps writes me that specimens in the Phelps Collec-
tion, taken at their breeding burrows on Gran Roque, in Islas Los
Roques, and others secured at sea near Orchila, in Islas Los
Hermanos, have wing lengths of 189 to 192 mm. and so agree with
loyemullert. Another record to be referred to this race is that of a
specimen in the American Museum of Natural History with a wing
measurement of 186 mm. taken at sea 100 miles (160 kilometers) off
the coast of British Guiana on December 2, 1931.

Enrico Festa secured an Audubon’s shearwater on board ship in
May 1905 at a point “300 miles” out from the port of Colon
(Salvadori and Festa, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp. Univ. Torino,
vol. 14, no. 339, 1899, p. 13). As no measurements are available
the race of this bird is not known.

PUFFINUS LHERMINIERI SUBALARIS Ridgway

Puffinus subalaris Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 19, Mar. 15, 1897,
p. 650. (Dalrymple Rock, Chatham Island, Galapagos Archipelago.)

Characters.—Similar to P. 1. loyemilleri of the Caribbean, but with
more dark feathers on the flanks, and shorter tail, 68 to 71.8 mm.
as compared to 80.7 to 88.5 mm. for the other form.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer. vol. 2,
1936, p. 667).—Sexes alike (10 specimens), wing 189-203 (194.8),
tail 68-75 (71.8), exposed culmen 24.7-29 (27.7), tarsus 34-37 (36)
mm.

Recorded as a visitor. Apparently wanders regularly to the south-
ern area of the Gulf of Panama.

There are sight records by Murphy (Fish and Wildl. Serv. Spec.
Rep. Fisheries no. 279, 1958, p. 104) who recorded many November
24-25 and November 30-December 1, 1956. Robins (Condor, 1958,
p- 300) reported them (under the specific name P. lherminiert) on
July 21, 22, and 23, 1957, from 30 to 40 kilometers southwest of
Bahia Pifias. These sight records appear to be validated by a female
taken by Horace Loftin at Bahia Pifias, Dec. 20, 1964. There is also
a specimen in the U. S. National Museum collected by Charles Fagan
on the S. S. Santa Elisa while approaching Balboa, about 290 kilome-
ters to the southwest. This would be near lat. 60° 30’ N., about
opposite the Gulf of Cupica on the northwestern coast of Choco,
Colombia, and about 80 kilometers south of the Chocd-Darién
boundary.

42 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

This is the race that breeds at the Galapagos Islands and that is
known mainly from that area.

PUFFINUS PACIFICUS CHLORORHYNCHUS Lesson: Wedge-tailed Shear-
water; Pardela del Pacifico

Puffinus chlororhynchus Lesson, Traité d’Orn., livr. 8, June 1831, p. 613. (Shark
Bay, Western Australia.)

Like the sooty shearwater, but tail longer, wedge-shaped, with the
lateral feathers much shorter than those in the center.

Description—Length 440-470 mm. Dark phase, blackish brown
above; grayish brown on under surface, including the under wing
coverts ; throat somewhat lighter.

Light phase, white from throat to under tail coverts, including
under wing coverts ; sides gray.

Measurements (from Loomis, Proc. California Acad. Sci., vol. 2,
pt. 2, 1918, p. 145).—Males (17 specimens), wing 289-309 (299),
tail 129-148 (138), culmen 36.6-41.2 (39.1), tarsus 41.4-48.2 (46.6)
mm.
Females (30 specimens), wing 287-311 (298), tail 128-145 (138),
culmen 36.6-42.1 (38.9), tarsus 43.8-48.1 (46.0) mm.

Casual visitor. One record off the Pacific coast of southern Darién.

Dr. Robert Cushman Murphy has permitted me to include the
only record for this species, based on two specimens that he collected
on March 5, 1941, at sea 5 kilometers northwest of Ensenada Guayabo,
during the Askoy Expedition. The locality is offshore to the south
of Jaqué, Darién, a short distance north of the Colombian boundary.

The race chlororhynchus, under present understanding of the
populations of this shearwater, nests on islands off Australia, at Lord
Howe and Norfolk Islands, and at the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.
In the eastern Pacific it breeds on San Benedicto, in the Revilla
Gigedo group, off Baja California.

One of the two birds taken is in dark phase, and the other in
light phase plumage.

Family HYDROBATIDAE: Storm Petrels; Paifios

Three species of this family reach the Pacific waters off Panama
during wanderings from their breeding grounds, one of them, Oceano-
droma tethys, coming from the northwestern coast of South America,
and the other two, Loomelania melania and Halocyptena microsoma,
from islands near Baja California. Northern and southern groups
thus range together in this intermediate area.

FAMILY HYDROBATIDAE 43

It is certain that other kinds will be recorded when more is
known of the bird life of the offshore waters. There is now a
sight record for a fourth, Oceanites gracilis, and probability of
several others in Pacific waters. Others may come casually along the
Caribbean. (One present sight record in the Gulf of Panama for
Oceanodroma castro by C. A. Fleming (Emu, 1950, p. 177) from
a steamer July 20, 1948, “approaching the islands in the Bay” appears
uncertain. )

KEY TO SPECIES OF HYDROBATIDAE

1. Upper tail coverts white.
Abdomen! blackas : ..jcnee cts Galapagos petrel, Oceanodroma tethys, p. 43
Abdomen white... ....0..3%. Graceful storm petrel, Oceanites gracilis, p. 45
2. Upper tail coverts dark, like the rest of the plumage.
Smaller, not more than 150 mm, long.
Least petrel, Halocyptena microsoma, p. 45
Larger, 200 mm. long, or more....Black petrel, Loomelania melania, p. 47

OCEANODROMA TETHYS (Bonaparte): Galapagos Petrel; Danzarina

A small petrel, with upper tail coverts and lower rump white;
elsewhere dark colored ; tail slightly forked.

Description—Length 140 to 160 mm. Sooty black above; browner
on the lower surface and on the wing coverts ; lower rump and upper
tail coverts white, with dark shafts; some white on the outermost
under tail coverts.

Iris brown ; bill, tarsus, and toes black.

This is a bird of the Galapagos Islands and the northwest coast
of South America that after its breeding season ranges north in
the eastern Pacific to waters off northwestern México. As it has been
found off Panama a number of times it appears that it passes regu-
larly through this area though probably, in the main, well at sea.

Two subspecies separated by differences in size currently are
recognized with specimens of both recorded within the limits of the
present work.

Robins (Condor, 1958, pp. 300-301) saw petrels of this type
following the fishing boat on which he traveled July 15 to 26, 1957,
from near Taboga to beyond Bahia Pifias, Darién. Dr. Oscar Owre
informs me that the specimen recorded by Robins as taken at Bahia
Santelmo, Isla del Rey, on July 24, was prepared as a flat skin that
could not be preserved permanently so that the race concerned in
these records is not known.

Dennis R. Paulson, when a student at the Institute of Marine

44 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Science, University of Miami, in 1961, during a cruise as naturalist
on the yacht Argosy, A. Glassell owner, found these petrels common
from September 6 to 14 in the Bay and Gulf of Panama, even among
the boats anchored off Panama City. Apparently this was the
period of their movement from their southern nesting grounds. As
noted below one specimen taken was the typical subspecies. Another
that came aboard ship in Colombian waters was the race kelsallt,
so that it appears that both races were in company.

OCEANODROMA TETHYS TETHYS (Bonaparte)

Thalassidroma Tethys Bonaparte, Tagebl. der 29. Versaml. Deutsch. Naturf.
Aerzte, Wiesbaden, Beilage, Sept. 25, 1852, p. 89. (Galapagos Islands.)

Characters —Larger, its greater size indicated by longer wing:
Males (3 specimens, from the Galapagos Islands), wing 129.0-132.6
mm. ; females (3 specimens from the Galapagos Islands), 132.9-136.0
mm.

Visitor to Pacific waters off Panama.

This, the nominate race of the species, breeds on the Galapagos
Islands, and after the nesting season ranges in the eastern Pacific
north to the latitude of southern Baja California, and south to that
of southern Ecuador.

A skin in the British Museum (Natural History) collected by the
St. George Expedition, with a wing measurement of 129.7 mm., was
taken on September 9, 1924, “20 miles south of Panama.” Another
in the University of Miami Museum, with the wing 129.4, prepared
by D. R. Paulson, came to lights on the yacht Argosy when near
lat. 07° 10’ N., long. 79° 04’ W., a point due south of the western-
most islands in the Perlas group and about midway on a line from
the southernmost point on the Azuero Peninsula to the international
boundary between Panama and Colombia. Though well offshore at
the southern end of the Gulf of Panama, this is within waters that
may be regarded as to be included for pelagic species.

OCEANODROMA TETHYS KELSALLI (Lowe)

Thalassidroma tethys kelsalli P. R. Lowe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 46, Nov. 4,
1925, p. 6. (Isla Pescadores, off Anc6én, Pert.)

Characters —Similar to O. t. tethys, but smaller, with shorter
wing: Males (4 specimens at sea off Pert, Colombia, and Panama),
wing 122.7-125.9 mm. ; females (3 specimens at sea off Colombia and
Panama), 123.4-128.0 mm.

Visitor to the Pacific waters of Panama.

FAMILY HYDROBATIDAE 45

This form breeds on islands off the coast of Pert, where it is
reported on Isla Pescadores and Isla San Gallan. Murphy (Oceanic
Birds S. Amer., 1936, p. 731) records it as ranging south to the
latitude of northern Chile, and his supposition that these birds may
come northward as far as Panama is now verified. A male in the
British Museum (Natural History) was taken by the St. George
Expedition “near Balboa” on August 22, 1924. Two others of this
sex in the American Museum of Natural History were collected by
Robert Cushman Murphy, one during the Askoy Expedition, 4 miles
west of Punta Caracoles, Darién, February 26, 1941, and another
south of Punta Dirgado, Darién, September 11, 1937.

Another, a male (now in the American Museum of Natural His-
tory), was taken by William Beebe, March 28, 1938, at Banco Han-
nibal, west of Isla Coiba. Dr. Beebe informed me that the bird came
to lights used in the night-collecting of marine animals. (See Beebe,

Book of Bays, 1942, pp. 280, 297.)

OCEANITES GRACILIS (Elliot): Graceful Storm Petrel; Golondrina de
Mar Chica

Thalassidroma gracilis Elliot, Ibis, vol. 1, no. 4, Oct. 1859, p. 391. (Coast of
Chile.)

A small petrel, with upper tail coverts and abdomen white.

Description—Length about 180 mm. Sooty black; upper tail
coverts and abdomen white.

Reported as a casual visitor to the Gulf of Panama, according to
a sight record by Robert Cushman Murphy, cited by Eisenmann
(Trans. Linn. Soc. New York, vol. 7, 1955, p. 11).

The typical race, O. g. gracilis, known from the west coast of
South America from Punta Santa Elena, Ecuador to Valparaiso,
Chile, with breeding grounds at present unknown, has the wing 117
to 132 mm., females being larger than males. Another form,
Oceanites gracilis galapagoensis Lowe, recorded only near the
Galapagos Islands, with nesting grounds also unknown, is larger,
with the wing 130 to 146 mm.

It is the nominate form that may be expected north to Panamanian
waters.

HALOCYPTENA MICROSOMA Coues: Least Petrel; Golondrina de Mar
Menuda

Ficure 8

Halocyptena microsoma Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, March-
April (June 30), 1864, p. 79. (San José del Cabo, Baja California.)

46 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Size very small ; wholly dark colored.
Description.—Length 145 mm. Plain sooty black. Smallest of the
petrels found in Panama.

Fic. 8.—Least petrel, golondrina de mar menuda, Halocyptena microsoma.

Iris brown ; bill black ; tarsus and toes black.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, p.
729).—Adult (sexes alike, 11 specimens), wing 118-125 (121), tail
50-56 (53.4), exposed culmen 11-12 (11.4), tarsus 20.5-22 (21.2)

mm.

FAMILY HYDROBATIDAE 47

Regular visitor off the Pacific coast.

The least petrel nests in the north near Baja California, on the
San Benito Islands off the western coast, and on several small islands
in the northern third of the Golfo de California. Bent (U. S. Nat.
Mus. Bull. 121, 1922, p. 125) records egg dates from July 2 to 27.
While these petrels are common outside the nesting season off
Panama, there are few definite records. Those available are as fol-
lows: February 12, 1950, two seen between Isla Pacheca and Taboga
(Wetmore) ; Panama Bay, March 1888, the second known specimen,
taken at night when it flew on board the S. S. Albatross (Townsend,
Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 13, 1890, p. 141); March 14, 1944,
half a dozen seen midway between Isla San José and Balboa (Wet-
more) ; March 31, 1962, common in the area to the south of Isla
Bona (Wetmore) ; May 23, 1941, near San José (taken by Robert
Cushman Murphy).

Among the petrels seen in the Gulf of Panama and southward off
Darién there may be noted an occasional bird of the present species,
known at once from its small size coupled with uniformly dark colors,
and rather long, wedge-shaped tail. They fly just above the surface,
and may be told from the black petrels by their quicker movements
and more erratic fluttering flight, in addition to the size difference.
Also they tend to move more in the troughs of the waves. Occasionally
they alight for a few seconds while they peck quickly at the water,
and then rise easily, twisting and turning, to continue their wandering.
Like the black petrel they are not attracted to small boats, for al-
though sometimes I have seen them flying parallel to the course
of launches on which I was traveling, they seldom approached nearer
than 100 to 200 meters even when crossing in front. I have never
had one come within gun range.

On the evening of March 21, 1952, on Isla Taboga, while sitting in
the brilliantly lighted, open dining room of the Hotel Taboga over-
looking the sea, I saw what I thought was a bat flutter against the
white inner wall and drop behind a door. On investigation I found
that it was one of these small petrels.

LOOMELANIA MELANIA (Bonaparte): Black Petrel; Golondrina de Mar
Negra

Procellaria melania Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 38, no. 14
(for Apr. 3), 1854, p. 662. (Vicinity of San Francisco, California.)
A petrel of medium size, wholly dark in color.
Description—Length 200 to 230 mm. Sooty black throughout,
somewhat paler on greater wing coverts; tail deeply forked.

48 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, p.
744) —Adult, sexes alike (from 10 specimens from the California
breeding grounds), wing 168-177, tail 80-86, culmen 15-16.5, tarsus
31-34 mm.

Iris brown; bill black; inside of mouth and tongue yellow; tarsus
and toes black.

Regular visitor, off the Pacific coast.

The black petrel breeds in the north around Baja California, at
Los Coronados and San Benito islands on the northwest coast, and
on islands in the northern third of Golfo de California. Bent (U. S.
Nat. Mus. Bull. 121, 1922, pp. 157, 158) records eggs from May
30 to July 23, and young in early September. Available dates of
occurrence in Panamanian waters are as follows, arranged in order
of monthly occurrence (without regard to the year): January 16 to
31 (1960), February 25 (1957), March 14 (1944), March 21, 24
(1952), March 31 (1962), records by the writer; March 24 (1915),
specimen taken by Hallinan; July 18, 19, 23, sight records by Robins
(Condor, 1958, p. 301) ; September 8, 9 (1924), specimens in British
Museum (Natural History) ; November (1956), sight records by
R. C. Murphy. Apparently the southward movement may start im-
mediately when the first young are on the wing. At the end of
March 1952, northward migration may have begun, as on the even-
ing of the 21st one flew into the open, strongly lighted dining room
of the hotel on Taboga Island.

(Sight records of petrels in these waters on September 18, 1939,
by Fleming, Emu, 1950, p. 177, reported as Oceanodroma markhami,
may have been of this species.)

In travel by launch in the Gulf of Panama, black petrels may be
noted flying just above the water, moving somewhat erratically from
side to side, but at the same time following a fairly direct course.
In most instances the view is a distant one since they do not follow
boats, and so are encountered only by chance. While they fly low they
move less in the troughs of the waves than the fluttering petrel and
also have a more direct line of flight. However, they travel with fair
rapidity and soon pass from sight. Usually they range well away
from land, though I have noted them within 8 kilometers of Balboa.
Though most common in the Gulf of Panama they are found also to
the south off Darién.

Order PELECANIFORMES
Family PHAETHONTIDAE: Tropicbirds; Aves del Tropico

The three species of this family have an appropriate English name
as they range tropical seas on either side of the Equator around the

FAMILY PHAETHONTIDAE 49

world. They are gull-like in general form, marked by the long
slender plumes of the central tail feathers, which, when fully grown,
exceed the length of the head and body. Panama has the only
breeding colony of one species, the red-billed tropicbird, in the whole
of Central America.

PHAETHON AETHEREUS MESONAUTA, Peters: Red-billed Tropicbird,
Rabijunco

FIGURE 9

Phaéthon aethereus mesonauta Peters, Occ. Papers Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol.
5, Apr. 15, 1930, p. 261. (Swan Cay, off Isla Colén, Bocas del Toro, Panama.)

Gull-like in general form, with greatly elongated central tail
feathers.

Description—Length 760 to 880 mm. (including the fully de-
veloped central tail feathers) ; white, often tinged lightly with pink;
upper surface irregularly barred with black; lengthened middle tail
feathers, including shaft, white. Plumage firm and compact.

Iris brown; bill red; tarsus and basal half of toes dull yellowish-
buff; end of toes, with connecting sections of webs and claws black.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, p.
798) .—Sexes alike (18 specimens from American localities), wing
293-317 (305), tail (normal feathers) 94-115 (105), (central tail
feathers 428-658), exposed culmen 60-66 (63.2), tarsus 26-29 (27.8)
mm.

Resident. Nests on Swan Cay in the Caribbean off Isla Coldn,
northeast of the entrance of the pass Boca del Drago. The birds fly
out over the sea to feed but apparently do not range far.

Swan Cay, approximately 70 meters long, is a rounded quarter
moon in shape, pierced by two openings through one end, and rises
55 meters at the highest point. On the southern side, sheltered from
the northeastern trade winds, there is a small sandy beach below a
higher level area. Bushes and other vegetation cover the summit, and
there is a small clump of coconut palms at the low end. On January
26, 1958, as Thomas Dunn and I, traveling in his fishing boat, ap-
proached the island a tropicbird passed high overhead, and presently
others circled among the brown boobies that flew out as we came
near. The tropicbirds soared easily, with long tail streamers un-
dulating in the wind, graceful and attractive in every way. On the
leeward side of the islet several rested on nests placed on narrow
ledges on the rock faces above the sea, where they were sheltered
by overhang above. Some were low down, a meter or two above the

50 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

height of maximum storm waves, others higher. I estimated that
the colony consisted of 30 to 35 pairs. Scattered birds rested on
the water in addition to those that perched on the cliffs, or circled near
the island.

The eggs are oval, some broader than others, verging toward
short-oval. The shell is pitted, and the ground color is dull white,
but in most so solidly dotted with Natal brown to bone brown that
the lighter base is almost completely obscured. In some the dots

Fic. 9.—Red-billed tropicbird, rabijunco, Phaethon aethereus mesonauta.

are more concentrated at the larger end, and occasional eggs have
scattered irregular spots, or are less heavily marked so that the
pale base color is seen. Bent (U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 121, 1922, p. 188)
gives the measurements, taken from 40 eggs, as ranging from 50.5
to 63.2 mm. long by 36.5 to 46. mm. broad, with the average 56.4 by
41.7 mm.

This is the only colony in the western part of the southern Carib-
bean Sea, the nearest known neighbors of the species being on Los
Roques off the north coast of Venezuela, 1,600 kilometers distant.
There has been some confusion in published accounts as to the
location of Swan Cay. Peters (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71,

FAMILY PELECANIDAE SI

1931, p. 295), who described this race of tropicbird from specimens
from this island, was not able to find it on maps available to him,
and wrote that it “is said to lie between Isla Bastimentos and Isla
Popa,” which are two of the islands on the eastern boundary of
Almirante Bay. The true location is given in the reference to the
original description above.

The red-billed tropicbird is reported to nest on Isla Malpelo, in the
Pacific Ocean off Colombia, but apparently does not wander ex-
tensively. The only record for the Gulf of Panama is one seen by
Dennis R. Paulson on September 7, 1961, when traveling on the
yacht Argosy between Balboa and the Pearl Islands.

(The statement by Loye Miller (Condor, 1937, p. 16), that “a
single yellow-billed tropicbird (Phaéthon lepturus) was seen on the
Caribbean coast” between the Canal and the Chiriqui Lagoon, with-
out much question refers to the present species. )

Family PELECANIDAE: Pelicans ; Pelicanos

The eight species of pelicans, world wide in distribution through
temperate and tropical regions, are heavy-bodied birds, with long
bills that support bare throat pouches, used as scoops in capturing
their food of fish. While some frequent fresh water for part of
the year, the brown pelican, the only species that reaches Panama, is
confined to a salt or brackish-water habitat.

The American white pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Gmelin,
has been listed as reaching Panama in its winter wanderings south-
ward, but this is in error, as the bird is not recorded in Central
America beyond Guatemala. (See Hellmayr and Conover, Cat. Birds
Amer., pt. 1, no. 2, 1948, p. 116).

PELECANUS OCCIDENTALIS CAROLINENSIS Gmelin; Brown Pelican;
Alcatraz

Ficure 10

Pelecanus carolinensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 571. (Charles-
ton Harbor, South Carolina.)

Large, with a huge pouch, bare of feathers, that extends from
the upper foreneck to the end of the long bill.

Description—Length 1.2 to 1.4 meters. Adult, upper surface, in-
cluding wings, gray; under surface grayish brown; head white. In
breeding dress, the hind neck is very dark brown with a line of
white on either side ; in winter the neck is entirely white.

52 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Immature, above, including head and neck, dark gray; below
white, with sides streaked with brownish gray.

Measurements—Males (28 specimens from the United States),
wing 500-550 (526), tail 123-158 (136), culmen 280-348 (319),
tarsus 70-89.4 (80.5) mm.

Females (23 specimens from the United States), wing 483-528
(501), tail 122-153 (136), culmen 280-333 (294), tarsus 68-83.7
(75.7) mm.

Fic. 10.—Brown pelican, alcatraz, Pelecanus occidentalis carolinensis.

Iris yellow; bare skin around eye bluish gray; bill dull gray to
grayish white spotted irregularly with orange, with the tip of the
maxilla and distal half of the mandible dull black, the whole with
more or less grayish white exfoliation; pouch dull grayish brown to
olive brown; crus, tarsus, toes, and claws black.

Resident. Common along the Caribbean coast; more abundant
along the Pacific, especially in Panama Bay. The recorded breeding
colonies are as follows: Isla Iguana, on the coast of Los Santos
above Punta Mala; islas Pacheca, Pedro Gonzalez, Sefiora, and
Galera in the Archipiélago de las Perlas; Isla Bona, Isla Chame,

FAMILY PELECANIDAE 53

Isla Urava, islets near Isla Taboguilla, and Isla Taboga, in Panama
Bay.

The brown pelican is one of the most prominent of the sea birds of
the Republic, seen constantly along beaches, and found over the open
sea among the islands, often to the number of hundreds. Flocks fly
in procession over the water, alternately flapping the wings and sailing,
in this following the pattern of the one in the lead, so that the
change in method of progression flows ripplelike back over the line.
Often the birds fly low, almost touching the water, at the proper
point over the crest of a long roller where they are aided in
support by up draft in the air currents, and so progress with a
minimum of effort.

When fish are sighted the birds dive instantly. The neck is extended
before reaching the water and the birds submerge completely. Then
usually they turn so that as they rise to the surface they face in the
direction opposite to that in which they had been flying. If a fish
has been captured the bird floats with the tip of the bill down to
drain the pouch, when the head is thrown up and the fish swallowed
with a gulp. When the pouch is especially full it may be pressed
back against the neck to accelerate the flow of water. Often a
laughing gull is in attendance to snatch at the food if at all possible,
a thievery to which the pelican pays no attention.

In another method of fishing, usually in shallow water, the birds
swim with the tip of the bill cutting the surface, and as fish are
sighted thrust suddenly at them. Young birds, perhaps not yet fully
skilled in diving, often feed by this method in deep water. Where
schools of fish remain stationary, pelicans, young and old, rest on
the water in close flocks, stabbing at their prey with open bills.

When satisfied they rest in groups, on rocks, or in trees or bushes.
Frequently they remain thus at low water, to become more active
with change in the tide. On various occasions I have found them
fishing at night, even when there was little light.

Pelicans pass constantly across the isthmus, commonly over Gatun
Lake, and regularly at other points. The common belief that they
have learned to fly the trans-isthmian route by following the canal
since it was completed has no foundation. Napoleon Garella (Project
Canal travers Istme Panama, 1845, p. 73), who made a survey for a
possible canal route in 1844, mentioned pelicans crossing between
the head waters of the Rio Caimito of the Pacific side, and the Rio
Paja, tributary to the Rio Chagres of the Atlantic slope, and cited
their flights to support his location of this pass as the lowest point

54 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

on the continental divide. Wagner (Abh. Math.-Phys. Cl. Kon.
Bayer. Akad. Wiss., vol. 10, 1866, pp. 86, 88) verified these observa-
tions of Garella. Pelicans are not restricted in transisthmian journeys
to the depression at the Canal Zone, as on occasion they cross else-
where, even where the land is high. Charles O. Handley, Jr., in-
forms me that on March 15, 1959, while on Cerro Mali, near the
head of the Rio Pucro in Darién, he saw a flock of 8 pelicans en
route from the Atrato basin in Colombia to the head of Rio
Tacarcuna, bound evidently for the Pacific. They were flying at an
elevation of about 2,000 meters.

While brown pelicans fish mainly on salt water they follow channels
at the mouths of the larger rivers inland, usually at ebb tide, and
may be found then to the head of tidewater.

Nesting is somewhat irregular but appears to come mainly from
January to April. On Isla Taboga, in 1952, I found well-grown
young on February 3, and later, on March 15, I collected a set of
one-fourth incubated eggs. In 1955 they had not yet come to the
colony to nest on December 24. In 1960, at Isla Pacheca, several
birds were on their nests on January 20, and others were colonized
on Isla Galera on January 28. At Isla Bona, March 31, 1962, I
noted nearly grown young still in the nest and others only recently
on the wing. Maj. Gen. G. Ralph Meyer collected eggs ranging from
fresh to slightly incubated on Isla Chame on February 15, 1942,
and freshly \aid eggs February 21, 1943. The nests are broad, ir-
regular platforms of fair-sized twigs, 400 to 750 mm. across,
strongly made, though not especially thick. The 2 or 3 eggs in a
set are chalky white, rough-shelled, and usually marked with blood,
sometimes heavily when first laid. Stain usually increases as in-
cubation progresses. In form the eggs are somewhat more pointed at
either end than subelliptical. Measurements of two sets of two, and
two sets of three eggs from islas Chame and Taboga are as follows:
Length 72.2 to 76.8 mm.; width 48.8 to 51.4 mm., average 74.4 by
50.2 mm.

Fishermen and others have told me that they know of no nesting
colonies of pelicans on the Caribbean coast of Panama, the nearest
to the north of which I have found record being on Isla Contoy, off
the coast of Quintana Roo. In the opposite direction, I was informed
in 1941 that these birds nested on rocky islets off Santa Marta,
Colombia, but I was not able to verify this. However, there may
be breeding places nearer at hand, since on February 20, 1958, at
Boca del Drago, I saw one young pelican that obviously had not
been long away from parental care.

FAMILY SULIDAE 55

The subspecies carolinensis ranges from the southeastern United
States along the continental coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the
Caribbean Sea. It is found also on the Pacific side from Guatemala
(possibly from southern México) south along the Isthmus of
Panama. Birds from the Pacific side of Panama usually show an
approach in darker color of the hindneck to the race Pelecanus
occidentalis murphyi Wetmore of the Pacific coast of Colombia and
Ecuador, but are to be placed with carolinensis.

Pelicans are known locally among fishermen as cuacos. Those
who speak English around Almirante call them “Old Joe.”

Lionel Wafer (Isthm. Amer., 1699, p. 120) wrote of the pelican
that “under the throat hangs a Bag or Pouch, which, when fill’d is
as large as both ones Fists. The substance of it is a thin membrane,
of a fine grey, ashy Colour. The Seamen Kill them for the sake of
these bags, to make Tobacco-pouches of them; for when dry, they
will hold a pound of Tobacco; and by a Bullet hung in them they
are soon brought into shape.” Berthold Seemann (Voy. Herald,
vol. 1, 1853, p. 263) describes a deer call that he saw used by
hunters in Veraguas made from the wing bone of a pelican “covered
at one end with a peculiar kind of cobweb, which forms an instru-
ment that will imitate the cry of a young deer so closely that the
old ones, in the belief that some mishap has befallen their kid, repair
to the place and are shot.”

On the San Blas coast, the Cuna string segments of hollow wing
bones of pelicans, usually the ulna, as pendants on necklaces.

Family SULIDAE: Boobies, Gannets ; Bobas, Piqueros

The species of this family, like others in the order Pelecaniformes,
range worldwide. Gannets are birds of the temperate zones; boobies
are found through tropical seas. Four of the 7 living species of the
latter group range along Panamanian coasts, confined wholly to
salt-water habitat. The family as a whole is an ancient one in avian
history, and numerous fossil species have been named from bones
found in deposits that range in age throughout the vast reaches of
Tertiary time.

KEY TO SPECIES OF SULIDAE

1. Feet red or reddish in all plumages........ Red-footed booby, Sula sula, p. 63
Feet greenish, yellow, yellowish, or orange; never red...............0. 2

56 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

2. Plain sooty brown above, and on throat and upper breast, the latter sep-
arated posteriorly from the white or grayish brown lower breast by a

dente line. <.ccic.ssceeaee ee eeranen Brown booby, Sula leucogaster, p. 56
White above, or grayish brown, variegated with white...............++ 3
OUR ARE NACI, «ny cc seees eh Gianen ea epee Blue-faced booby, Sula dactylatra, p. 60

Tail grayish, or grayish and white....Blue-footed booby, Sula nebouxit, p. 61

SULA LEUCOGASTER (Boddaert): Brown Booby; Piquero Moreno
Ficure 11

Adult with neck and upper breast dark, set off sharply from the
white of the rest of the under parts.

Description—Length 660 to 760 mm. Adult, brownish black, with
the lower breast and abdomen white.

Immature, dark grayish brown, with the under surface paler,
somewhat mottled, usually with a faint indication of the sharply
defined line that in the adult separates the white and dark areas of
the breast.

Brown boobies, found along both coasts, are more abundant in
the Gulf of Panama than in the Caribbean. To see them it is neces-
sary usually to go offshore, though occasionally they come along the
mainland, around rocky headlands, or at the heads of bays. Over
the Gulf of Panama they appear regularly as single birds or small
groups that course with set wings, low near the water shifting at
intervals in the air currents to rise 10 to 15 meters above the surface.
Angular in form, they are streamlined gliders from the tip of the
sharp-pointed bill, back over its swelling base and the increasing
diameter of the head and the thickened neck, with no appreciable
break in outline. This smooth contour swells over the body, and then
tapers to termination in the long, pointed tail. The narrow wings,
held stiffly without flapping at right angles to the body, are the
efficient sail-planes that support the bird, and through slight shifts in
angle guide its course and regulate its speed. Only in take-off from
the water, or from a perch on land does the booby stroke its wings,
and then only to gain sufficient momentum for support on the air
currents over which it rides.

Brown boobies live mainly around small offshore islands, on some
of which they nest. They rest usually on the face or summits of
cliffs or on jumbled rocks above the shore. When the air is calm
they remain inactive, but when the wind freshens they range out to
feed. In travel by launch through the waters that they frequent one
often sees boobies swing briefly near at hand and then, their
curiosity satisfied, veer off, intent on their fishing. It is mainly the
immature birds that show continued interest, and follow boats for

FAMILY SULIDAE 57

any length of time. Such unsuspicious individuals sometimes ride
along near at hand on the favorable air currents generated by the
passage of the launch.

When fish are sighted they plunge, often from a fair height,

Fic. 11—Brown booby, piquero moreno, Sula leucogaster.

sometimes directly down, sometimes at an angle. As they surface
after a dive they are headed in the same direction as when they
entered the water, since they do not turn and reverse as does the
brown pelican.

Boobies in their search for food are birds of the sea, the isthmus
forming a barrier of land that they do not cross. While the present

58 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

species is found in both the Caribbean and the Pacific adjacent to
the shores, the two oceans are inhabited by subspecies distinct from
one another in characters of color.

SULA LEUCOGASTER LEUCOGASTER (Boddaert)
Pelecanus Leucogaster Boddaert, Tabl. Planch. Enlum., 1783, p. 57. (Cayenne.)

Characters—In this race the adults, male and female, are similar
in color. The female differs from that of S. l. etesiaca of the Pacific
side in having the back, wings, and tail paler brown than the head,
neck, and chest.

Iris grayish white; bare skin around eye dull gray, except for the
eyelids which are blue; gular pouch, bare skin of forehead and
around gape, yellow; base of bill yellow, changing to pale dull
grayish brown at tip; tarsus, toes, and webs yellow; claws dull
neutral gray.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, p.
854).—Males (13 specimens), wing 372-391 (381), tail 169-198
(186), exposed culmen 87.8-101.0 (92.7), tarsus 42.0-48.4 (44.3)
mm.

Females (10 specimens), wing 384-415 (400), tail 162-198 (180),
exposed culmen 91.8-102.0 (96.3), tarsus 45-48 (46.8) mm.

Resident. Fairly common along the Caribbean coast.

The known breeding colonies in Panama are on the following
offshore islands: Swan Key, off Boca del Drago, and islets off the
western end of Isla Escudo de Veraguas, Bocas del Toro; Farallon
Sucio, off Punta Cacique, between Portobelo and Nombre de Dios,
Colén. There is also a breeding colony on Isla Tonel, Colombia,
located on the western side of the entrance to the Gulf of Uraba,
a few miles beyond the eastern boundary of the Comarca de San
Blas. The eggs are like those of Sula l. etesiaca.

Downy young of good size were noted March 1, 1958, on the
islets at Escudo de Veraguas. Though the birds wander to some
extent, and so are seen occasionally off Colon harbor, and elsewhere,
they are found more frequently near their nesting colonies. They are
common in Almirante Bay and at sea off Boca del Drago.

SULA LEUCOGASTER ETESIACA Thayer and Bangs

Sula etesiaca Thayer and Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. 46, June 1905,
p. 92. (Gorgona Island, Colombia.)

Characters.—Male strikingly different from that of S. 1. leucogaster,
as the forepart of the head is distinctly gray. Female similar to

FAMILY SULIDAE 59

that of the other race, but with back and wings uniform in color
with the head, neck, and chest.

An adult male taken at Pacheca, January 20, 1960, had the iris
Marguerite yellow; space around eye dull blue, becoming dull bluish
green on the base of rami, and leaden blue on the gular area; base
of maxilla dull greenish buff; rest of bill greenish drab, except cul-
men which was fuscous ; feet and tarsi light greenish yellow.

An adult female shot off Isla Cafias, on the same day, had the
eye colored as in the male; a large spot in front of the eye dull
leaden blue; rest of bare skin around eye, base of bill all around,
and gular sac light yellow; bill light avellaneous; tarsus and toes
light greenish yellow ; webs between the toes bright yellow.

Measurements——Males (15 specimens), wing 360-384 (370), tail
163-187 (181), culmen from base 82.0-93.3 (88.6), tarsus 44.8-48.0
(45.5) mm.

Females (14 specimens), wing 385-408 (397), tail 182-198 (189),
culmen from base 89.6-103.2 (95.8), tarsus 46.8-49.8 (48.2) mm.

Resident. Common along the Pacific coast, particularly in the Gulf
of Panama.

The following nesting colonies are recorded: Isla Bona; Farallon
Rock, off the southern side of Isla Taboguilla; Isla Pachequilla, Isla
Pacheca, Isla Saboga, and Isla Galera, Archipiélago de las Perlas.
Friends who fish in the Gulf of Chiriqui have told me of a colony of
boobies on Islas Ladrones, doubtless the piquero moreno, as this
is the common one in those waters. Murphy (Vert. SCOPE, 1957,
pp. 133-134) reported many near these islands on November 25, 1956.
Hellmayr and Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 2, 1948, p. 136)
are in error in their inclusion of Isla Chepillo and Isla del Rey in
their list of breeding colonies, since these localities are merely records
of birds seen many years ago by Bovallius (Rendahl, Ark. Zool.,
Bd. 12, 1920, p. 10), or where specimens were collected in 1904 by
Brown (Thayer and Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 46, 1905,
p. 141).

Three sets of eggs of 2 each, in the U. S. National Museum,
collected by Maj. Gen. G. Ralph Meyer, are chalky white, with a
slightly roughened surface. The outer chalky deposit completely
covers a base color of pale bluish white which is visible only when
the shell has been scratched sufficiently to cut through the outer
coating. All the eggs are considerably stained. One set with incuba-
tion advanced, from Farall6n Rock taken December 13, 1942, was
placed among rocks on the ground, in a depression about 300 mm.

60 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

across, lined with twigs, leaves, and grass stems. Freshly deposited
eggs were noted here on another visit on January 23, 1944. Hallinan
(Auk. 1924, p. 306) recorded nests with eggs (Dec. 5, 1915) “ona
rocky, wooded islet about 4+ mile off shore” from Taboguilla, evi-
dently Farallon Rock. The two additional sets collected by General
Meyer were taken April 23, 1944, on Isla Pachequilla, from nests
that were depressions in the ground on the level summit of the island.
Some were in the open, others among bushes and low trees. In
some the depression was partly lined with twigs. The six eggs
measure in length 57.9-64.4 and in breadth 38.7-41.8 with an average
size of 61.2 x 40.1 mm.

Near Isla Galera I saw immature birds alight on the water and
thrust their heads repeatedly below the surface. I could determine
no reason for this, unless possibly they were feeding on plankton.
Three adult males taken here at 8:30 in the morning seem to have
left their sleeping quarters recently, as in all the stomach was empty.

This is the booby most often seen in Panamanian waters, as it out-
numbers the blue-footed booby, S. ». nebouxu, and is far more
abundant than the Caribbean representative of the species.

SULA DACTYLATRA Lesson: Blue-faced Booby; Boba Borrega

Adult white, with black tail.

Description—Length 750 to 850 mm. Adult, white, with wing
feathers, greater wing coverts, and tail black; bare face and throat
dark blue.

Immature, upper surface, head, and neck, dark brown, becoming
paler on breast, and whitish on abdomen.

This booby, largest of the species of the family reported from
Panamanian waters, is known there only from a few sight ob-
servations. It has been reported from both coasts so that two sub-
species are concerned, but the records need verification by specimens.
The two geographic races that should occur differ in size, the supposed
color differences in bill and foot color being those that distinguish
male and female.

Iris yellow; bare skin of face black; bill orange-yellow at base
in males, light red in females, distally horn color in both sexes;
tarsus and toes olive-drab in males, plumbeous in females. (From
Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, pp. 846, 848.)

SULA DACTYLATRA DACTYLATRA Lesson

Sula dactylatra Lesson, Traité Orn., livr. 8, July 11, 1831, p. 601. (Ascension
Island, South Atlantic Ocean.)

Larger in size.

FAMILY SULIDAE 61

Iris yellow; bare skin of face black; and of bill dull brown, with
base orange-yellow in male, pale red in female; tarsus and toes dull
brown in males, bluish neutral gray in females.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, p.
846). —Males (9 specimens), wing 406-433 (424), tail 153-173
(166), exposed culmen 92.6-97.2 (95.6), tarsus 53-56.2 (54) mm.

Females (7 specimens), wing 417-440 (429), tail 151-180 (164),
exposed culmen 91.6-99.0 (95.7), tarsus 52.0-54.6 (53.4) mm.

Casual visitor to the Caribbean coast.

The only reports are those of sight records by Griscom (Amer.
Mus. Nov. 282, 1927, p. 3) who recorded 4 on February 9, 1927, and
30 on February 13, 1924, off Colon harbor. These boobies nest in
scattered colonies on islands off northern Yucatan, in the southern
Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, the Grenadines, Los Hermanos north
of Venezuela, and Los Monjes between the end of the Guajira
Peninsula and the island of Aruba. From these breeding places
they wander widely through the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

SULA DACTYLATRA GRANTI Rothschild

Sula granti Rothschild, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 13, Oct. 31, 1902, p. 7.
(Culpepper Island, Galapagos Islands.)

Similar to S. d. dactylatra but averaging larger. The difference,
however, appears slight, perhaps too little to be worthy of recogni-
tion.

Color of soft parts as in Sula d. dactylatra.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, p.
846).—Males (5 specimens), wing 413-443 (429), tail 172-181
(177), exposed culmen 102.0-104.4 (102.7), tarsus 52.3-58 (55) mm.

Females (6 specimens), wing 427-468 (450), tail 176-189 (183),
exposed culmen 102.0-114.5 (106.5), tarsus 54-59 (57) mm.

Reported as a casual visitor in the Gulf of Panama.

Robins (Condor, 1958, p. 301) recorded one seen in company with
brown boobies at sea 30 kilometers off Bahia Pifias, Darién. Dennis R.
Paulson recorded others in this same area Sept. 13 and 14, 1961,
when traveling on the yacht Argosy.

This form is one of probable occurrence as it breeds at Isla de
Malpelo, Colombia, about 550 kilometers southwest, as well as in the
Galapagos.

SULA NEBOUXII NEBOUXII Milne-Edwards: Blue-footed Booby; Camanay

Sula nebouxt: Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. Zodl., ser. 6, vol. 13, art. 4, 1882,
p. 37, pl. 14. (Pacific coast of America.)

Head and neck gray, mottled with white.

62 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Description—Length 760 to 860 mm. Adult, back (except for
center), wings, and tail, grayish brown, the feathers in the center of
the back tipped with white; head and neck gray mottled with white ;
under surface, upper back, and base of neck, white; central tail
feathers white, bordered by gray.

Immature, mottled with dark grayish brown on breast and abdo-
men.

An adult female taken at Farallon del Chiri had the iris clear
yellow, while in another from Isla Villa, not as old, it was light
grayish brown, with an indistinct line of Marguerite yellow around
the external margin. In both the bill was light greenish gray, shad-
ing posteriorly into the grayish blue of the face, bare throat, ramal
area, lores, eyelids, and a narrow line on the forehead back of the
bill; tarsi and feet light bright blue, with the front of the tarsi, and
the basal joints of the toes grayer; claw of middle toe horn color,
of other toes neutral gray; bare skin surrounding anus light blue
like the webs between the toes.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, p.
830).—Males (7 specimens), wing 387-413 (403), tail 165-218
(190) ; exposed culmen 94-106 (99.7), tarsus 47-54 (50.4) mm.

Females (7 specimens), wing 403-426 (416), tail 165-215 (190),
exposed culmen 106.0-109.5 (107.5), tarsus 51-57 (55) mm.

Resident. Fairly common in the Gulf of Panama. Breeding colonies
are recorded at Isla Villa, off the coast of Los Santos; Farallon del
Chirt, off Santa Clara, Coclé; on Isla Pachequilla (probably also on
Pacheca and Galera), Archipiélago de las Perlas; and on Isla Bona.
A few pairs probably nest on rocky islets off the western side of
Isla Taboguilla.

At Isla Villa on February 28, 1957, a dozen circled off the rocky
summit when the birds resting there were alarmed. And at Farallon
del Chiri, on the same day, I noted another dozen pairs. With those
at this second locality there were a few dark-colored young. Birds
seen flying off Riomar, March 15, 1958, are presumed to have come
from this same locality. In the Archipiélago de las Perlas, Mrs.
Sturgis (Birds Panama Canal Zone, 1928, p. 112) records that “we
saw them in considerable numbers in the Pearl Islands on Pacheca
and Galera on the ledges of the cliffs.” This implies breeding but
is not definite; it seems to be the basis for the report of Hellmayr
and Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 2, 1948, p. 124) of nesting
on these two islands. On two days in January 1960 I found 20
grouped on a cliff edge on Isla Pachequilla, and saw several isolated

FAMILY SULIDAE 63

nesting sites on small ledges on the higher cliffs. Some of these held
nearly grown young. The largest colony that I have seen is on Isla
Bona, where I observed them in numbers flying off the steep rocky
slopes on March 31, 1962. Robins (Condor, 1958, pp. 301-302) in
July 1957 found this the most common booby around Isla Camote
and Isla Galera and off the coast between Punta Garachiné and
Bahia Pifias, Darién. This seems to imply either more extensive
breeding colonies than have been reported or that birds that nest
elsewhere come to the Gulf of Panama when food is abundant. I
saw one near Isla Pelado, off the mouth of the Rio Chiman, on
February 15, 1950, but noted no indication of nesting. A specimen in
the American Museum of Natural History was taken by Dr. Murphy
on the Askoy Expedition, at Ensenada Guayabo, southern Darién, on
March 2, 1941.

As these boobies circle and swing about they appear very large
against the sky. When seen from the side the gray-brown head
and neck are outlined clearly from the white breast.

The population found at the Galapagos Islands has been separated
by Todd (Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 1948, p. 99) as Sula
neboux excisa on the basis of average larger size. Murphy (Oceanic
Birds S. Amer., 1936, p. 830), the first to point to this distinction,
listed wing measurements as follows:

Pacific coast, 7 males, 387-413 ; 7 females, 403-426 mm.

Galapagos Islands, 3 males, 406-433 ; 3 females, 444-448 mm.

The difference is slight but appears valid in the specimens that I
have examined.

SULA SULA SULA (Linnaeus): Red-footed Booby; Boba Blanca
Pelecanus Sula Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 218. (Barbados.)

Adult, white or grayish brown ; tail white in both phases.

Description —Length 660 to 700 mm. Adult, white, with primaries
black, washed with gray on the outer webs; or in the darker color
phase, grayish brown, with rump and tail white.

Immature, plain grayish brown.

Gular sac black in males, bluish black in females ; feet red.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., vol. 1,
1936, p. 862).—Males (9 specimens), wing 362-385 (372.1), tail
206-231 (217), exposed culmen 76.3-85 (81.2), tarsus 32.7-36.9
(33.7), middle toe and claw 66.2-74.5 (69) mm.

Females (7 specimens), wing 378-405 (389), tail 198-215 (207.4),

64 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

exposed culmen 80.5-86.0 (83.7), tarsus 35-40.3 (37.3), middle toe
with claw 70-75.5 (72) mm.

A visitor to the Caribbean coast. Not much is known as to its
abundance.

The first record is that of Griscom (Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 282,
1927, p. 3), who reported two in Colon harbor on February 23,
1927. Thomas Imhof informs me that he saw one 5 miles off Colon
on February 23, 1943, and I recorded one that was fishing off the
mouth of the Rio Indio, Colon, to the west of the Canal Zone, on
February 20, 1952. In addition to these sight records I have an
excellent color photograph of a red-footed booby taken on December
14, 1955, by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Barnard. The bird, in gray plumage
with white tail, found on board a ship at Cristobal, was brought to
Balboa, photographed, and released there. The U. S. National
Museum has an adult female given to me by Charles L. Fagan, when
wireless operator on the Grace Line S. S. Santa Elena, taken August
27, 1924, in the Caribbean, 300 kilometers N.N.E. of Colén. The
species is not known to breed in Panamanian waters, the nearest
nesting colony of which there is record being on Half Moon Cay
off British Honduras.

Murphy (Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, pp. 861-865) after de-
tailed discussion on the color variations in these boobies does not
find clearcut grounds on which to distinguish geographic races.
These are to be expected as the species ranges through tropical seas
around the world, and other current treatment recognizes separate
forms for the Atlantic and the eastern Pacific. The eastern Pacific
population, which nests in the Revilla Gigedo Islands, on Cocos
Island off Costa Rica, and in the Galapagos, may range casually into
the Gulf of Panama. This Pacific group, described as Sula sula
webstert by Rothschild, is supposed to differ from typical Sula s. sula
on the basis of a slightly longer wing. The only report to date is an
uncertain one by Mrs. Sturgis (Birds Panama Canal Zone, 1928, p.
111), who says that it is found “about the Pearl Islands” without
more definite statement. This reference, however, without much
doubt, refers to one of the other boobies.

Family PHALACROCORACIDAE: Cormorants ; Cuervos
Marinos

The range of the 30 species of this aquatic family covers much of
the world, as cormorants have adapted to life in both salt and fresh
waters, as well as to a considerable range of temperature. The spread

FAMILY PHALACROCORACIDAE 65

of the family as a whole extends from the far north through tem-
perate and equatorial regions to southern waters. In their modern
form cormorants became established before the Middle Tertiary,
while ancient allied stocks are recognized in fossil deposits in
Paleocene time of more than 60 million years ago.

[PHALACROCORAX BOUGAINVILLII (Lesson): Peruvian Cormorant;
Guandy

Carbo Bougainvillii Lesson, in Bougainville, Journ. Nav. Thétis et Espérance,
vol. 2, 1837, p. 331. (Valparaiso, Chile.)

The only present basis for inclusion of this species is a report by
Eisenmann (Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. 7, 1955, p. 14) of a sight record
“off Darien, once, R. C. Murphy.” The guanay, the principal species
concerned in the production of the great guano deposits on the bird
islands off the coast of Pert, breeds also in isolated colonies on
islands in Chilean waters. In times of change in coastal ocean
currents when normal food supplies fail these birds wander widely.
They have been found casually north along the Pacific coast of
Colombia to Gorgona Island, and to Bahia de Malaga near Buena-
ventura (De Schauensee, Birds Colombia, 1948, p. 355), and may
straggle rarely farther into Panamanian waters.

The species is 700 to 760 mm. long and is marked by pure white
breast, with a white patch on the side of the neck, the rest of the
body being black, more or less glossed with green. ]

PHALACROCORAX OLIVACEUS OLIVACEUS (Humboldt): Olivaceous
Cormorant; Cuervo Marino

Ficure 12

Pelecanus olivaceus Humboldt, in Humboldt and Bonpland, Recueil d’observa-
tions zoologie et d’anatomie comparée, vol. 1, livr. 1, 1805, p. 6. (El Banco,
Rio Magdalena, Magdalena, Colombia.)

Large, dark-colored, with the bill hooked at tip.

Description.—Length 660 to 710 mm. Adult, black; upper surface
and wings brownish slate, the feathers edged with black; a white
line bordering the gular sac; in breeding dress, head and neck with
scattered filamentous white feathers.

Immature, grayish brown; in the first season much paler, some
being white on the under surface.

W. W. Brown, Jr., listed colors of an adult female taken March
19, 1904, at Isla del Rey as follows: Iris sea green; gular patch
yellow, darker in the center; tarsus black (a color that in the skins
includes the toes).

66 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Measurements (from adults taken in the breeding colonies on Isla
del Rey and Saboga).—Males (6 specimens), wing 283-298 (291),
tail 160-184 (172), culmen from base 58.7-67.4 (63.8), tarsus 53.7-
58.9 (57.0) mm.

Fic. 12,—Olivaceous cormorant, cuervo marino, Phalacrocorax olivaceus
olivaceus.

Females (5 specimens), wing 268-295 (276.5), tail 152-185 (161),
culmen from base 55.2-62.5 (59.4), tarsus 53.2-58.0 (56.1) mm.

Resident. Abundant in the Gulf of Panama, common along the
coasts elsewhere, ranging far inland along rivers (even to their head

FAMILY PHALACROCORACIDAE 67

waters), and on Gatun and Madden lakes; seen occasionally on the
lakes near El Volcan at 1280 meters elevation and on the Rio Caldera
near Boquete at about 1200 meters. Nesting colonies are reported on
Pacheca and Saboga islands in the Perlas group.

The number of cormorants present on the Gulf varies considerably
from season to season, governed apparently by the abundance of the
schools of fish that form their food. It seems probable that a part
of the great bands that are seen occasionally may be wanderers from
other regions in the American tropics. In the early morning of April
4, 1948, at the mouth of the Rio Chico, below the La Jagua Hunting
Club, tens of thousands flew in lines and irregular bands over the
open water of the Gulf. These flocks extended as far as I could
see through my binoculars, the total number being far beyond that
of the two breeding colonies recorded in the Perlas Islands. Earlier,
in February and March 1944, I found flocks of hundreds around
Isla San José and Isla Pedro Gonzalez, which I believed in the main
to be the resident population. In contrast to these observations, in
the period from January 16 to 31, 1960, when I was working by
seagoing launch through the Archipiélago de las Perlas fish were
not plentiful, and I recorded only one flock of a hundred cormorants
near Isla Contadora, and a few other scattered individuals. Robins
(Condor, 1958, p. 302) noted only one during a fishing trip in the
Gulf that extended from July 15 to 26, 1957.

Though so grotesque in form that some find them repulsive,
cormorants on closer acquaintance show many interesting habits. The
great flocks found at times in the Gulf of Panama are attractive for
their numbers alone, as they fly in long lines, 100 to 150 meters
above the sea, in search of the schools of small fishes that form their
food. When these are sighted the birds circle precipitately down to
the water where they swim and dive amid a swarm of swooping
frigate birds and laughing gulls, and of plunging pelicans and
boobies, while mackerel, amberjack, and other great fishes surge and
swirl beneath through the close-packed masses of small fry. No
bickering is evident among these active predators, though often I
have wondered if there were not frequent collisions that might re-
sult in injury, so apparently heedless of one another are the several
kinds that join voraciously in the attack.

At a distance the dark forms of cormorants suggest geese by
their size and manner of flight. When hunger is satisfied the flocks
rest on rocks on the headlands or on sandy beaches where they
stand close together in rows, often in the wash of little waves. As

68 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

others fly in to join these ranks there is often a chorus of ‘the
croaking, grunting calls that are the only notes of these birds.

In addition to these flocks, scattered birds are found everywhere
along the coasts and inland wherever there is suitable water. While
these birds may feed alone, usually they gather in little groups to
rest and to sleep—on the coast on trees or rocks along the shore,
and inland in dead trees or branches bare of leaves over, or beside,
the water. As a boat approaches, these resting birds begin to twist
about, until finally they pitch awkwardly into the air where their
wings beat heavily to gain momentum for flight, or they plunge
beneath the water to appear at a safe distance many meters away.

On the larger rivers as the Tuira and the Chucunaque cormorants
are found in hundreds, most of them above the limit of tide. Con-
stantly shifting currents below that point usually keep the streams
muddy, so that fish if not actually more abundant are more easily
obtained in the clearer waters above. Practically all these cormorants
are immature individuals, some in first, and others in second-year
plumage, to judge from their color. It is my supposition that many
of the young birds from the nesting colonies in the Gulf move to
such fresh waters and remain there more or less permanently until
ready to breed. One indication of this is that on the upper courses
of uninhabited streams young cormorants are often almost stupidly
tame, presumably through lack of experience in dangers that would
be theirs during more extensive journeys.

On the other hand, it is quite probable that part of the cormorants
in these same stages of plumage, found in Bocas del Toro, and
elsewhere in western Panama may be migrants from elsewhere in
the Tropics. In crossing from Bocas del Toro to Panama in a Cessna
plane on one occasion I saw one cormorant flying at an elevation of
350 meters across the extensive area of unbroken forest of this part
of the Caribbean slope, an indication of wandering that would bring
these birds into the remote and isolated waters where they are some-
times found.

The abundance of this species in Panama attracted the attention
of early travelers, even of the buccaneers, as they are one of the
birds described in some detail by Lionel Wafer in his account of
Darién (Isthm. Amer., 1699, p. 121).

The nesting season appears to come in April, as W. W. Brown,
Jr., noted a nest with 6 incubated eggs April 14, 1904, on Isla Saboga
(Thayer and Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 46, 1905, p. 141).
On April 24, 1949, in early morning as I watched flocks of cormorants

im

FAMILY ANHINGIDAE 69

flying down the Rio Mamoni, near its mouth at Chepo, a bird near
the center of one flock carried a good-sized twig in its bill, while
maintaining its proper place in the long line of its companions,
indication that the nesting season was near.

According to Bent (U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 121, 1922, pp. 262-263)
4 or 5 eggs constitute the normal set. These have a ground color of
bluish white concealed beneath a coating of chalky white. In addi-
tion usually they are much nest-stained. Measurements range from
47.5-58 x 29-37 mm.

In Venezuela these birds are known as the cotiia.

Family ANHINGIDAE: Snakebirds ; Cuervos de Aguja

The four species recognized in this family are found throughout
the warmer areas of the world, mainly on fresh water. All are
similar in slender form, with long, straight bill (in which the edges
of the mandibles are finely serrate), narrow head, long, slender
neck, and narrow body. Some ornithologists have united this family
with the cormorants, presumably on the basis of general resem-
blances in color and manner of life, but anatomical studies show
differences too important to warrant this combination. Among the
distinctions, the snakebirds have a peculiar stomach in which there
is a separate small lobe at the upper end for the glands found in
most other birds in the proventriculus, and a second division at the
lower end, in which a series of slender, hairlike processes are
clustered around the narrow opening into the intestine. There is also
an arrangement in the upperpart of the neck that serves as a trigger
to control the head as a spear to impale the fish that form the food.
These are peculiar adjustments not found in cormorants, and with
other details establish separate family status. It may be noted also
that in the snakebirds primaries and secondaries are molted simul-
taneously as they are in ducks, and so for a period the birds are
flightless.

ANHINGA ANHINGA LEUCOGASTER (Vieillot): Anhinga; Cuervo de Aguja
Ficure 13
Plotus leucogaster Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 1, Sept. 1816,
p. 545. (Florida. )

Long neck, with slender head and long straight bill mark this
species, as compared to the cormorant.
Description—Length 760 to 900 mm. Very slender in form with

7O SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

long, thin neck. Male black, marked prominently on wings and
back with grayish white.

Female similar, but with breast, head, and neck, light brown.

For measurements see below.

N
mM

» me

Fic. 13.—Anhinga, cuervo de aguja, Anhinga anhinga leucogaster.

Resident. Found around larger bodies of fresh water in the low-
lands, ranging into tidal areas among the mangroves.

The species is most common around Gatun and Madden Lakes, and
along the Rio Chagres between these two, and is found in fair num-
bers on the Tuira and Chucunaque Rivers. I have seen it regularly

FAMILY ANHINGIDAE 71

in the Province of Herrera, around the marshes east of Pacora, and
have one specimen from the lower Rio Jaqué, in Darién. The bird
is fairly common also around Changuinola, in Bocas del Toro.
Two (now in the British Museum) were collected by Arcé years
ago at Laguna de Castillo in southern Veraguas, which is the most
western record on the Pacific slope. To date the species has not been
reported from Chiriqui, Los Santos, or the Comarca de San Blas.

In ordinary flight the anhinga alternately flaps the wings rapidly
several times to gain momentum and then spreads them stiffly while
it sails. It is common to see them soaring, alone or in company of
other birds, in rising air currents. Their outline against the sky—
slender head and neck extended, broad wings and tail—suggests that
of a sailplane.

It is common also to see them perched on snags or in dead trees
beside the water, and often when approached instead of flying they
drop heavily into the water, dive, and disappear. Frequently they
swim with the body nearly submerged so that only the slender head
and neck are visible, from which habit they are called snakebirds.
They fish by diving, during which, unlike most water birds, the
outer body feathers become completely soaked. The birds then rest
on an open perch with wings wide spread to allow the plumage to
dry. On one occasion, on the Rio Escota, near Santa Maria, Herrera,
I shot two for specimens that fell in the river. While we were
cutting a long bamboo to retrieve them, both birds became water-
logged and sank, one of them in deep water where it could not be
found.

Though the Cuervo de Aguja undoubtedly is resident no nests
have been reported yet from Panama. Elsewhere usually they
gather in small colonies though pairs may remain alone.

Information relative to breeding in the southeastern United States
from southern Texas to Florida (Bent, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 121,
1922, pp. 230-232) describes the nest as an untidy structure sug-
gestive of that of a heron but more bulky. It is placed rather low in
bushes or trees, and is built of sticks, usually with a lining of twigs
bearing green leaves. The 3 to 5 eggs are pale bluish white, with a
chalky coating that becomes stained brownish or yellowish during
incubation. They vary in length from 47 to 57.5 mm. and in breadth
by 33 to 37.5 mm. Anhingas often nest in company with herons and
ibises.

The species sometimes is known as cuervo de agua dulce to distin-
guish it from the cormorant.

72 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Two geographic races of this wide-ranging bird are recognized at
present. The northern form Anhinga anhinga leucogaster (Vieillot)
of the southeastern United States, south throughout Central Amer-
ica, and of Cuba and the Isle of Pines, has the light band at the
tip of the tail narrow and averages smaller.

Males (44 specimens), wing 316-347 (330), culmen from base
74.0-89.9 (81.8) mm.

Females (28 specimens), wing 314-348 (327), culmen from base
70.5-85.0 (77.8) mm.

The typical form Anhinga anhinga anhinga (Linnaeus), found
in northwestern South America from Colombia to western Ecuador,
and east of the Andes south to northern Argentina, has the light tail
tip definitely broader and averages larger.

Males (14 specimens), wing 325-365 (341), culmen from base
84.7-98.8 (91.8) mm.

Females (16 specimens), wing 312-361 (335), culmen from base
81.7-91.5 (86.3) mm.

Intergradation between the two begins in Panama where the
birds are intermediate, but nearer lJeucogaster, and continues in
northern Colombia, where they are intermediate also but nearer
anhinga.

The population from western México south to Guatemala appears
to average slightly smaller than Jeucogaster from elsewhere and has
been named A. a. minima by van Rossem (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.,
1939, p. 439), with type locality Acaponeta, Nayarit. The suggested
color characters of the proposed form do not hold. The specimens
seen in the present study from the area concerned have been small,
but all have been immature birds (including the type) and these
usually are smaller than adults. The race is one of questionable
validity.

Family FREGATIDAE: Frigatebirds ; Tijeretas de Mar

The five species of this family are birds of the warmer seas around
the world. All agree in long, angular wings and deeply forked tail,
with the differences that separate them specifically found in size,
in combination with the location, or absence, of white markings.
One species is common along the coasts of Panama, but another may
be expected to come casually along the Pacific.

FAMILY FREGATIDAE 73

FREGATA MAGNIFICENS Mathews: Magnificent Frigatebird; Tijereta
de Mar

Ficure 14

Fregata minor magnificens Mathews, Austr. Av. Rec., vol. 2, no. 6, Dec. 19, 1914,
p. 120. (Barrington Island, Galapagos Archipelago.)

Size large ; wings long, angular ; tail long, deeply forked.

Description Length 810 mm. to a meter. Male black, glossed
above with violet; throat sac large, bright red in breeding season,
shrunken, dull orange at other times.

Female, black, with breast and sides white.

Immature, head and neck white.

Measurements (from specimens from the Pacific coast of Central
and South America).—Males (22 specimens), wing 587-648 (622),
culmen from base 105.6-116.4 (109.0) mm.

Females (15 specimens), wing 615-695 (648), culmen from base
115.3-135.8 (122.8) mm.

Iris brown; bill dusky neutral gray; tarsus and toes dull black ;
throat sac of male bright red in the breeding season when capable of
inflation, changing to dull orange in the post breeding, contracted
state.

Resident. Common along the coasts, particularly in the Bay of
Panama. Often seen soaring far inland; found regularly over the
Panama Canal and Gatun Lake.

The known breeding colonies in Panamanian waters are as fol-
lows: The western one of two small islets immediately north of Isla
Uva, in the Islas Contreras, which lie to the north of Isla Coiba;
Isla Iguana, north of Punta Mala; Isla Bona; Farallon del Chirt;
Isla Villa; islets near Isla Taboguilla; Isla Chame; Isla Pacheca,
Isla Saboga, Isla Cangrejo in the Islas Caracoles (to the north of
Isla del Rey), and Isla Galera, in the Archipiélago de las Perlas.

The frigatebird, with its narrow, angular wings and deeply forked
tail, is a familiar sight anywhere along the sea, as the birds are
constantly on the wing, often high in air. Seen regularly over the
coastal towns and cities, they also swing inland, particularly during
periods of storm, and so it is not unusual to see one high overhead
through some forest opening far distant from the sea. They cross
the isthmus constantly from side to side over the canal.

Frigatebirds are notorious for robbing their neighbor terns and
boobies of their fish. The brown booby particularly is unfortunate
in this, though it often manages to escape. I have seen royal terns

74 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

and laughing gulls also elude a frigate after a long and agile chase.
On the Rio Chiman a frigatebird swooped down at a cormorant that
had a fish in its bill, but the latter dived instantly and so saved its
meal. However, as I have recorded elsewhere, the frigatebirds in
the Gulf of Panama are more often fishermen in their own right, as
they swoop regularly over the waves to seize small fishes in their
bills, and then swing away without alighting. The birds descend
swiftly from a low elevation in the air, glide forward just above the

Fic. 14.—Magnificent frigatebird, tijereta de mar, Fregata magnificens, male,
with inflated throat sac.

water, then drop the head to snap at fish while the body continues
its forward glide, seemingly leaving the head and the long neck
behind until it is brought back with its wriggling prey in the bill at
the very second when it appears that the bird will be overturned. The
bill and sometimes the entire head may be immersed, but neither
wing nor body touches the water. Where schools of small fish surface
frigatebirds join pelicans and cormorants in voracious attack, re-
maining always in the air, while their companions plunge and dive
amid the larger fish that harass the unfortunate schools beneath
the water.

FAMILY FREGATIDAE 75

In June 1953 scores of frigates, most of them immature, ranged
over the open water at the head of Montijo Bay. As the tide rose
the birds followed up the Rio San Pablo for some distance. . Twice I
saw one pick up a sea snake swimming at the surface and carry it,
as it twisted and coiled, for a short distance with other frigates in
close pursuit, and then finally let it drop. Frank Violette, of long ex-
perience in fishing the waters of the Gulf, has told me that when the
frigatebird sees large billfish—marlin and sailfish—it watches them
as it turns in small circles high in air. He has located such fish
frequently by observing this maneuver.

At the end of February 1957 I estimated that a thousand pairs
were nesting on Isla Iguana, north of Punta Mala. The birds here
occupied most of the island except for a small clearing where two
houses were located. Only the pelicans were able to compete with
them for nesting sites. Chattering calls came constantly from the
birds on their nests. Males had the balloonlike, red throat pouches
inflated, and often flew about with bits of grass dangling from the
bill.

On February 28 I found between 75 and 100 pairs at Isla Villa
and 30 or so at Farallon del Chirt.

Hundreds roost on the steep western slopes of Isla Taboga, but
during my visits at various times from December to March I have
not noted nests. I believed that the frigatebirds seen around Isla
Pelado off the mouth of Rio Chiman in February and March 1950
may have nested there, but of this I was not certain. Formerly they
were located on the “Fortified Islands” at the Pacific entrance of the
Canal.

At Isla Chame near Taboga, on February 15, 1942, Maj. Gen.
G. Ralph Meyer collected several eggs, ranging from fresh to three-
fifths incubated. The nests were shallow platforms of twigs 300 to
400 mm. in diameter, lined scantily with finer materials, placed 3 me-
ters or so above the ground in the low trees that form groves on the
steep slopes of the island, often closely grouped with several in one
tree. On a previous visit on February 23, 1941, he had found that
several eggs were nearly ready to hatch. On Isla Iguana many of the
nests were only 14 meters or so above the ground, and regularly I
walked underneath those higher while the birds watched me within a
few meters of my head.

One egg is laid in each nest, its color chalky white, with a slightly
roughened shell—sometimes stained with streaks of brown, apparently
from blood during laying. In shape they vary considerably from

76 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

subelliptical and long oval to long elliptical, in the larger shape some-
times somewhat expanded on the larger perimeter. A series of 9 from
Isla Chame and 2 from Isla Iguana vary in length from 63.4 to 74.0
and in width from 46.0 to 50.0, with the average 70.1 x47.6 mm.

Back of the sand dunes on the mainland opposite Isla Iguana there
is a fresh-water pond, Laguna de la Boca, 250 meters long by 30 to
50 meters wide, and fairly deep. In March 1957, all day long a
scattered procession of frigatebirds came from the nesting colony on
the island to drink and bathe in the sweet water. The great birds
arrived in groups of 4 or 5 to 20, circled the pond, and then came
down steeply, like airplanes descending to a landing field. Most of
them banked above the surface of the water to straighten out and then
as they sailed with set wings dipped the bill, swinging the long neck
back beneath as they do in seizing a fish. They rose immediately,
usually throwing the head up to swallow. Regularly 2 or 3 dropped
lower so that the breast feathers broke the surface. Then, when aloft
15 or 20 meters or more, they sailed with set wings while they shook
the body violently and waggled the tail from side to side—an aerial
bath. In early morning drinking and bathing were confined to adult
males that came in with the throat sac deflated so that it swung loosely
from side to side, accompanied by many white-headed immature birds.
It appeared that the females then may have been on nest duty. The
young birds appeared to bathe more than the adults and were less
expert at it, as their breasts often were more deeply submerged. I saw
one hit so hard that most of its body went into the water, and it
struggled for 3 or 4 wing strokes before it was able to rise. On an
earlier occasion on February 20, 1950, I recorded half a dozen drink-
ing at a pool in the Rio Chiman, about 12 kilometers inland from the
sea at the mouth of the Rio Curutt.

The habit of drinking and bathing in fresh water in this species of
frigatebird has been noted in literature but seems to have attracted
little attention. Bonhote (Ibis, 1903, p. 312) describes small parties
that came daily to a fresh-water pond on Little Abaco in the Ba-
hamas where the birds “splashed into the water like swallows.”
Gifford (Proc. California Acad. Sci., 1913, p. 100) speaks of their
visiting the crater lake El Junco at 800 meters elevation on Isla
San Cristobal (Chatham Island) in the Galapagos, and the same
habit is mentioned by the Conways (The Enchanted Islands, 1948,
pp. 164, 165-166) at an upland pond on Isla Santa Maria (or
Floreana) in the same group. The bird on Guadeloupe Island in
the West Indies that Noble (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 60, 1916,

FAMILY FREGATIDAE AT,

p. 364) described as “over a fresh-water pond and diving at in-
tervals for fish” without much doubt had come for water. In a
recent observation at a dam on the Rio Mulegé, Baja California,
bathing without drinking in this species is described in some detail
(Kielhorn, Norris, and Evans, Condor, vol. 65, no. 3, 1963 pp.
240-241).

The habit of visiting fresh-water ponds is recorded also for the
related Pacific frigatebird Fregata minor palmerstoni, as Walter
K. Fisher (Condor, vol. 6, no. 3, 1904, p. 60) observed them
drinking at a small pond on Laysan Island, in the Hawaiian Bird
Reservation.

Proposals to recognize three geographic races of this frigatebird
have been based on supposed differences in size. Under this the
typical form, alleged to be larger, with longer wing, has been re-
stricted to the Galapagos Islands.

The birds of the Cape Verde Islands, ranging to western Africa
have been named Fregata magnificens lowet by Bannerman, on the
supposition that this population had a much larger bill; and the
frigates nesting in the rest of their extensive range in the Atlantic
area, including the Caribbean islands, and in the Pacific from Baja
California to the coast of Ecuador have been separated by Mathews
as Fregata magnificens rothschildi on the basis of supposed smaller
size. In an extensive series of measurements that I have assembled
the suggested differences do not hold, as birds with large and small
wing and bill sizes are encountered at random through the entire
geographic range. Measurements of birds from the west coast of
America are listed above at the beginning of the account of this
species. Comparable figures for specimens from the Caribbean
area and the western Atlantic are as follows: Males (32 specimens),
wing 583-648 (610), culmen from base 106.2-119.3 (111.8) mm.
Females (15 specimens), wing 610-672 (636), culmen from base
118.5-132.2 (126.9) mm. Two males from Boa Vista, Cape Verde
Islands (type locality of Jowei) have the culmen 111.0 and 113.9
mm., and in one female this measurement is 129.0 mm. On this
basis the species may not be divided with any probability of proper
allocation of individuals found away from their breeding grounds.

[Fregata minor ridgwayi Mathews, the great frigatebird, which
breeds in the Galapagos, and on Isla Cocos, far off the Pacific coast
of Panama, may reach Panamanian waters, though to date it has
not been recorded. The adult male of this bird has the back glossy
oil green, with a dark-brown band on the wing across the wing

78 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

coverts. The female has the throat and foreneck whitish or ashy;
and in the immature the light-colored head is washed prominently
with rusty brown. In Fregata magnificens, common in Panama,
the male has a purplish sheen on the back and has no wing band;
the female has the throat and foreneck blackish; and the imma-
ture has the head plain white. The two species are similar in size.]

Order CICONIIFORMES
Family ARDEIDAE: Herons; Garzas

The numerous species of herons, worldwide in distribution,
agree in long legs and long necks, suitable for their type of life in
haunts along shores and in shallow waters. They show much di-
versity in size, from the small least bitterns to the tall great blue
and cocoi herons, and equally wide variation in color. Most of
them are able to maintain themselves in settled regions, now that
their plumage is no longer a commercial item. Only the tiger-bitterns
disappear as human settlement increases.

KEY TO SPECIES OF ARDEIDAE

1 Bib longer 125 mim.“or mare). Pea ats S. COR te, Ae shat 2
Bill shorter;not moré than 100: minid. 6.14 ;\. aig favg sta Beene es ctw, ant ole 4
2. Larger birds, a meter or more in length, bill strong (genus Ardea).... 3
Medium-sized birds, 750 mm. or less in length, bill very slender, about 150
MUM LONG ope aio cieieccreresierstiere store Agami heron, Agamia agami, p. 95

3. Paler, whiter in general appearance; tibia white or gray.
Cocoi heron, Ardea cocoi, p. 82
Darker, decidedly grayer in general appearance; tibia chestnut or chestnut-

DROW aitiieyta nce chlceeioc iain ene Great blue heron, Ardea herodias, p. 80

4. Mainly plain white, white tinged with buff, or white variegated with
STAY aca ee ices bee eee eee male aa ss alate ata aid deere sale celine aula ate 5
Definitely darker in color, uniformly dark slate, or with plumage of varie-
Cated.\pattegei eis Ars heyhee evs Oho terahe eset hee letancbeted shelton eae eek ween ateiate 9

See ubai ip WellOwys: ih dein, z'50 cB n aia ee autceas eRe Spices bce eaiaa ote abate ws inte 6
Ball sot vellow yaa e oie ap eee al parade Gueics cealains eee race Om tera ateiate 7

6. Larger, length 850 mm. to a meter ; pure white.
Common egret, Casmerodius albus egretta, p. 88
Smaller, length 460 to 560 mm., plain white, or with crown and breast buff

(@nsbreedine dress) Meee sce ees Cattle egret, Bubulcus ibis ibis, p. 93
7. Crown white, white variegated with gray, or slate gray, without elongated
DIUIMES ooo cic eee ee TO OTR ee eta ici eters et Merorti ele eiete staletee erarelanes 8

Crown black, with elongated white plumes.
Capped heron, Philherodius pileatus, p. 97
8. Bill and tarsi black, toes yellow; plumage entirely white.
Snowy egret, Egretta thula thula, p. 89

10.

di:

12:

13:

14.

io

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 79

Bill and tarsi greenish slate; white, with tips of primaries gray; or, in some,
plumage variegated with white and gray.
Immature little blue heron, Florida caerulea, p. 91

@hroaty completely feathered: “huis os 0s vec estou es vice ce ciemre siyieoiae'e wiers 10
Throat wholly bare, or feathered only in the central line............... 19
Siialier, wits? less’ thantled mint... 405%. kai als See eas eats oe rotate 3 11
Parcer ww ito more than (2250 mini. isd qe.. dc, clei a slayer dlchere Musketeers dele 13
Coloration in general darker; decidedly larger, wing more than 150 mm.

MENG ISULO RET CS IN sais aida wre ase! «tenses jegeroiiyta stacey Sapien fue nesces eto cate eeeee/e 12
Coloration in general paler, more buffy; decidedly smaller, wing 100 to

PAIS erin tie | waves sais tte dae ces Least bittern, Jrobrychus exilis, p. 113

Sides of head and neck reddish brown.
Green heron, Butorides virescens, p. 83
Sides of head plain gray, or washed with light cinnamon brown.
Striated heron, Butorides striatus, p. 86
Coloration not predominantly light brown or buffy brown............ 14
Mainly light brown, buff, and buffy brown.
American bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus, p. 112
Plumage particolored, with variegated pattern...............0.eeeee: 15
Plumage dark throughout; grayish blue, with head and neck washed lightly
Wath Chestnut. o..0.2.0.0%« Adult little blue heron, Florida caerulea, p. 91
Body form more robust, bill shorter, 75 mm. long or less............. 16
Body form very slender, bill longer, 90 mm. or more; breast and abdomen
white, foreneck slate-gray, or brownish red.
Tricolored heron, Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis, p. 92
Hicavilyg Stheak CauthrotpiOttty oh a s.oeciataerans siterets stataciae teers mae clans fe 17
Without prominent. streaks; t..aciec aa coche melon qeleem cctee cleiete cme ctees 18
Darker; bill more robust; under side of wing dark gray, with under wing
coverts prominently streaked with white.
Immature yellow-crowned night heron, Nyctanassa violacea, p. 100
Paler; bill more slender toward tip; under side of wing light gray, with
spotting on under wing coverts not prominent.
Immature black-crowned night heron, Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli, p. 99
Sides of head and throat black; breast gray.
Adult yellow-crowned night heron, Nyctanassa violacea, p. 100
Sides of head gray ; throat and breast white.
Adult black-crowned night heron, Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli, p. 99
A line of feathers down center of throat, with an elongated bare space on
Grd VS eda l Sia eth eile attri meta is Al ae Wei nial tet il Aas!) dn tae dan 20
Throat completely bare.
Bare-throated tiger-bittern, Heterocnus mexicanus, p. 103
Tarsus longer, 92 to 115 mm.; bill more slender, with culmen nearly straight
toward tip: Adult, with head and neck cinnamon, banded with black:
Immature, cinnamon-buff, heavily banded with black; white of abdomen
of less amount. . Banded tiger-bittern, Tigrisoma lineatum lineatum, p. 106
Tarsus shorter, 81 to 91 mm.; bill heavier, with culmen more curved toward
tip: Adult, with head and neck black, banded narrowly with cinnamon-
buff: Immature, like Tigrisoma I. lincatum, but more extensively white
on lower breast and abdomen.
Salmon’s tiger-bittern, Tigrisoma salmoni, p. 109

80 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

ARDEA HERODIAS Linnaeus: Great Blue Heron; Garzon Cenizo

The common, widespread species of the two largest of the herons
found in Panama, marked by gray coloration.

Description—A meter to a meter 3 centimeters in length. Adult,
with throat and crown white, the latter bordered with black, and
with an elongated crest; neck gray, streaked with black and white;
gray above; streaked with black and white below; feathers of
tibia rufous brown to light clay color.

Immature, duller in color, with crown black, without white head
plumes.

The garzén cenizo is found in Panama in fair numbers during
the period of northern winter, and a few are present during the
rest of the year. While the majority are northern migrants, some
of the specimens available are separable, on the basis of darker
dorsal coloration, as another subspecies, which is presumed to be
resident, though there is no nesting colony known at present.

Great blue herons are wary birds that keep alert watch and only
by chance allow close approach. When ponds formed during the
rains begin to evaporate with the clear weather of the dry season, so
that small fish are concentrated in shallows, a dozen or more of
these herons may gather in fairly close proximity, but it is more
usual to find solitary birds. Many of the migrant individuals that
come in the period of northern winter appear to wander, while
others find suitable habitat and remain in the same area for con-
siderable periods of time.

ARDEA HERODIAS HERODIAS Linnaeus

Ardea Herodias Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 143. (Northeastern
Manitoba. )

Characters.—Lighter gray above.

Common visitor from the north. Present regularly from Septem-
ber to April throughout the lowlands around the larger streams and
other bodies of fresh water, ranging inland in Chiriqui to 1,200 to
1,500 meters elevation near El Volcan and Boquete; found also
along beaches and in mangroves in coastal areas, including the larger
islands: Isla Coiba; Isla Taboga; Isla San José.

Measurements (from Oberholser, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 43,
1912, p. 535).—Males (10 specimens), wing 441-480 (462.7), tail
167-187 (176.6), exposed culmen 123-151.5 (139.5), tarsus 167-
205 (183.6) mm.

Females (12 specimens), wing 433-471 (451.2), tail 159-184

FAMILY ARDEIDAE SI

(173.7), exposed culmen 127-146 (137), tarsus 157-194 (175.4) mm.

I collected an adult female at Jaqué, Darién, April 8, 1946. There
are specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zoology taken in
Bocas del Toro, on the Rio Changuinola, October 30, 1927; in San
Blas at Permé November 15 and 26, and December 9, 1929. (The
record by Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 310)
of one from Obaldia apparently was in error, as there is no entry
in the museum catalog of a bird from that locality.) Blake (Fiel-
diana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p. 505) reports one from over 1600
meters, above Boquete, November 19, 1946. Other definite records
include one banded at Waseca, Minn., May 23, 1925, killed at Gatun,
C.Z., the following September ; and another, banded at Montgomery,
Minn., June 5, 1925, taken on Gatun Lake the next September
(Cooke, Auk, 1946, p. 254). Records during the period of northern
winter on Isla Coiba, Isla Taboga, and Isla San José (in the Pearl
Islands) probably are of this migrant race, (which may be expected
on any of the islands of the Archipiélago de las Perlas).

ARDEA HERODIAS LESSONII Wagler
Ardea Lessonu Wagler, Isis, 1831, col. 531. (Valley of Mexico.)

Characters.—Darker gray above, similar to A. h. herodias in size.

Apparently resident, though no breeding records are known; found
in small numbers.

Specimen records are as follows: Male, fully adult, in breeding
dress, Fort San Lorenzo, Canal Zone, June 21, 1911, and female,
immature dress, Rio Matisnillo, near Paitilla Point, Panama, Janu-
ary 20, 1912, E. A. Goldman; female immature, Jaqué, Darién,
March 20, 1946, A. Wetmore; male immature, Laguna de Pita,
Darién, about August 15, 1893 (Salvadori and Festa, Boll. Mus.
Anat. Comp. Torino, no. 339, 1899, p. 11).

With regard to the specimen collected by Festa, preserved in
the Instituto e Museo di Zoologia of the University of Torino,
Miss Lucia Rossi writes me that the tibia is colored cinnamon-
brown, indicating that the bird is of the species herodias. In Ardea
cocoi this area is gray. From the data it is probable that the bird
is of the present subspecies.

Other records of interest that may apply to this race are as
follows: Imhof (MS. notes) recorded one on the Rio Chagres, above
Gamboa, June 9, and another near Panama Viejo, June 20, 1942.
Eisenmann (Wilson Bull. 1951, pp. 182, 183) reported birds regu-
larly near the City of Panama between June 17 and July 16 from

82 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

1948 to 1950, and recorded others (Smith. Misc. Coll., vol. 117, no.
5, 1952, p. 11) seen occasionally at Barro Colorado Island, from May
to August. In 1953 I recorded single birds on the Rio San Pablo,
below Sona, Veraguas, on June 2 and 11. As an earlier occurrence,
in Culebra cut, on May 11, 1921, from a ship in transit through the
Canal I saw an immature bird that seemed to be barely grown.

Hellmayr and Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 2, 1948, p. 170)
outline the belief held by a number of recent authors that there is no
basis for recognition of a Central American race of this heron, but
material in the U. S. National Museum, with some specimens seen
elsewhere, uphold Oberholser (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 43, 1912,
pp. 555-558) in recognition of such a subspecies. This is similar in
size to A. h. herodias but is darker above in both adult and immature
stages, though less sooty than A. h. fannini. Specimens of this type
are known from southern México through Central America to Darién.

Oberholser has used Wagler’s name lessonii for this bird, restrict-
ing the type locality to the Valley of México. Hellmayr says that the
type, in the Munich Museum, is “indistinguishable, in color and size,
from birds taken in the eastern United States.” If further check
upholds this statement a new name will need to be supplied.

Little is known at present of the breeding places of most of the
herons of Panama, though I have been told of heronries in the coastal
swamps of Panama province and Darién.

ARDEA COCOI Linnaeus: Cocoi Heron; Garzén Moreno
Ardea Cocoi Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 237. (Cayenne. )

Generally similar to the great blue heron, but somewhat smaller
and decidedly lighter colored. Feathers of tibia gray in adult and im-
mature.

Description—A meter to a meter 14 centimeters long. Adult,
crown and sides of the head black, with a narrow median white crown
stripe ; neck white, with a few streaks of black in front; gray above;
extensively black below, with white on breast, legs and under tail
coverts.

Immature, white below, narrowly streaked with black.

Measurements.—Males (3 from Darién, Venezuela and Paraguay)
wing 421-437 (427.3), tail 161-167 (163.6), culmen from base 129.0-
145.2 (137.9), tarsus 170-210 (192) mm.

Females (4 from Colombia, Paraguay, and Argentina), wing 437-
445 (440), tail 161-170 (165.5), culmen from base 128.5-148.7
(137.5), tarsus 179-192 (184.5) mm.

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 83

Resident. In the lower Rio Tuira drainage in Darién; casual (two
sight records) near La Jagua, eastern Panama.

It is possible that Jewel in his account of the great blue heron in
Panama (Auk, 1913, p. 424) examined a bird of this species when he
said “‘on June 9, 1912, a heron was shot on the Gatun River which is
clearly another species or at least another form xxx a resident heron
in Panama xxx slightly smaller without any rufous on the thighs.”
As this bird is not listed in the catalog of the Jewel collection in the
Academy of Natural Sciences it apparently was not preserved.

The first definite record for the republic (Wetmore, Auk, 1951,
p- 525) is of a bird that I saw March 30, 1949, at the Ciénaga Santo
Domingo, in the savannas east of Pacora, Province of Panama. It
stood a short distance beyond gun range on an open flat, in company
with a dozen great blue herons, some common egrets, and several
wood ibises. I watched it for 15 minutes until a distant gunshot
startled the group into flight. In February and March 1959 and in
January 1964 I found the Cocoi heron so common on the lower tribu-
taries of the main Rio Tuira as to indicate a breeding colony some-
where in the great wooded swamps back of the coast, particularly
since these birds remained in March after the great blue herons, found
with them earlier, had gone in northward migration. A few ranged
back along the Rio Tuira to the Rio Paya, where I secured an adult
male March 12, 1959. I recorded them also along the Rio Chucunaque
to the region between the Tuquesa and Ucurganti rivers.

As another casual record, on March 27, 1960, I found an adult at
the edge of a small channel below the La Jagua Hunting Club and
watched it several minutes at a distance of not more than 50 meters.
Finally it flew and then began to call, a harsh note that resembled that
of the great blue heron but somewhat higher in tone.

The male collected on March 12 on the Rio Tuira is small, as indi-
cated by the following measurements: Wing 424, tail 161, culmen
from base 129, tarsus 169 mm.

BUTORIDES VIRESCENS (Linnaeus): Green Heron; Martinete

A small, dark-colored heron, with the sides of the neck brown.

Description.—380 to 560 mm. long. Adult, crown and crest black,
washed with green; neck chestnut-brown, white in front; above dark
greenish, with narrow white edgings in the wings; underparts gray.

Immature, browner, streaked below.

Green herons as a group are found world-wide in warm temperate

84 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

and tropical areas, including islands in addition to widespread range
over the continents.

The many subspecies that are recognized may be segregated in 3
major assemblages, one for Africa, Asia, Australia, and islands in
the Indian and Pacific Oceans; one for North America, Central
America, and the West Indies; and one for South America. These
three, obviously closely related, form a superspecies that many tax-
onomists treat under one specific name, because of the general simi-
larity found throughout the many forms.

While their close relationship is obvious, at the same time the popu-
lations of South America, and of the New World outside that con-
tinent, have certain characteristics that distinguish them from those
of the Old World. Clearer understanding of them is attained by
separating them as morphological entities under 2 specific names—
Butorides virescens and B. striatus—rather than uniting all under
one specific heading as Butorides striatus.

The virescens group is characterized by chestnut to bright rufous
brown of the sides of the head and neck, and general darker color of
the back, particularly in the adult. Three subspecies in this assem-
blage are recognized in Panama.

These small herons are widely distributed wherever there is water,
from sandy beaches where they take refuge in the bordering thickets
and mangrove swamps, back along the rivers to the smaller tributaries.
They watch for food along the water’s edge, standing motionless or
walking slowly and stealthily. Often they remain quiet except for an
occasional downward jerk of the tail until closely approached, and then
fly with protesting squawks, the most vociferous of the tropical
herons. As small boats pass it is usual for them to climb back among
the low branches of trees overhanging the water until they are se-
curely hidden.

Locally they are often called carga manteca; on the Rio Indio they
were known as coquito.

BUTORIDES VIRESCENS VIRESCENS (Linnaeus)

Ardea virescens Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 144. (South
Carolina.)

Characters——Sides of neck dark chestnut-brown; larger; wing,
males 176-186 mm., females 172-186 mm. (maximum variation ).

Measurements (taken from a small series of migrant birds from
México and Panama).—Males (5 specimens), wing 176-180 (179.1),

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 85

tail 60.0-66.7 (62.0), culmen from base 58.2-63.8 (60.9), tarsus 50.5-
56.0 (53.2) mm.

Females (5 specimens), wing 177-180 (178.7), tail 60.7-65.1
(62.8), culmen from base 59.0-63.0 (61.2), tarsus 51.0-53.5
(52.1) mm.

Common winter visitor from October to April, both on fresh water
and along the coasts.

This race breeds from southern Ontario and southern Quebec,
south through eastern United States to southern México. Dates of
occurrence based on specimens range from September 8, 1932, at
Puerto Obaldia, San Blas to April 9, 1911, near Tabernilla, Canal
Zone, and May 16, 1927, at Zegla, mouth of Rio Teribe, Bocas del
Toro.

BUTORIDES VIRESCENS MACULATUS (Boddaert)
Cancroma maculata Boddaert, Tabl. Planch. Enl., 1783, p. 54. (Martinique.)

Neck chestnut-brown as in B.v. virescens, though sometimes paler ;
smaller ; wing, males 154-172, females 156-170 mm. (maximum).

Measurements (taken from a small series from Panama, Colombia,
and Haiti) —Males (5 specimens), wing 154-172 (165.8), tail 49.8-
62.5 (57.6), culmen from base 55.5-60.5 (58.2), tarsus 45.4-52.7
(49.0) mm.

Females (5 specimens), wing 157-168 (163.4), tail 54.2-60.0
(56.8), culmen from base 55.5-63.0 (58.8), tarsus 45.0-50.6 (48.3)
mm.

Resident. Common except in the Archipiélago de las Perlas; most
abundant from the provinces of Panama and Colén westward, but
ranging east to Darién, in the lower Rio Tuira drainage (Yavisa near
the mouth of the Rio Chucunaque), and to Permé and Puerto Obal-
dia, San Blas, near the Colombian boundary. Around the Laguna de
Chiriqui, Bocas del Toro, a melanistic phase predominates in which
the birds vary from a deep chocolate-brown, that masks the other
markings, to normal plumage. This dark phase extends north to
Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, and a few of this style are recorded as
far east as the eastern part of the Comarca de San Blas.

These smaller, resident birds seem less noisy on the whole than
the northern migrants and tend more to skulk and hide rather than
to fly for any distance.

On February 25, 1956, I found a nest in the ciénaga near the coast
below Las Lajas, Chiriqui, placed in an open-branched bush at an
elevation of a meter above the water. The structure, built of twigs,

86 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

was more substantial than usual among herons. The broad depression
in the center held three eggs with incubation begun. These are pale
Niagara green, elliptical in form, and measure 37.1 x 29.0, 37.2 x 29.3
and 37.5X29.2 mm.

BUTORIDES VIRESCENS MARGARITOPHILUS Oberholser

Butorides virescens margaritophilus Oberholser, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol 42,
Aug. 29, 1912, p. 553. (San Miguel Island =Isla del Rey, Archipiélago de
las Perlas, Panama.)

Similar in size to maculatus, but with lower breast and abdomen
darker.

Measurements.—Males (3 specimens), wing 161-170 (165.3), tail
51.8-59.5 (55.4), culmen from base 57.6-61.8 (59.8), tarsus 46.7-48.3
(47.6) mm.

Females (3 specimens), wing 162-166 (163.3), tail 57.1-62.7
(59.0), culmen from base 53.8-58.5 (56.4), tarsus 44.0-47.7 (45.6)
mm.

Resident in the Archipiélago de las Perlas: Recorded, from speci-
mens identified, on Chapera, Rey, and San José islands: Nest re-
ported on Isla del Rey March 5, 1904 (Thayer and Bangs, Bull. Mus.
Comp. Zool., vol. 46, 1905, p. 142).

This race, restricted to the Pearl Islands, is found mainly around
the mangrove swamps, where it may seem fairly common, but ac-
tually has only a small population because of the limited area of its
habitat.

BUTORIDES STRIATUS STRIATUS (Linnaeus): Striated Heron; Chicuaco

Ardea striata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 144. (Surinam.)

Butorides striatus patens Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. 69, Apr. 1929,
p. 156. (Near Panama City, Panama.)

Like the green heron, but sides of head and neck gray or buff.

Description—tThe striatus group of South America that ranges
into eastern Panama is marked from the more northern virescens of
the New World by gray on the sides of the head and neck (a color
difference readily seen in life) and by lighter, more grayish green on
the back in the adult. In those that have the sides of the neck buff,
this color is much paler than the brown found in the forms of vires-
cens. The wing length is similar to that of Butorides virescens mac-
ulatus.

In the immature birds the sides of the head and neck are grayish
brown, with a wash of clay color in some individuals.

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 87

Measurements——Males (20 specimens from Panama), wing 162-
173 (168), tail 55.0-64.5 (59.0), culmen from base 53.3-66.2 (60.6),
tarsus 44.0-51.6 (48.4) mm.

Females (9 specimens from Panama), wing 157-169 (161), tail
51.8-59.7 (56.4), culmen from base 57.1-62.8 (59.5), tarsus 44.7-50.0
(47.7) mm.

Resident. Common throughout Darién, ranging west to the eastern
side of the Azuero Peninsula, and to western Col6n. One record for
Puerto Obaldia, San Blas.

Typical gray-necked adult specimens come from near Yavisa on
the lower Rio Chucunaque, mouth of the Rio Paya on the middle
Tuira, and Jaqué; also one from Chilar on the Rio Indio, western
Colon. I have sight records for the Rio Chucunaque, from the mouth
of the river upstream to the Rio Ucurganti; on the Rio Pequeni
above Madden Lake; in the marshes at La Jagua, in eastern Panama
Province ; and at Juan Mina, Canal Zone, on the Rio Chagres.

While the only record for the Comarca de San Blas is an imma-
ture female in the Brandt collection at the University of Cincinnati,
taken by Wedel at Puerto Obaldia, July 3, 1932, there is no reason to
suppose that it does not occur in that area regularly, as it is found at
Acandi, Chocd, immediately adjacent on the Colombian side of the
boundary.

The many records available for the patens style of coloration in
which the side of the head and neck are buff, include the following:
Several from the Province of Herrera on the eastern side of the
Azuero Peninsula; one from Guanico Arriba in southwestern Los
Santos; Chilar, western Colon; Barro Colorado Island, and Juan
Mina, Canal Zone; La Jagua Hunting Club near Chico and Charco del
Toro, eastern Province of Panama; and Jaqué and the Rio Jaqué,
Darién.

In work on Barro Colorado Island, Van Tyne (Occ. Pap. Mus.
Zool. Michigan, no. 525, 1950, pp. 5-6) noted that the breeding sea-
son may be either somewhat irregular or of long duration. A male
collected on March 7, 1926, had completed the breeding cycle and
was in postnuptial molt. Another shot April 11, 1927, was breeding,
and a nest with 2 eggs was found July 28, 1925. On August 11 two
partly grown young were taken from another nest. The nest with
eggs was located “on an isolated stump off the south shore of the
island.” Other nests on Barro Colorado on March 24 with 3 eggs,
and April 28, 1935, with 2 eggs, are recorded by Chapman (Life in

88 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

an Air Castle, 1938, p. 226). The eggs in color and size resemble
those of the resident form of the green heron.

Griscom believed that the herons of this group that he described as
patens had the legs more brightly colored than in the other species of
green heron, but Van Tyne found that this was not true in the
specimens that he handled.

Throughout the entire range of Butorides striatus from Colombia
and Venezuela south to Brazil and Paraguay occasional individuals
have a brownish wash, varying from a trace of pinkish buff to vina-
ceous-buff, over the gray of the head and neck, sometimes also a
greater amount of cinnamon to clay color streaking on the lower fore-
neck and upper breast. A similar type of coloration is prevalent on
Isla Margarita off northeastern Venezuela where, as it is coupled
with average smaller size, it is recognized as a distinct subspecies,
Butorides striatus robinsoni Richmond. The brownish coloration in
birds of the striatus group, as noted, is common in Panama, west to
the eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula on the Pacific slope, and to
the lower Rio Indio (Chilar) west of the Canal Zone, on the Carib-
bean side. These birds, separated as Butorides striatus patens by
Griscom, might be considered a connecting link with the dark, rufes-
cent, brown-necked virescens group, since they are found with typi-
cal B.v. maculatus, and equally typical B.s. striatus, if birds exactly
like them did not appear at random through the entire South Ameri-
can range of striatus. While there may be occasional mixed mating
among those herons when they range together, this would not explain
the occurrence of the patens style of coloration in South America in
areas where the wirescens type does not occur. The supposed race
patens is regarded therefore as individual variation in typical Bu-
torides s. striatus.

CASMERODIUS ALBUS EGRETTA (Gmelin): Common Egret; Garza Blanca
Ardea Egretta Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 629. (Cayenne.)

Definitely larger than any of the other herons of white plumage,
with yellow bill, black legs and feet.

Description.—Length 800 mm. to a little more than a meter. Adult,
pure white with long crest and dorsal plumes in nesting season.

Measurements—Males (5 adults, from Florida, Colombia and
Paraguay), wing 372-397 (386), tail 146-154 (148), culmen from
base 116.5-120.2 (118.2), tarsus 157-175 (166) mm.

Females (5 adults, from Kentucky, North Carolina, Cuba, Colom-
bia, and Paraguay) wing 355-365 (360), tail 137-143 (140), culmen
from base 98.7-109.5 (104.3), tarsus 127-147 (138) mm.

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 89

Resident in part, and in part a winter visitor from the north. Com-
mon along the coasts, and, in the lowlands, inland along open bodies
of water ; ranging to the smallest offshore islands.

There are records of two banded in Mississippi, one taken near
Sona, and the other near Puerto Aguadulce.

In the Archipiélago de las Perlas these herons are common along
the shores, where their white plumage stands out in pleasing contrast
to the dark rocks on which they rest. They make long flights reg-
ularly over the open sea. Robins (Condor, 1958, p. 302) reported
one 18 miles south of Taboga, apparently crossing from the Perlas
group, and Murphy (Vert. SCOPE, 1956, p. 135) records one on
an evidently longer journey 90 miles south of Punta Mala.

In Panama, as elsewhere, this egret was more abundant in early
days, as Rendahl (Ark. Zool., Bd. 12, 1919, p. 6; idem, Bd. 13,1920,
p. 13) recorded great flocks seen in 1882 by Dr. C. Bovallius near the
Rio Pacora, on Isla Chepillo, and on Isla Bayoneta. They are still
common, as flocks of two hundred or more may congregate on open
lagoons, though it is more usual to see single birds, or two or three
in company. In wet pasture lands they are seen regularly around
cattle.

Though these herons evidently nest in scattered groups along the
coasts, the only colony of record is one on Isla Changamé, off Batele
Point west of the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. Here on
February 15, 1941, Maj. Gen. G. Ralph Meyer found several nests
located about 2 meters from the ground, in stands of mangroves and
clumps of cactus. The herons had constructed platforms of weed
stems 300 to 350 mm. in diameter, loosely placed in the usual style
of this family of birds, with a slight depression to hold the eggs.
Incubation had begun in two sets of 3 eggs each. He took another
set of 2 eggs, with incubation begun, here on February 23, 1941, and
on February 15, 1942, one set of 2 eggs, and two of 3 each, with incu-
bation well started. These eggs vary from subelliptical to long ellipti-
cal in form, and from Court gray to slightly paler in color. The
range of measurement in 11 eggs (4 sets) collected on Changamé is
as follows: Length 52.4 to 56.8; breadth 37.1 to 40.0; with an
average of 54.6 X 38.9 mm.

EGRETTA THULA THULA (Molina): Snowy Egret; Garceta Blanca
Ardea Thula Molina, Sagg. Stor. Nat. Chili, 1782, p. 235. (Chile.)
This species and the little blue heron in white plumage are similar

in size and general appearance, but may be identified in life by dif-
ferences listed in color of the bill, tarsi and feet.

gO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Description —Length, 510 to 610 mm.; entire plumage pure white ;
bill and tarsus black, feet yellow.

Measurements.—Males (6 adults, from Florida, Panama, Colom-
bia, Venezuela), wing 247-270 (255), tail 86.3-100.0 (90.8), culmen
from base 76.6-83.8 (80.2), tarsus 88.5-102.0 (96.5) mm.

Females (7 from Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, and Pan-
ama), wing 237-257 (241), tail 81.0-92.9 (86.5), culmen from base
76.6-81.8 (77.7), tarsus 88.5-101.0 (93.6) mm.

Resident in part, and in part a winter visitor from the north. Com-
mon in the lowlands wherever there is water, from the coastal
beaches and mud flats inland, in open marshy areas, and along the
larger streams; casual in the lower levels of the subtropical zone, as
at the Lagunas de Volcan (elevation 1,280 meters) in western Chi-
riqui. I found them on Isla Coiba, and Rendahl (Ark. Zool., Bd. 13,
1920, p. 13) records one taken by Bovallius on Isla Casaya (the only
record for the Pearl Islands), but they seem less accustomed to
wander from the mainland than the little blue heron.

There is record of one banded in Louisiana, and taken subsequently
near the mouth of the Rio Bayano, and of another marked in
Mississippi recovered subsequently at La Jagua.

The snowy egret is less numerous than the little blue heron but is
found regularly in suitable haunts, often feeding alone, occasionally
in scattered groups of a dozen. However, in February and March
1948, in the coastal region of Herrera, the egret was more common
than the little blue heron.

Their usual method of feeding is that common to the family of
standing or walking slowly while watching the water or ground atten-
tively. I have seen them occasionally feeding in the wash of waves on
the beaches, and once on the Rio Chagres near Juan Mina, where
schools of minnows rested at the surface in the warm sun of early
morning, I saw an egret in flight just above the surface strike re-
peatedly at the fish. This interesting method appeared successful, as
I noted that the heron swallowed after some of its strikes.

In March and April many have the beautiful long plumes on the
crown, back, and upper breast that mark the breeding plumage. It is
certain that they nest in the republic, though the only definite record
at present is a set of 2 eggs collected May 10, 1941, by Maj. Gen. G.
Ralph Meyer on Isla Changamé off the Pacific entrance of the Pan-
ama Canal. The nest was a shallow platform of twigs placed in a
low tree. The eggs, slightly elongated elliptical in shape, in color
paler than pearl gray, measure 38.4 x 31.5 and 39.2 x 31.0 mm. Incu-

FAMILY ARDEIDAE gI

bation was far advanced. March 28, 1946, I shot a male at Jaqué,
Darién, in full breeding plumage, and March 6, 1955, I watched
a pair in mating display at the mouth of the Rio Chico, which would
indicate nesting in those areas.

There is no definite indication that migrants of the subspecies
Egretta t. brewstert from western United States, reach Panama dur-
ing the winter season. This differs from the typical form in slightly
larger size. The specimens I have handled all belong to the typical
subspecies.

The genus Leucophoyx in which this species has been placed in
earlier accounts is not now recognized as distinct from Egretia.

FLORIDA CAERULEA (Linnaeus): Little Blue Heron; Garceta Azul (adults),
Garceta Blanca (immature birds)

Ardea caerulea Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 143. (South
Carolina.)

A heron of medium size; adult, dark bluish slate; immature,
white, sometimes with a mixture of dark gray; bill and legs greenish,
which distinguishes them from the snowy egret of similar size.

Description —Length 510 to 635 mm. Adult, with a reddish-brown
wash on head, neck, and upper breast.

Immature, with concealed gray tips on the ends of the primaries.

Measurements—Males (18 from southeastern United States),
wing 255-268 (261), tail 89.3-99.8 (95.7), culmen from base 71.1-
82.2 (75.9), tarsus 90.7-102.9 (96.2) mm.

Females (12 from southeastern United States), wing 242-259
(250), tail 84.3-95.2 (91.1), culmen from base 65.4-77.2 (72.4, aver-
age of 11), tarsus 80.0-95.7 (88.1) mm.

Common in the lowlands; ranging inland along streams, and, in
flooded areas, in open country; at times in dry savannas and pas-
tures; wandering regularly to 1,400 meters or higher in the sub-
tropical zone. Recorded on Isla Coiba and throughout the islands in
the Gulf of Panama.

This heron is most common through the period of northern winter,
with abrupt decrease in number in March, so that it is present in
lesser abundance from April to October. To date there are no nesting
records, and most of the summer individuals seen are in the white
immature dress. In fact, birds in this plumage predominate in num-
ber throughout the year. There are records of 6 banded in Oklahoma,
Mississippi and Florida, and taken subsequently in Panama, all at
Pacific localities near Pedregal, Puerto Aguadulce, Panama City, and

Q2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

La Jagua. Country people in some sections have a superstition re-
garding these and some related herons as they say that no one has
seen their nests.

While these herons are most abundant on the coastal plain they
penetrate into the foothills along the larger streams, even where river
currents are fairly rapid. In the Azuero Peninsula in dry season
scattered birds range inland along the smallest quebradas, though
drought may reduce the water to occasional pools along otherwise
dry creek beds, as here small fish are secured with ease. Groups of
15 or 20 sometimes spread along sandy beaches to feed on the abun-
dant mole crabs in the wash of the surf. As each wave recedes the
herons run or fly following the water, to snatch at the active crusta-
ceans. When the wash returns the birds come back slowly if the
water does not touch their bodies, but fly when the waves rise sud-
denly. In such activities they suggest huge sandpipers.

It is usual for small groups to gather at night to roost together in
some isolated clump of mangroves, or on a small tree or snag stand-
ing in water. Such sleeping places may be occupied regularly, and
on larger bodies of water flights to them may be noted each evening.

The trematodes Apharyngostrigea ibis and Lypersomum sinuosum,
species described originally from the cattle egret Bubulcus ibis ibis,
are reported by Caballero and Hidalgo (Rev. Soc. Mex. Hist. Nat.,
vol. 16, 1955, pp. 29-34) from the intestine of a little blue heron shot
at Panama Viejo, February 21, 1954.

HYDRANASSA TRICOLOR RUFICOLLIS (Gosse): Tricolored Heron;
Garza Pechiblanca

Egretta ruficollis Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 1847, p. 338. (Burnt Savanna River,
Jamaica.)

A very slender heron, with the lower breast and abdomen white in
contrast with darker colors elsewhere.

Description.—Length 560 to 660 mm., with slender neck and
body, and long, thin bill. Adult, dark slate gray above and on sides
of the neck; lower back and rump white; white below, with foreneck
and upper breast streaked with chestnut brown and blackish slate.

Immature, gray on sides of breast and upper surface, with the
neck, wing coverts, and back reddish brown.

Measurements—Males (8 from Florida, Cuba, Jamaica and His-
paniola), wing 248-259 (253), tail 81.8-91.8 (87.0), culmen from
base 93.8-103.8 (97.5), tarsus 92.0-103.2 (99.2) mm.

Females (7 from Florida, Cuba and Panama), wing 237-249 (241),

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 93

tail 78.4-82.8 (80.6), culmen from base 87.0-98.4 (93.7), tarsus
85.5-99.0 (90.8) mm.

Resident in part, and in part a winter visitor from the north.
Fairly common in lowland areas, along the lower courses of rivers,
and in marshes; seen at the highland lakes near El Volcan, Chiriqui ;
one specimen in the British Museum (Natural History) taken on Isla
del Rey June 26, 1924, by naturalists on the St. George Expedition ;
one seen on Isleta Malaga, January 29, 1960.

There is record of one banded in South Carolina and taken sub-
sequently on the lower Rio Tuira.

In the main these slender herons are solitary, feeding somewhat
apart from other species. They are patient fishermen, that stand
quietly, or walk stealthily in search of prey, though occasionally I
have seen one seize a minnow with a quick dart of the long bill, when
the bird was flying low over shallow water.

Though no breeding colonies are on record as yet, it appears cer-
tain that they nest in Panama. Festa collected one on the Rio Sabana,
Darién, in July 1895. An adult male in full breeding plumage in the
collection of the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory was taken on the canal
at Boca del Drago, Bocas del Toro, on June 3, 1962. On December
17, 1955, at Juan Mina, Canal Zone, I watched an immature bird,
barely grown, fishing about the dock. This bird was completely fear-
less as it was often within 10 meters of me, in contrast to the wariness
of older individuals. It is probable that northern winter migrants come
to the Caribbean coast, for in 1958 during the first week in February
there was a sudden decrease in their number around Almirante Bay,
an indication that part of those observed earlier had begun their return
northward.

BUBULCUS IBIS IBIS (Linnaeus): Cattle Egret; Garcilla Bueyera
Ardea Ibis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 144. (Egypt.)

Smallest of the white herons found in Panama, marked from the
other small species by the yellow (in breeding season reddish) bill.

Description.—Length 460 to 560 mm. Plumage white, with buff
on the crown, more extensive during the breeding season, and found
then also on the back and the breast.

Iris yellow; bill yellow; legs dull greenish. In nesting season the
bill becomes reddish at the base, and the tarsi also are dull reddish.

Measurements of two taken at La Jagua are as follows: Male,
wing 238, tail 86, culmen from base 60.7, tarsus 79.2 mm.

Female, wing 227, tail 83, culmen from base 54.7, tarsus 72.6 mm.

94 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Resident. A recent addition to the avifauna that has increased
steadily in number since it was first recorded.

This is a species of the Old World established by unknown means
in eastern South America (first recorded in Surinam) that has in-
creased and spread widely in recent years through that continent and
northward into the eastern United States. It was first reported for
Panama on August 14, 1954, when Dr. Eugene Eisenmann and Maj.
Francis Chapelle saw two at the Mindi dairy, between Fort Davis
and Gatun, Canal Zone. Three were observed by Chapelle near Maria
Chiquita, Col6n, August 21, and others at the Mindi locality in Oc-
tober, to the number of 14 on October 30 (Eisenmann, Auk, 1955, p.
426). David Fairchild II wrote me at this same period of one seen
September 13, 1954, in the eastern suburbs of Panama City. And
Karl Curtis sent word of a hundred or so on November 14 walking
among the cattle on the savanna at the La Jagua Hunting Club. A
local hunter, Baldomiro Moreno, who has worked with me in this
region for years, from this date in November found them common
near La Jagua each year through the period of rains, but absent dur-
ing the dry season.

On February 22, 1956, I noted 6 of these egrets near Las Lajas in
eastern Chiriqui among cattle in the shallow water of a flooded ciénaga,
and saw 2 more on February 24. These were too wild to approach. I
saw one at La Jagua on February 22, 1957, and finally on March 20,
1958, Baldomiro and I shot two there, the first specimens of record
for the republic. These were nonbreeding birds taken from two
flocks of about 25 each that fed among cattle. On March 15, 1958, I
saw one in a wet meadow near Anton, Coclé. The following year I
recorded the cattle egret on January 31 near Juan Mina, C.Z., and
March 19 at El Salto, on the Rio Chucunaque, above Yavisa, Darién.
I noted half a dozen on April 11 at La Jagua and was told that there
were then many through the year. In 1960 on March 23 we recorded
one near San Félix, eastern Chiriqui, and 3 near Puerto Vidal,
Veraguas. At La Jagua I found about 100 on the marsh on March
27. Charles O. Handley, Jr., recorded one February 29, near Chan-
guinola, Bocas del Toro. On January 9, 1961, four rested in a bush
overhanging the Chagres, near Juan Mina. And on January 21, 1962,
I saw one with cattle near Guanico Arriba in southern Los Santos.

These early records are given in detail, because of the interest at-
tendant on the increase of the species. It is obvious that the cattle
egret now is spread throughout the lowlands of the entire republic. In
1964 hundreds ranged with the herds of cattle along the Rio Tuira

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 95

in the lowlands of Darién near La Palma and EI Real. In 1965 it was
present in equal number near El Volcan in western Chiriqui. I have
identified the head of an immature individual, only recently from the
nest, collected in October 1961 at Almirante, Bocas del Toro, for Dr.
Conrad Yunkers of the Middle America Research Unit. An adult
taken at the same time had the buff of the breeding season on the
crown. It is probable that this species, in common with its habit else-
where, will join nesting colonies of other herons.

These birds often perch on the heads or backs of the cattle among
which they feed. The yellow bill marks them instantly from the other
herons of similar size.

Some ornithologists have placed the cattle egret under the genus
Ardeola Boie, type Ardea ralloides Scopoli, to which superficially it
appears similar. It is found however that the dorsal plumes of the
species ibis in the adult are hairlike and that the immature is plain
white. In Ardeola the dorsal plumes have barbs extending nearly to
the tips, and the neck and upper breast in the immature are heavily
streaked. Differences in the skeleton are of greater importance; e.g.,
the entire leg in Ardeola is much shorter, but the femur and the fibula
equal those of the longer-legged Bubulcus. The spina externa is very
much heavier, though the entire sternum is shorter. Though the
humerus in Ardeola is definitely shorter, the brachialis anticus depres-
sion is larger, and the crista superior reduced. In the skull the anterior
part of the palatines is broader. These are part of the differences
which in sum maintain the two in separate genera.

AGAMIA AGAMI (Gmelin): Agamf Heron; Garza Pechicastafia
Ficure 15
Ardea Agami Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 629. (Cayenne.)

In any plumage known by the elongated, narrow bill, 125 to more
than 160 mm. in length.

Description—Length 660 to 760 mm. Adult, dark glossy green
above; deep chestnut-brown below, including sides of neck; sides of
head and hindneck black; lower foreneck, and pointed nuchal crest,
light bluish gray. In breeding season the ribbonlike feathers of the
crest reach a length of 125 mm., and broad ornamental plumes grow
from the lower back.

Immature, deep brown above ; blackish on crown and back; streaked
buff, white, and black below.

Iris light reddish brown; eyelids, and a narrow border around base
of mandible, yellow ; loral area, and bare space around eye, yellowish

96 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

green; side of maxilla and mandible, except tip, light blue; ridge of
maxilla and tip of mandible black ; crus, tarsus, and toes yellow; claws
black.

Measurements.—Males (8 specimens), wing 255-272 (265.5), tail
92.5-102.5 (97.4), culmen from base 146.2-163 (153.2), tarsus 94.4-
110.8 (105.9) mm.

Females (7 specimens), wing 249-262 (256.7), tail 85.8-98.2
(91.7), culmen from base 125.5-146.8 (136.8), tarsus 83.0-103.0

(93.6) mm.
a\\
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‘ ES

rR
SS
Ny

Fic. 15.—Agami heron, garza pechicastafia, Agamia agami.

Resident. Rare, in heavy forest in the Tropical Zone. Records are
as follows: Veraguas, taken by Enrique Arcé (Sharpe, Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus., vol. 26, 1898, p. 136). Bocas del Toro: Adult, in Gorgas
Memorial Laboratory collection, taken on Channel 2, Boca del Drago,
June 3, 1962. Canal Zone: Estero west of Salud Point, Barro Colo-
rado Island, seen by Skutch, May 10, 1935; Chiva Chiva, specimen,
June 13, 1955; Juan Mina, specimens, January 12, 1949, January 12,
1953. Province of Panama: Rio La Jagua, specimen, February 9,
1951; upper Rio Pacora, at 100 meters elevation on the west base of
Cerro Azul, specimen, March 28, 1911; Chiman, sight record, March

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 97

6, 1927 (L. Griscom) ; Quebrada Cauchero at 150 meters elevation
on Cerro Chucanti, March 8, 1950 sight record. Darién: Mouth of
Rio Sambu, sight record, February 24, 1927, (L. Griscom) ; mouth
of Rio Paya, on the Rio Tuira, February 10, 1959, and mouth of Rio
Tuquesa, on the Rio Chucunaque, March 24, 1954, sight records;
Rio Jaqué, at the mouth of Rio Imamad6, April 16, 1947, specimen ;
Isla del Rey, Archipiélago de las Perlas, May 8, 1900, specimen
(Bangs, Auk, 1901, p. 25).

The bird from Cerro Azul, an immature taken by Goldman, was
shot at the edge of a stream. The river at that point flowed with
considerable fall over a rocky bed through heavy forest where the
trees overhung the water. On the Rio Jaqué in 1947, rains had
formed a narrow, shallow pool in heavy forest along the base of a
hill opposite our camp. As I came to this in early morning a dark
bird moved on a log resting in the water, and then flew up into the
branches. When it flew again I fired, and it fell to the ground amid
a cloud of leaves cut by the shot. Its dark colors blended so perfectly
with the somber shadows in which I had found it that it seemed
truly a bird of the forest, one of the most beautiful and unusual of
its family that I have seen. In subsequent encounters I found the
haunts just described typical of those sought by this interesting spe-
cies, a solitary bird whose habits are little known.

Michener (Condor, 1964, p. 77) recorded a colony of a dozen nests
in a swamp near Minatitlan, southern Veracruz “built of twigs about
4 to 6 feet above the water level, with water 3 to 4 feet deep.” He
mentions fresh eggs but gives no further description. An egg in the
Museum of Comparative Zoology from the T. M. Brewer collection,
labeled “Amazon 1849 Edwards,” subelliptical in form, is very pale
dull glaucous-blue. It measures 55.8 x 39.5 mm., the length being sub-
ject possibly to a minor correction of a fraction of a millimeter as the
specimen was end-blown. Schénwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 2, 1960, p.
92) does not mention color but gives measurements of two eggs as
follows: 48.6 x 34.1, and 52 x 38 mm.

PILHERODIUS PILEATUS (Boddaert): Capped Heron; Garza Real
Ardea pileata Boddaert, Table Planch. Enlum., 1783, p. 54. (Cayenne.)
White, with a distinct black crown.
Description.—Length 510 to 590 mm.; adult, white, with back and

wings light gray ; crown black, except the forehead, which is white ;
4 or 5 slender white nuchal plumes that when fully grown are 200 to

98 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

230 mm. long. In breeding season the breast, hindneck, and under
surface of the wings are light cream-buff.

Immature, paler gray above, so that the bird appears white above
and below ; nuchal plumes shorter.

Iris yellow ; bare space around eye and lores light blue; bill bluish
neutral gray, somewhat darker at base, and yellowish white at tip;
tarsi and toes bluish neutral gray ; claws darker.

Measurements.—Males (6 from Panama and northern Colombia),
wing 267-280 (271), tail 96.0-103.5 (99.1), culmen from base 75.8-
81.7 (79.7), tarsus 92.6-98.7 (96.0) mm.

Females (5 from Panama and northern Colombia), wing 263-274
(269), tail 95.5-101.4 (98.5), culmen from base 76.0-93.0 (82.1),
tarsus 92.1-94.8 (93.5) mm.

Resident. Rare; now found mainly in Darién.

Lawrence (Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, 1861, p. 301) received
one from McLeannan that is listed as taken on the Atlantic slope of
the Canal Zone. Collectors for the Malaria Control Service secured
an adult female in the Tocumen swamps, east of Panama City, on
October 6, 1953; and there is a male in the Havemeyer Collection,
in the Peabody Museum at Yale, taken at San Antonio, on the lower
Rio Bayano, February 23, 1927. Other records are from Darién,
mainly on the Rio Chucunaque, except for one bird collected April 6,
1922, on the Rio Jesus, a tributary of the Sambu (Bangs and Barbour,
Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 65, 1922,.p. 193). The anthropologist
J. L. Baer secured 3 near the mouth of the Rio Tuquesa, on the Rio
Chucunaque, March 4 and 5, 1924. In this same region I saw several
between March 21 and April 1, 1959, and secured 2 specimens on
March 22. One early morning as I moved rapidly on the river in a
motor-powered piragua one scrambled up the steep river bank and
disappeared in the brush. A few days later I saw one feeding at a
heavily shaded forest pool, where it posed with outstretched neck, a
strikingly beautiful bird.

Two immature individuals were brought to me, caught alive by
country men, who described them as tame and unafraid. In these the
tarsi were not quite fully formed, and the primaries were still in
growth, so that it is interesting to note that they have the color pattern
of adults, including slender nuchal plumes, these being 90 mm. long in
one and 115 mm. in the other. The back and wings are paler gray,
and the forepart of the body is plain white, without the buff found in
breeding adults.

Schomburgk (Fauna Flora Brit. Guiana, 1848, p. 754) says that the

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 99

nest is built in low trees, and that the bird lays two eggs, but gives
no other details.

While this species appears related to the black-crowned night
herons, which it resembles in the form of the nuchal plumes, it differs
definitely in lack of a well defined immature plumage.

NYCTICORAX NYCTICORAX HOACTLI (Gmelin): Black-crowned Night
Heron; Zorro de Agua

Ardea Hoacth Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 630. (Valley of México.)

Adult, crown and back greenish black, white below. Bill more
slender than in the yellow-crowned night heron.

Description—Length 560 to 660 mm. Adult, back and crown
glossy greenish black, except forehead and line above eye which are
white ; wings and tail gray ; neck pale gray ; below white ; two slender,
white nuchal plumes, that reach a length of more than 200 mm. in
breeding season.

Immature, above grayish brown, streaked heavily with white; be-
low white, streaked heavily with grayish brown, except on the throat
and abdomen. Second-year birds are plain gray above, unstreaked.

Measurements——Males (5 from United States, Panama, Colombia,
and Venezuela), wing 290-307 (298), tail 110.0-117.6 (114.3),
culmen from base 70.8-74.3 (72.5), tarsus 71.8-86.5 (78.9) mm.

Females (5 from United States and Colombia), wing 290-298
(293), tail 108.2-114.5 (110.9), culmen from base 70.3-74.6 (73.7),
tarsus 74.8-84.8 (81.7) mm.

Resident, and in part a winter visitor from the north. Fairly com-
mon in the coastal lowlands.

This night heron was found by Maj. Gen. G. Ralph Meyer on
Farallon Rock, off Isla Taboguilla, where there were large young on
April 9, 1944 ; and on Isla Changamé March 16, 1941. I recorded it in
the Perlas group on Isla San José, February 21, 1944, and at Isleta
Malaga, January 29, 1960. About 30 were seen in the low brush on
the summit of Isla Villa, off the coast of Los Santos, February 28,
1957. One in the British Museum was taken on Isla Taboga on Sep-
tember 24, 1924.

There is record of one banded in Michigan, June 26, 1941, that was
shot near Rio Hato in June 1949.

These herons in the main are nocturnal and during the day remain
in dense tree tops in wooded swamps, tall mangroves, or along the
lower courses of rivers, and so it is only casually that one is seen as
it takes flight heavily when alarmed by human intrusion. From sun-

I0O SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

set to dark they range out to feed, and I have often recorded them
by their harsh calls as, hidden by the darkened sky, they flew past my
camp. The note is an explosive quok, heronlike in sound, but suff-
ciently different from others of the family to identify the species.

It is probable that the colony on Isla Villa was on its nesting
ground. I believed also that those seen in March 1957, in company
with boat-billed herons, on the lower Rio Caldera, back of Punta Mala
were nesting, and there must be colonies in the swamps at La Jagua
from the numbers that are found there. Nests seen on San José Rock,
off Naos Island, March 21, 1915, attributed questionably to this spe-
cies (Hallinan, 1924, p. 308) from the locality more probably were
those of the yellow-crowned night heron. The eggs are similar to
those of that species. In Darién this species has the same name as
the yellowcrown, hurajia, because of its secretive habits. Near Pacora
they were called chala, of uncertain meaning but possibly derived
from the greenish-black back, in form like a dark-colored chal, or
kerchief, often worn by women across the shoulders.

NYCTANASSA VIOLACEA (Linnaeus): Yellow-crowned Night Heron;
Hurafia

Crown and a streak under eye white, with rest of side of head and
throat black; gray underneath in adult; bill strong and heavy.

Description.—Length 510 to 610 mm. Adult, gray, heavily streaked
with black above, and indistinctly with whitish on abdomen; side of
head and throat black; crown, including the 100 to 150 mm. long
nuchal plumes, and streak on the side of head, white.

Immature, brownish gray above and on neck; spotted with buffy
white on back and wings ; heavily streaked with buffy white on neck;
whiter below, heavily streaked with brownish gray, including the
throat and abdomen.

The adult has long dorsal plumes extending beyond the tail that
are lacking in the black-crowned night heron. There are differences
in the skeleton that serve to maintain the two in separate genera.

The hurafia is found mainly in swampy woodlands in the lowlands,
including the taller stands of mangroves, on both sides of the isthmus,
and in addition is spread widely through the islands in the Gulf of
Panama. It also reaches Isla Coiba. While the yellowcrown ranges
along the larger streams, the majority do not go inland much beyond
the head of tidewater, since this is the usual limit of the wet forest
that is their haunt. Within these areas they are fairly common, though
it is impracticable to judge their number accurately because of diffi-

FAMILY ARDEIDAE IOI

culty in penetrating their swampy haunts. While they feed at night,
they are less nocturnal than the black-crowned night heron as it is
common to see them during morning and evening on the seashore,
both on rocky headlands, and on mudflats and beaches made bare by
ebbing tide. They also are more prone to rest in open trees.

The voice, usually heard as birds pass after dark, is similar to that
of the other species but higher in pitch.

Six subspecies are recognized currently in the extensive range of
the species from northwestern México and southeastern United States
south through Central America and the West Indies to northern and
eastern South America. Three of these have been recorded from
Panama, one of them as a migrant wanderer. A second enters the
upper Tuira valley from Colombia, and the third is resident along
the coasts of the republic.

NYCTANASSA VIOLACEA VIOLACEA (Linnaeus)
Ardea violacea Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 143. (South Carolina.)

Characters——Paler gray than WN. v. caliginis, with more slender bill ;
depth at nostril 19.0 to 21.9 mm.

Measurements.—Males (30 specimens), wing 281-300 (294), tail
102.0-118.7 (109.2), culmen from base 64.5-75.6 (70.9), depth of
bill at nostril 19.0-21.9 (20.8), tarsus 93.6-106.2 (99.4) mm.

Females (22 specimens), wing 271-305 (290), tail 101.1-115.4
(107.8), culmen from base 64.2-75.3 (69.9), depth of bill at nostril
19.4-21.9 (20.8), tarsus 90.5-105.8 (97.1) mm.

Migrant. Found during the period of northern winter: Specimens
seen from Bocas del Toro (Bocas del Toro, Nov. 6, 1927; Changui-
nola, Jan. 21, 1929; Almirante, Feb. 6, 1958; Garay Creek, Almirante
Bay, Dec. 19, 1926); Herrera (Paris, Mar. 4, 1948); San Blas
(Permé, Oct. 21 and Dec. 6, 1929) ; and Isla Cébaco.

This form appears to be fairly common as a migrant on the Carib-
bean coast of Bocas del Toro. Ina preliminary review of the races of
this species (Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 106, no. 1, 1946, p. 17) I
identified the bird from Garay Creek as Nyctanassa v. bancrofti, a
race widely distributed through the West Indies. On subsequent ex-
amination the specimen proved to be typical wiolacea. There is no
record of bancrofti from Panama.

NYCTANASSA VIOLACEA CALIGINIS Wetmore

Nyctanassa violacea caliginis Wetmore, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 59,
Mar. 11, 1946, p. 49. (Isla San José, Archipiélago de las Perlas, Panama.)

I02 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Characters.—Dark gray, with thick, heavy bill.

Measurements——Males (12 specimens), wing 282-299 (290.1) ;
tail 101.7-116.9 (108.7), culmen from base 67.6-81.3 (73.8), tarsus
87.7-101.3 (92.1), depth of bill at nostril 22.2-25.1 (23.4) mm.

Females (2 specimens), wing 288-291 (289.5), tail 101.1-109.0
(105.0), culmen from base 73.7-74.7 (74.2), tarsus 96.5-97.4 (97.0),
depth of bill at nostril 22.2-23.5 (22.9) mm.

Resident. From Isla Coiba and southern Veraguas eastward along
the Pacific coast (continuing southward along the Pacific littoral of
Colombia and Ecuador) ; and on the Caribbean side from Bocas del
Toro to the Comarca de San Blas.

Specimens are recorded on the Pacific side from Isla Coiba; Para-
coté, Veraguas; Isla Taboga; Isla San José, Isla Morena, Isla del
Rey, and Isla Saboga in the Archipiélago de las Perlas; Fort Kobbe,
Rio Farfan, and Balboa, Canal Zone; and on the Caribbean coast
from Almirante, Bocas del Toro; and Puerto Obaldia, San Blas.

Gen. G. Ralph Meyer found a colony on Isla Changamé near the
Pacific entrance of the Canal, where their nests of sticks were placed
on the ground, or less than a meter above it in low growths of cactus.
In three sets of 3 eggs each, taken February 23 and March 29, 1941,
in which incubation had started, the color varies from pale glaucous-
green to pale Niagara green, and the shape from elliptical to, long
elliptical. Measurements of these 9 eggs are as follows: Length 48.0
to 51.5; breadth 33.7 to 37.9; with an average of 49.9 by 36.0 mm.

NYCTANASSA VIOLACEA CAYENNENSIS (Gmelin)
Ardea cayennensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 626. (Cayenne.)

Characters.—Closely similar to Nyctanassa v. violacea from south-
eastern United States in slender bill, but averaging darker in color,
with the dark streaks on the dorsal feathers narrower.

Measurements——Males (6 specimens), wing 271-292 (284), tail
101.5-114.8 (109.7), culmen from base 68.4-73.8 (70.2), depth of
bill at nostril 19.9-22.0 (21.0), tarsus 97.8-103.0 (99.8) mm.

Females (5 specimens), wing 263-288 (279), tail 97.4-107.8
(101.7), culmen 61.8-71.7 (67.2), depth of bill at nostril 20.3-21.0
(20.5), tarsus 92.7-99.2 (96.6) mm.

Found in eastern Darién, in the Rio Tuira Valley; and in eastern
San Blas, near the Colombian boundary.

This race is resident in northern South America from northwestern
Colombia and Trinidad south to Surinam and northern and eastern
Brazil. An adult male from Yavisa, Darién, on the lower Chucunaque

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 103

is typical of this subspecies. Two adult birds and one in its second
year, from the mouth of the Rio Paya on the upper middle Tuira,
appear somewhat intermediate toward caliginis, for although the bill
at the nostril is slender it is somewhat more swollen toward the tip.
They are, however, to be placed with the South American form. The
three birds from the Paya were collected by the staff of the Gorgas
Memorial Laboratory on April 11 and 15, 1959, a month after I had
left the area. As I did not record the species here during February
and March it is possible that they had come into the region from
elsewhere subsequent to my departure.

A female collected by Wedel at Permé, May 31, 1929, a bird in a
plumage that lacks perhaps a year of being fully adult, agrees with
the Paya specimens in slender bill and dark coloration. Another, an
adult male, from Puerto Obaldia secured by the same collector Dec.
8, 1931, also is similar.

HETEROCNUS MEXICANUS (Swainson): Bare-throated Tiger-Bittern;
Jorralico

Ficure 16

Tigrisoma mexicanus Swainson, in Murray, Encyclopedia of Geography, July
1834, p. 1383. (México.)

Throat and upper foreneck bare of feathers, a character, found
even in the young when first hatched, that distinguishes this species
in any plumage from the banded tiger-bittern.

Description—Length 710 to 810 mm. Adult, crown and nuchal
crest black; under surface dull cinnamon brown, with the foreneck
streaked broadly with black and white; sides of neck and upper sur-
face finely barred with blackish and buffy white, with shaft streaks of
dull black on back and wings.

Immature, boldly barred throughout with dull cinnamon-buff and
black; sides and under surface of wings white, barred with black.

In an incubating bird at a nest with 3 eggs northwest of Puerto
Madero, Chiapas, Walter Dawn (Auk, 1964, p. 231) records colors
as follows: Iris deep yellow; bare loral stripe greenish yellow; bare
skin of throat bright yellow ; tarsus greenish slate.

Measurements——Males (12 specimens, México to Panama), wing
330-372 (344), tail 126-142 (136), culmen 100.0-118.0 (111.4),
tarsus 104.6-115.0 (111.6) mm.

Females (15 specimens, México to Panama), wing 316-365 (338),
tail 112-153 (131.0), culmen 96.4-112.0 (104.6), tarsus 96.8-114.0
(108.4) mm.

I04 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Resident along the Pacific coast from Puerto Armuelles eastward,
ranging to Isla Coiba, Isla Canal de Afuera, Isla Cébaco, and the
Archipiélago de las Perlas (recorded from Contadora, Chapera, Ma-

Paitin —
a ton ww
r Saat Re
i a alia
sti) il WW Al me bi aa
/ se wens ene
Fan

bin
| Coronet
Lay Nihal ie w

fishy they wi ,
“U, My du

Fic. 16—Head of bare-throated tiger-bittern, jorralico, Heterocnus mexicanus,
with throat bare from the bill to the upper foreneck.

laga, Bayoneta, and San José). Reported once on the Caribbean coast
at Permé, San Blas (specimen, July 25, 1929, in Museum of Com-
parative Zoology). Found locally in uninhabited areas; rare, or ab-
sent, in settled regions.

This interesting heron, long of neck, short of leg, and with bare

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 105

throat, is now rare in most parts of mainland Panama; it remains
only in sections too remote to be open to casual hunting. In the La
Jagua area it is still fairly common as a dozen or more may range in
scattered company over marshlands, where tall grass, bushes, and low
trees stand in shallow water, or on the open shores adjacent where the
birds may walk about. They shelter in swampy woodlands, along the
lower courses of the rivers, especially in the taller growths of man-
groves. In such localities I have often walked underneath or around
them, within 12 or 15 meters, though in the open they are somewhat
more wary. It is possible in any event to approach them without much
precaution, as the birds are far from shy. This leads to their destruc-
tion near regions that become settled as they are easy marks, even
for well-aimed sticks and stones.

They move quietly, frequently standing motionless, waiting for the
crabs or fish that are their principal sources of sustenance. When
flushed they rise with a croaking harsh note, wok wok wok, and in late
afternoon, or at night, they utter a strange, barking, froglike call. This
may be varied to a curious snoring sound, repeated constantly, and at
times becoming louder and louder until it is almost a bellow, all notes
that carry far in still air.

Nests that I have seen were flattened platforms of sticks, larger
than in most herons, placed in trees, as low as 4 meters from the
ground. In the Pearl Islands several were located on tree limbs pro-
jecting over low cliffs, above water at high tide.

In the latter part of January on Isla Coiba I noted two pairs on a
little beach engaged in a display in which they alternately swelled the
breast and neck and pointed the bill upward with neck fully extended,
in bittern style. In this attitude, because of their short legs, they pre-
sented a strange, almost grotesque, appearance. On Isla San José on
February 9, 1944, I shot a female about to lay and saw a nest with
small young on February 22. A young bird in down was collected here
on March 24. Near Chico, Panama, a nest contained well grown
young on March 18, 1949.

The young bird mentioned, taken from the nest, has light grayish
white down, except that the longer filaments on the crown are pure
white. The brown pinfeathers of the juvenal dress have barely begun
growth on the upper surface.

Van Rossem described an egg seen in a nest near San Sebastian, El
Salvador as “Dull white, with a greenish tinge, of a rough grain”
(Dickey and van Rossem, Birds El Salvador, 1938, p. 83). Dawn
(cit. supra, fig. 1) who, in July 1962 photographed one nest and de-
scribed another, each with 3 eggs, found on the coast of Chiapas, states

106 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

that the “unspotted eggs .. . confirm van Rossem’s description.” These
accounts need to be checked with further observations as eggs of this
species in the U.S. National Museum are lightly spotted. The mark-
ings are faint and are seen only on close scrutiny.

The set of 2 eggs in question was collected April 20, 1903, near
Papayo, Guerrero, by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman. Both are
very light pale glaucous-green, marked sparingly and indistinctly with
scattered, irregular dots of pinkish buff. They are subelliptical in
shape, and measure 56.6X43.5 and 58.145.3 mm. Nelson’s field
notes state that the nest of sticks, slight in structure so that light
showed through it from below, was placed about 7 meters from the
ground on a fork of a nearly horizontal branch in a mangrove that
stood in the open at the shore of a lagoon.

There is a skin in the British Museum from Laguna Castillo, south-
ern Veraguas, taken by Arcé in 1869, and W. W. Brown, Jr. for-
warded one from the same province secured on the “Sona River” (the
Rio San Pablo, near Sona) July 21, 1901 (Bangs, Proc. New England
Zoél. Club, vol. 3, 1902, p. 19). I have recorded them on the lower
Rio Santa Maria below Paris, Herrera, February 24, 1948, at Punta
Mala, March 27, 1948, along the Rio Caldera at the southern end of
the Azuero Peninsula, March 11 and 20, 1957, and have found them
regularly in the marshes adjacent to the La Jagua Hunting Club. I
took one on April 17, 1949, near the mouth of the Rio Bayano, below
Chepo, and Griscom reported one seen on March 7, 1927, at Chiman,
where I heard them calling at night on several occasions in February
1950. This is the most eastern locality at which they have been re-
corded on the Pacific side. The report by Chapman (Life in an Air
Castle, 1938, p. 226), for Barro Colorado Island, “observed rarely.
No specimens” must refer to Tigrisoma |. lineatum as Heterocnus
mexicanus has not been found that far inland.

In connection with the single record for Permé, San Blas, it is of
interest to note another in the Chicago Natural History Museum, orig-
inally in the collection of C. B. Cory taken March 22, 1881, that is
labeled “Mouth of Rio Atrato, Antioquia, Colombia.”

TIGRISOMA LINEATUM LINEATUM (Boddaert): Banded Tiger-Bittern;
Garza Tigre Rayada

Ficure 17
Ardea lineata Boddaert, Table Planch. Enlum., 1783, p. 52. (Cayenne.)
Known from the bare-throated tiger-bittern in any plumage by the

broad band of feathers down the center of the throat, with a bare
space at either side.

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 107

Description —Length 610 to 760 mm. Adult, head, neck, and up-
per breast chestnut brown, narrowly banded with black, except on
the crown ; foreneck and breast streaked with white ; lower breast and
abdomen dull cinnamon; back and wings greenish black, barred and
dotted finely with cinnamon.

Immature, bright cinnamon-buff, white on the abdomen and under
tail coverts, barred heavily with black; tail black, barred narrowly
with white.

Fic. 17.—Head of banded tiger-bittern, garza tigre rayada, Tigrisoma lineatum
lineatum, with a line of feathers down the throat, which is bare at the sides.

Measurements.—Males (12 specimens, from Panama and Colom-
bia), wing 276-315 (294.4), tail 101-118 (110.5), culmen from base
93.3-103.7 (98.9), tarsus 93.0-105.5 (99.4) mm.

Females (9 specimens, from Panama, Colombia and Venezuela),
wing 270-305 (291.3), tail 99.5-115.7 (111.0), culmen from base 88.0-
98.3 (92.3), tarsus 92.1-106.5 (96.7) mm.

Resident. Found in small numbers in forested areas, on the Carib-
bean slope from Bocas del Toro to San Blas; and on the Pacific side
in Darién in the Tuira-Chucunaque Valley (Laguna de Pita; above
Yavisa; El Real) where it ranges upward on the slopes of Cerro
Pirri to 550 meters (Cana).

108 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

In Bocas del Toro specimens are recorded from Changuinola, Almi-
rante, and Cricamola (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931,
p. 307). C. O. Handley, Jr., collected an adult on Cayo Agua, Febru-
ary 14, 1963. From near the line of the Panama Railroad, McLeannan
forwarded specimens a hundred years ago, and W. W. Brown, Jr.
secured one at Lion Hill in March 1900 (Bangs, Proc. New England
Zool. Club, vol. 2, 1900, p. 15). Goldman collected one on February
23, 1911, on the Rio Indio, near Gatun, Canal Zone, and I have one
taken January 14, 1955, at Juan Mina. I saw several near Mandinga
along the San Blas coast in January and February 1957 and col-
lected one January 28. It is probable that it ranges locally eastward
along this coast as we have specimens taken in Colombia in the
Atrato area. In Darién, Festa secured two immature birds at
the Laguna de Pita in August 1895. There is one in the American
Museum of Natural History from near Yavisa, and I shot one at
the mouth of the Rio Tuquesa on the Chucunaque on March 27,
1959, and one near El Real February 16, 1964. Goldman secured
one at 550 meters elevation near Cana March 14, 1912, this being
the highest point at which the bird is recorded. (The locality “To-
coumé” or Tocumen on a specimen collected by E. André in the
American Museum of Natural History in which the original label
is missing is believed to be in error as the bird is not known in
the savanna area. )

This tiger-bittern is found along the forested banks of the larger
streams and in swampy forests and mangroves, usually alone except
in the nesting season, or when recently grown young still remain
with the parents. They live more in forests than the jorrdlico, and
in contrast to that species seem always to seek shade. They are found
along the banks of streams, sometimes those of small size. Oc-
casionally they range along small, dry quebradas in regions of low
hills.

As the birds rise when alarmed they call, quok quok quok, like
the bare-throated species, a sound that also resembles the note of
a night heron but is louder and deeper in tone. I have heard birds
that were not frightened give another note, harsh and long drawn
out, gioh -h-h-h, quoh-h-h-h. They also have a strange
groaning call, harsh in tone, a sound that carries far, particularly
since it is heard mainly during the quiet air of night.

The stomach of the bird shot on the Tuquesa contained a partly
armored fish of good size.

There is little known of their breeding. A nest of the closely
allied race T. /. marmoratum is described as a crude platform, rather

FAMILY ARDEIDAE 109

small compared to the size of the bird, with 2 eggs grayish blue
in color, dotted and blotched lightly with dull red. These measured
48x65 mm. (Guimaraes Sobrinho, Rev. Mus. Paulista, vol. 17,
1932, p. 918).

Rossi (Univ. Buenos Aires Fac. Cienc. Ex. Nat., Contr. Cient.
Ser. Zool., vol. 1, no. 2, 1958, pp. 38-41) in a study of the breeding
of this race in the zoological gardens in Buenos Aires, records 14
nestings each with 3 eggs.

He describes the ground color as “celeste claro” (clear sky blue),
marked with dots and small blotches of brown and violet. Measure-
ments in 12 eggs were 58.3-61.2 x 44.1-45.8 mm.

The species sometimes is called garza vaca or pdjaro vaca (or in
Venezuela vaco), through a fancied resemblance of its calls to the
lowing of cattle.

TIGRISOMA SALMONI Sclater and Salvin: Salmon’s Tiger-Bittern;
Garza Tigre Oscura

Ficure 18

Tigrisoma salmoni P. L. Sclater and Osbert Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
June 1875, p. 38, fig. 2. (Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia.)

A tiger-bittern with bill shorter and heavier at the point than that of
T.1. lineatum; adult blacker.

Description—Length 560 to 660 mm. Adult, similar to Tigrisoma
1. lineatum, but head and neck black, banded narrowly with cinna-
mon-buff.

Immature, also like T. 1. lineatum, but more extensively white on
the lower surface, including the under wing coverts.

An adult female taken on February 28, 1964, on the north fork of
the Rio Pucro, Darién, had the iris yellow; loral area black, except
for the upper margin and the area immediately in front of the eye,
which are bright yellow; rest of bare area above and behind eye
green, including the posterior margin of the eyelids; central section
of the edge of the upper eyelid black; tip of bill horn color; rest
of maxilla black, except for the cutting edge from below the nostril
to the gape, which is yellowish green, and a narrow margin on the
nasal operculum which is dull green; line of the gonys and lower
edge of the side of the mandibular rami yellowish green, brighter
toward gape; rest of side of mandible black; bare skin at base of
mandible and on sides of throat bright yellow; crus, posterior face
of tarsus, and lower part of sides of toes dull green; front of tarsus
and top of toes dull fuscous brown; claws greenish neutral gray, be-
coming yellowish at tips.

IIo SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Se —_

SS

Fic. 18.—Salmon’s tiger-bittern, garza tigre oscura, Tigrisoma salmont.

FAMILY ARDEIDAE II!

Another female, not quite in full adult plumage, taken February
23, had all the bare skin on the side of the head yellow except for a
narrow line of fuscous across the loral area, another on the edge
of the upper eyelid, and a line of bluish green above the eye. The
side of the mandible also was more extensively yellow along the lower
half.

Measurements—Males (5 from Panama and Chocd, Colombia),
wing 274-292 (285.6), tail 106.0-117.6 (109.7), culmen from base
86.4-91.4 (88.9), tarsus 81.2-93.8 (90.0) mm.

Females (6 from Panama and Chocd, Colombia), wing 265-288
(279), tail 106.0-114.0 (108.4), culmen from cere 74.7-83.0 (78.7),
tarsus 79.0-88.0 (84.8) mm.

Resident. Locally fairly common, in the humid tropical lowlands,
ranging to the subtropical zone in Darién; recorded from Bocas del
Toro (Rio Changena, 750 meters elevation) ; the Caribbean slope
of Coclé (El Uracillo) ; Colén, in the upper Chagres Valley (Sala-
manca and Peluca hydrographic stations); Darién (Tacarcuna
village and head of Rio Pucro on Cerro Tacarcuna) ; and San Blas
(Ranchon, Puerto Obaldia).

The species was first recognized from Panama from an adult male
that I collected February 29, 1952, on the Rio Uracillo, above the
town of that name in the foothills of the Caribbean slope of Coclé.
On February 21, 1961, I secured another, an immature bird, on the
Rio Boqueron a short distance below the Peluca hydrographic station.
Collectors for the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory shot an immature
female at 750 meters elevation on the Rio Changena, Bocas del Toro,
on September 9, 1961.

My first bird rose from the open bank of a small quebrada and
flew into the forest beyond, where its dark coloration concealed
it so perfectly that I looked for several minutes in the dim light before
I saw it again, though it stood on an open limb. The area was one
where fog lay long in early morning, and the low vegetation was
seldom dry. I saw others here on February 24 and March 4, and
on the latter date approached another adult closely as it crouched
on a branch, motionless except for an occasional flick of the tail.
In handling the male I found a pair of long, continuous powder-down
tracts on the side of the breast, the extent being impressive as there was
no division in the entire length. A smaller pair lay on either side
of the flanks.

The immature bird taken on the Boquerén ranged along the gravel
bars in the river, and sheltered in the trees above when alarmed.

II2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

In February 1964 two were collected among several seen along
the head of the Rio Pucro at about 1,300 meters elevation on the
slopes of Cerro Tacarcuna. One of these had the stomach filled with
the small armored catfish (family Loricariidae), abundant in these
streams, of the kind called wakupu by the Cuna Indians, who prize
them as food. The other had eaten a large aquatic waterbug. I saw
an immature individual at about 600 meters elevation on the Rio
Tacarcuna on March 14.

I have found no account of the nest and eggs of this species.

Identification of the first two specimens mentioned led to critical
examination of the tiger-bitterns in the American Museum of Nat-
tural History and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, with dis-
covery of other skins that had been identified as T. J. lineatum,
including one from Tacarcuna, Darién, taken March 28, 1915, in
the collection first named. Of the others, in Cambridge, one taken
March 11, 1936, comes from the old Salamanca hydrographic station,
now abandoned, near the upper end of Madden Lake. Those taken
by Wedel at Puerto Obaldia and Ranchon, San Blas, had been re-
corded erroneously by Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72,
1932, p. 311) as T. lineatum. It is evident that T. salmoni ranges
locally through the more humid forest areas of the republic.

Birds of this species from southeastern Pert and western Bolivia
have been separated by Sztoleman as the race brevirostre on the
basis of shorter bill. This, however, needs further consideration
since bill measurements in those I have examined, including several
others from Colombia and Venezuela in addition to those cited
above, cover the sizes alleged to mark the race that it is proposed to
recognize.

BOTAURUS LENTIGINOSUS (Rackett): American Bittern; Avetoro Pasajero

Ardea lentiginosa Rackett, in Pulteney, Cat. Birds, Shells, and Plants Dorset-
shire, ed. 2, May 1813, p. 14. (Parish of Piddletown, Dorsetshire, England.)

A heron of medium size, mainly buffy brown, with a prominent
black stripe on the side of the upper neck at the base of the head.

Description Length 560 to 660 mm. Mixed buff and brown above,
with back and wings finely spotted and lined with blackish; throat
white, with a black patch on either side at the base of the neck;
below buff streaked with yellowish brown.

Accidental, as a migrant from the north. One record for the
Canal Zone.

The only report of this North American species is that of a bird
that McLeannan secured when he was stationed at Lion Hill (Law-

FAMILY ARDEIDAE II3

rence, 1862, p. 478). The specimen, in the American Museum of
Natural History, is marked 1862, with indication that it was re-
ceived from McLeannan, but no further data.

The bittern has been found several times in Costa Rica, but that
apparently is its usual southern limit during its migrations. Normally
it frequents open, grassy, fresh—or brackish—water marshes.

[The pinnated bittern, Botaurus pinnatus, somewhat blacker above
than the American bittern, with the neck barred heavily with slaty
black, is recorded from Costa Rica and Colombia. It is possible that
it may be found in grassy marshes along the Caribbean Coast of
Panama. |

IXOBRYCHUS EXILIS (Gmelin): Least Bittern; Garza Enana

Smallest of the herons, easily recognized by its size—less than
half that of the little green heron, or martinete—and by its buffy color.

Description—Length 250 to 330 mm. Male, with back and crown
black; sides of head, neck and wings chestnut; greater wing coverts
buff; underparts buffy white.

Female, brown, with the under surface streaked with buff.

The least bittern frequents fresh-water marshes where it remains
hidden in tall grass and rushes, though toward evening it may appear
in the open to fly across channels to some feeding place. At other
times they flush rarely, even when closely approached. The few
records come from around Barro Colorado Island and from the
Chagres marshes near Juan Mina. Two races are found, one a winter
migrant from the north, the other, of South American affinity, a
resident.

IXOBRYCHUS EXILIS EXILIS (Gmelin)
Ardea exilis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 645. (Jamaica. )

Characters.—Side of head buff.

Winter visitor from the north.

The only certain records are of two females, one that I took in
the marshes opposite the dock at Juan Mina on January 31, 1959, and
another, now in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,
collected on September 13, 1913, at Mount Hope, Canal Zone, by
L. L. Jewel.

IXOBRYCHUS EXILIS ERYTHROMELAS (Vieillot)

Ardea crythromelas (sic) Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 14,
Sept. 1817, p. 422. (Rio Paraguay.)

Characters.—Differs from typical exvilis in having the side of the

II4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

head rufous-brown, like the stripe over the eye and along the side
of the crown.

Measurements—Males (2 from Panama), wing 106.5, 109.0,
tail 39.6, 41.9, culmen from base 43.2, 42.9, tarsus 39.0, 41.8 mm.

Females (2 from Panama), wing 109.8, 114.4, tail 36.4, 42.9,
culmen from base 42.8, 44.8, tarsus 41.5, 44.7 mm.

These figures indicate that the size agrees with that of the typical
race I, e. exilis.

A male taken on January 13, 1961, had the following colors: Inner
edge of iris bright yellow, outer ring reddish orange; base of culmen
wood brown, changing at level of nostrils to dusky neutral gray;
cutting edges of maxilla and mandible honey yellow; loral area
honey yellow, with a line of buffy yellow above and below; space
around eye honey yellow; crus, tarsus and toes honey yellow, tinged
with neutral gray on the front of the tibio-tarsal joint and of the
tarsus ; claws wood brown tipped with dark neutral gray.

Resident. Recorded only in fresh-water marshes, along the lower
Chagres.

The few records are as follows: A female in the Salvin-Godman
collection in the British Museum, sent by McLeannan from Lion
Hill, Canal Zone; another, a male, in the American Museum of
Natural History, marked 1863, from the same source, but without
more detailed data, a bird in first fall plumage, with the back feathers
margined lightly with rufous. In addition to these I have collected
two in the marshes bordering the Rio Chagres near Juan Mina, a
female on January 10, and a male on January 13, both in 1961.

Least bitterns are fairly common between Gamboa and Juan Mina
but remain closely under cover and so are seldom seen. In January
as the breeding season approaches they begin to call, a low, drawling
kwuh-h-h-h, repeated at brief intervals, given while the birds remain
concealed in the marsh growth. In early morning, and more regu-
larly in late afternoon, they move about to feed, and then may fly
a few meters low down in the open, but immediately drop into cover.
I have had one call at dusk within 10 meters and still not be able
to see it. One that I shot had a small fish in the stomach, and this
appears to be their principal food.

Family COCHLEARIIDAE: Boat-billed Heron; Garzota Cuchara

The single species of this family ranges in the Tropical Zone low-
lands from northern México (Sinaloa on the west, Tamaulipas on the
east) south through Central America to northern Argentina. Two

FAMILY COCHLEARIIDAE It5

of the three races recognized are covered in the present report, a
very pale one of South America that ranges from southwestern
Darién southward, and a very dark one, found in southwestern Costa
Rica and most of Panama, that enters Colombia on the northwestern
shores of the Gulf of Uraba. The third, Cochlearius cochlearius
geledoni (Ridgway), of México and most of Central America, is
paler gray above than C. c. panamensis of Panama, but otherwise
is similar. These birds suggest night herons in general appearance
but are marked at once by the broad bill—less than twice as long
as it is wide—from which the family takes its name. In the adult a
crest of broad, loose feathers extends a third of the way down the
neck and the dorsal feathers are elongated to the level of the
rump.

The characters that set these birds off as a distinct family com-
pared to the true herons (Ardeidae) are found in the enlarged bill,
which is a scoop instead of a spear, and in the considerable struc-
tural changes in the mouth and skull that accompany this. There
are four pairs of powder-down patches instead of the three of true
herons. The bill at hatching is short, triangular, broad at the base,
and tapers rapidly to a blunt point, an appearance quite different
from that of true herons of the same age. A downy specimen of
this age of the race Cochlearius cochlearius geledoni from southern
Veracruz, with an egg tooth present on both maxilla and mandible
is dull white below, pale gray above, and brownish black on the
crown.

COCHLEARIUS COCHLEARIUS (Linnaeus): Boat-billed Heron;
Garzota Cuchara

Ficure 19

A heronlike bird of medium size, with a heavy bill in which the
breadth is more than half the length.

Description—Length 480 to 510 mm. Adult, forehead and fore-
crown white; rest of crown, broad, elongated nuchal plumes, and
a patch on upper back, blackish slate; rest of upper surface, in-
cluding sides of neck, gray; breast, abdomen, and under tail coverts,
cinnamon-brown; sides and flanks slaty black.

As stated under the family heading, this species suggests the night
herons in general, though distinct from them in many ways. During
the day boatbills remain in roosts in mangrove swamps, or in inland
localities, in trees over small streams or ponds. They fly readily when
approached, but usually merely to heavier cover nearby. Though

116 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

they may rest in the sun in early morning, they are nocturnal in
general, as they are active and feed mainly at night. I have found
them often while night-hunting, usually as they stand or walk in
shallow ripples in the rivers, where they scoop at aquatic animals
rather than spear at them in heron style. Usually they are so wary
that they take flight with protesting squawks as soon as the beam of
the lamp touches them, unless the light is a very weak one. Once,
on the Rio Majé, I came on one that was so intent on its fishing
that I was able to watch it close at hand for several minutes, but
when I turned on a flashlight for a better view it flew instantly with
protesting calls. The eye shine is faint, and is orange in color.
They often scold loudly at night, the usual call resembling that of the
night herons but in higher tone.

Fic. 19.—Head of boat-billed heron, garzota cuchara, Cochlearius cochlearius.

They nest in small colonies. The nest is described as a loosely
made structure of sticks, placed in a tree, often over water. The
eggs, 2 to 4 in a set, short to long subelliptical in form, are pale
bluish white, spotted lightly with pale brown, mainly at the larger
end. The colors fade somewhat with age in museum collections
so that they may appear whiter, with some of the spotting so in-
distinct as to be seen only on close examination.

COCHLEARIUS COCHLEARIUS COCHLEARIUS (Linnaeus)
Cancroma Cochlearia Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 233. (Cayenne.)

Characters —Adult, pale gray above and on the sides of the neck;
upper breast and all of foreneck pure white.

Immature, back and wing coverts cinnamon-buff ; underparts white
washed with buff on lower foreneck and sides.

FAMILY COCHLEARIIDAE I17

Measurements—Males (3 from northern Colombia), wing 272-
281 (276), tail 108.6-115.1 (111.1), culmen from base 79.0-86.9
(82.9, average of 2), tarsus 78.0-84.2 (81.5) mm.

Females (5 from Darién and northern Colombia), wing 259-266
(263), tail 102.5-107.6 (105.7), culmen from base 67.0-75.4 (70.4),
tarsus 75.0-82.7 (78.7) mm.

Resident on the Rio Jaqué, in southeastern Darién.

This form of South America is so markedly different from the
race of the rest of Panama in its much lighter color—light gray
on the back, and pure white on the foreneck and side of the head,
in the adult— as almost to suggest a separate species.

On the Rio Jaqué, in April 1947, the boatbills were fairly com-
mon near our camp located at the mouth of the Rio Imamad6. They
were nocturnal, coming out at dusk to walk in the shallows over
gravel bars along the Imamad6, and the Rio Chicao, or flying down
to the broader waters of the main river. One evening I sat in the
end of our large piragua that rested half in the water, to write the
day’s notes, while a pleasant breeze kept mosquitoes away. The
river was in flood from a heavy rain that had come in late afternoon,
and when it became too dark to write I sat quietly, watching the water
and the forest border beyond. At full dark I had an indistinct view
of a large bird that approached with fluttering, wavering flight, in
search of a suitable spot to alight, appearing white, like an immature
little blue heron, or an egret. It stopped 10 meters away on a gravel
bar and stood quietly, until we turned a flashlight on it, when the
light revealed a boatbill watching the water intently. The bird took
flight almost instantly when the light beam touched it. A few nights
later I waited here for a possible shot until it had become so dark that
I was about to leave. Suddenly I had an indefinite view of a broad-
winged bird passing with steadily beating wings that I thought must
be an owl. A hasty shot at the almost invisible target, a splash as it
dropped in the river, and a moment later the boatbill was in my hand.

We sometimes saw as many as half a dozen while night-hunting
but always found them so wild that they flew immediately when they
saw our light, even at a considerable distance. Often I heard them
calling in a low tone, qua qua qua, as they flew away. In skinning
the one taken I was impressed by the considerable development of
the muscles of the sides of the head and in the palatal area.

Interestingly enough, the bird here proved to be the South Ameri-
can form that has not been reported previously in Central America.
The indication is that C. c. cochlearius ranges along the Pacific coast
only to the Rio Jaqué, since C. c. panamensis is found in the Tuira
drainage a short distance to the north.

118 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Two sets of 3 eggs each of C. c. cochlearius in the U. S. National
Museum, collected by G. D. Smooker, on July 14 and August 5, 1935,
on the Caroni River, Trinidad, are almost white, tinged weakly with
pale glaucous blue, with a few very faint spots and irregular markings
of cinnamon. They vary from subelliptical to long subelliptical in
shape and show the following measurements: 49.9 x 35.5, 50.0 x 35.3,
and 52.5 35.7; 46.9 x 36.4, 50.5 x 37.4, and 53.5 xX 36.6 mm.

The species is one that soon disappears as the countryside is de-
veloped for increasing human occupancy.

COCHLEARIUS COCHLEARIUS PANAMENSIS Griscom

Cochlearius zeledoni panamensis Griscom, Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 235, Nov. 18,
1926, p. 11. (Corozal, Canal Zone, Panama.)

Characters ——Adult, darker throughout than C. c. cochlearius, with
the side of the head and neck and the back and wings dark gray;
lower foreneck and breast light grayish brown.

Immature, much darker above and below than the same stage in
typical cochlearius.

Measurements——Males (4 from Panama), wing 266-282 (275),
tail 95.7-107.8 (102.1), culmen from base 75. 5-81 6 (78.9), tarsus
77.0-81.5 (78.5) mm.

Females (4 from Panama and Chocd, Colombia), wing 260-269
(265), tail 94.4-104.2 (97.6), culmen from base 72.5-81.0 (75.9),
tarsus 65.0-76.8 (72.9) mm.

Resident. Found in the tropical lowlands throughout the Repub-
lic, except on the Rio Jaqué, southwestern Darién.

These birds must occur along the lower river courses in Chiriqui
and the Pacific side of Veraguas, as they range into southwestern
Costa Rica, but the only definite report of them in that area to date
is the ancient record of one taken by Arcé at Mina de Chorcha, east
of David, Chiriqui (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 218).
In the Azuero Peninsula I found them along the Rio Escota near
Santa Maria, and picked up a weather worn skull at Alvina, in
Herrera. Farther south, near tidewater on the Rio Caldera back of
Punta Mala, in March 1957, I located a colony of 20 to 30, that had
young fully grown but not long out of the nest. Some of the
country people here, who called these birds bocacho, had a supersti-
tion that they were evil because of their ugly appearance due to the
broad bill. In Bocas del Toro they are recorded from Changuinola
and Almirante (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p.
305), and in the swamps at Boca del Drago. Farther east I found
one at Chilar, western Col6n, March 11, 1952, and there are records

FAMILY CICONIIDAE I1I9g

for both slopes in the Canal Zone, from Corozal, Balboa, Pedro
Miguel Locks, Juan Mina, Lion Hill, Gatun, and Colon. Goldman
secured one at Portobelo June 1, 1911. Wedel collected one at Permé,
and C. O. Handley, Jr. secured one female on the Quebrada Venado,
back of Armila, San Blas. These are representative of this race
which extends beyond to Acandi, across the boundary in Colombia.
Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1932, p. 311) was in error when
he said that the subspecies panamensis “is devoid of the slightest
rusty tinge” above, since a wash of dark reddish brown is of common
occurrence in birds through Panama.

On the Pacific side, Karl Curtis informed me that a colony nests
in the rainy season in the swamps near the La Jagua Hunting Club.
In 1949 I secured two from the Rio Mamoni, a short distance above
Chepo, and in February and March 1950, I noted several on the
lower Rio Chiman and at Charco del Toro on the Rio Majé. In 1959
I saw them on the lower Rio Tuira, between Pinogana and EI Real,
and found others on the Rio Chucunaque near the mouth of the Rio
Tuquesa. This is the most inland point at which they have been
reported. One collected by Goldman near Gatun had the stomach
filled with shrimps.

An adult female, shot on March 9, 1957, on the Rio Caldera, below
Pedasi, Los Santos, had the following colors of the soft parts: Iris
wood brown; maxilla black, except the area of the nostrils (below
the operculum) which is dull yellow; cutting edge and upper side
of mandible dark neutral gray, lower margin and gonys dull yellow;
lower eyelid, except as noted, and lores neutral gray; spot on
anterior lower lid (adjacent to lores), and a line beside the feathering
above the eye greenish yellow; gular sac back to base of rami dull
yellow, with a few spots of neutral gray; posterior fourth of gular
sac dull brownish gray; tarsus, crus, and toes greenish yellow. An
immature male, taken at the same time, had the iris duller brown,
no dark spots on the gular pouch, the front of the tarsus dull grayish
brown, and the posterior face, the crus, and the underside of the
toes light yellowish green.

Other adults that I have examined as museum specimens have the
whole bill and the gular pouch back to the gape black, which appears
to be the color of the mating season.

Family CICONIIDAE: Storks; Cigiiefias

The family is worldwide in its distribution. The two species re-
corded in Panama, like herons, range in marshes and around lagoons.
Only the wood ibis is found regularly in the Republic.

I20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

KEY TO SPECIES OF CICONIIDAE

Smaller, wing less than 500 mm, long; bill decurved toward end, with the tip

POUMUCH: oes ac cs dace see noee em ce meee Wood ibis, Mycteria americana, p. 120
Larger, wing more than 600 mm. long; bill straight to slightly recurved toward
end, with the tip pointediac.s:. tinah.. gene aw dees Jabiru, Jabiru mycteria, p. 120

JABIRU MYCTERIA (Lichtenstein): Jabiru; Garzon Soldado

Ciconia mycteria Lichtenstein, Abh. K. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, Phys. K1., 1816-1817
(1819), p. 163. (Northeastern Brazil.)

Of very large size, with heavy, recurved bill; head and neck bare,
except for a tuft of downy feathers on the nape.

Description—A meter 200 mm. to a meter and a half tall; wing
630-650, bill 305-335 mm. Adult, head and neck bare of feathers;
upper part of neck black, lower third orange red; plumage white.

Immature, dark gray, or brownish; in older stage with underparts,
tail, upper tail coverts, and rump, white.

Casual straggler.

The only published record is that of a male shot by Hasso von
Wedel at Cricamola, Bocas del Toro, August 11, 1927 (Peters, Bull.
Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 304).

Baldomiro Moreno, a local hunter, has described one to me that
he saw on the La Jagua marshes, his only view of this bird. The
species is found widely from southern México to northern Argentina.

MYCTERIA AMERICANA Linnaeus: Wood Ibis; Gaban

Mycteria americana Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 150. (North-
eastern Brazil.)

Large size, coupled with bare head and upper neck, and decurved
bill, distinguish this from other wading birds found in Panama.

Description—Length 860 mm. to nearly a meter. Adult, white;
flight feathers and tail black, with a sheen of dark green (seen with
the bird in hand) ; head and neck without feathers.

Immature, head and neck scantily feathered, grayish brown; rest
of plumage like adult but duller in color.

Measurements—Males (6 from Florida, México, and Panama),
wing 453-492 (476), tail 155-166 (158), culmen from base 215-235
(227), tarsus 194-213 (203) mm.

Females (6 from México, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and
Colombia), wing 435-455 (446), tail 143-150 (148), culmen from base
190-205 (196), tarsus 175-192 (183) mm.

Resident. Seen regularly in extensive marsh areas in the lowlands;

FAMILY CICONIIDAE I2I

wanders during the dry season, attracted to any aquatic haunt avail-
able when pools and channels begin to dry.

These great birds are found regularly about ciénagas and the
channels of extensive marshes, sometimes alone, sometimes in flocks.
The most western record on the Pacific coast is that of two that I saw
near Remedios, Chiriqui, January 30, 1955. Aldrich (Scient. Publ.
Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, 1937, p. 36) found them in
February 1932 around a drying lagoon near the head of Montijo
Bay. And in Herrera in February and March 1948 I noted occasional
birds along the middle and lower courses of small streams, or on the
partly dry lagoons of the coastal plain. On March 10 we found a
flock of 75 at Ciénaga de Buho and admired their flight as they
moved to perch in distant trees along the Rio Escota. A female shot
from a large tree standing in dry scrub back of the open playa at
Alvina, near the mouth of the Rio Santa Maria, had the ovaries so
far developed that it appeared that the laying season was near. On
January 17 and 20, 1963, I recorded a number on the salinas below
Aguadulce, Coclé.

The wood ibis comes at intervals around Changuinola and Al-
mirante. It is seen occasionally along the Chagres (Fort San Lorenzo,
January 1, 1955) and around Gatun Lake, as one was taken in this
area by McLeannan (Lawrence, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York,
vol. 7, 1861, p. 334). And one is recorded along the coast of San
Blas at Obaldia (Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p.
311). In the lowland marshes between the Pacora and Bayano Rivers,
on the Pacific side, I have found them regularly. In seasons like
that of 1958, when the channels through the marsh remained full of
water, several hundred were present, and in other years I have found
dozens gathered on the drying ciénagas. I have record of them also
at Chiman, on the Rio Chucunaque at the mouth of the Tuquesa, and
in the Tuira Valley near El Real and at the mouth of Rio Paya.

While no colonies are on record, the wood ibis undoubtedly nests in
wooded swamps near the Chico and Bayano Rivers and also in the
great swamps on the northern shores of Golfo de San Miguel and
the lower Tuira. .

They appear ungainly when perched in trees because of the bare
head and neck, more attractive as they move or stand about channels
or pools, and magnificent when flocks pass on the wing, especially
when they circle in ascending air thermals. On occasion I have seen
them soaring with groups of hawks and vultures.

The species is known commonly to the countryman in Panama as
the grulla, or crane.

I22 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Family THRESKIORNITHIDAE: Ibises, Spoonbills ; Cocos y
Garzas Paletas

This group of long-legged wading birds lives in the same haunts
as the herons and in general shares their habit of life. Ibises are
marked by their long curved beaks, the spoonbill by its broad bill,
much widened at the tip. The family as a whole is one of numerous
species throughout the temperate and tropical world. The white ibis
and spoonbill range widely in Panama; the Cayenne ibis is local. The
other species listed come as stragglers.

KEY TO SPECIES OF THRESKIORNITHIDAE

1. Bill slender decurved> not enlareed “at ‘tipti.. ns -cems sie ees ee cose ce &

Bill flat, straight, much widened at tip..Roseate spoonbill, Ajaia ajaja, p. 127

2. Wholly black with a sheen of green, or brownish black................. 3

Wihite:or ‘parti-colored |). 2 steeias Cineta » BER ee. RAR CON Be eee 4

3. Middle toe with claw, equal to the tarsus or longer; a pronounced nuchal

CLES rane eatin senior aes Cayenne ibis, Mesembrinibis cayennensis, p. 124

Middle toe with claw decidedly less than tarsus; no pronounced nuchal

CT ES EA ore rho horatettoralacie ate atte a Seas Glossy ibis, Plegadis f. falcinellus, p. 124

4:7 Throat wholly bare. Qe aA White ibis, Eudocimus albus, p. 125
Throat feathered in center, bare at sides.

White-throated ibis, Theristicus c. caudatus, p. 126

MESEMBRINIBIS CAYENNENSIS (Gmelin): Cayenne Ibis; Corocoro
Tantalus cayennensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 652. (Cayenne.)

A short-legged, dark-colored ibis, with a bushy crest.

Description.—Length 480 to 530 mm. Upper surface black, with
a sheen of bronze green; a greenish black, bushy crest on the back
of the head ; below dull black.

An adult male, taken at Mandinga, had the soft parts colored as
follows: Iris light brown; bare frontal area, and most of the bill,
dull greenish gray; tip of bill light fuscous; bare skin around eye,
lores, extreme base of mandible, and bare throat, deep neutral gray ;
crus light brownish white; tibio-tarsal and tarso-phalangeal joints
bluish neutral gray ; rest of tarsus and toes dull vetiver green.

Measurements——Males (5 from Panama, Colombia, and Brazil),
wing 263-300 (280), tail 127-155 (138), culmen from base 104.5-
118.5 (112.6), tarsus 61.8-63.5 (62.4) mm.

Females (4 from Panama, Colombia, and Brazil), wing 280-289
(283), tail 131-148 (142), culmen from base 103.0-113.0 (108.5),
tarsus 56.8-62.2 (59.5) mm.

Resident. Tolerably common around Almirante Bay, Bocas del
Toro, and on the Rio Chucunaque, Darién ; casual elsewhere.

FAMILY THRESKIORNITHIDAE 123

The Cayenne ibis is a heavy-bodied bird, found in the depths of
wooded swamps, that comes out along shaded channels to walk along
the shores or rest in the trees above. Formerly it ranged on the
Atlantic slope of the Canal Zone, where McLeannan secured speci-
mens along the line of the railroad, but it has not been recorded there
since that time. One of these old skins in the British Museum is
labeled “Lion Hill.” In Bocas del Toro this ibis is found in fair
numbers in the wet forests back of Boca del Drago, where it is seen
especially along the old canals. Handley in 1962 and 1963 found it
common in the swamps of Isla Bastimentos. A few range in the
mangrove swamps of Quebrada Nigua and Rio Occidente, but here
they remain inside. And so their presence is known mainly from their
mellow, rolling calls, heard at sunrise and dusk. Wedel shot one at
Chiriquicito on April 18, 1928 (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol.
71, 1931, p. 304).

On February 15, 1957, I found one in the wet forest bordering the
lower Rio Mandinga in the Comarca de San Blas. With advance of
the dry season the swamp was drying, leaving small pools with many
fishes, where the bird had been feeding, as indicated by its muddy
bill. There is one in the Chicago Natural History Museum from
Obaldia in the extreme eastern San Blas. Collectors for the Gorgas
Memorial Laboratory secured one on September 15, 1958, in the
San Antonio Swamp, east of Pacora, the only record for this area.

On the Rio Chucunaque in March 1959 these ibises were fairly
common from the mouth of the Rio Canglon to the Ucurganti and I
collected one for a specimen. I saw them regularly around pools in
the quebradas, or in swampy woods where they walked about rather
quickly with nodding head, probing in soft mud, often clear to their
eyes. So long as I remained quiet they had little fear, as one fed
within 15 meters of me. At such times a casual ray of the sun at
the proper angle displayed the glossy green of back and crest at-
tractively. I heard one calling briefly near Pinogana but saw none
above that point on the Rio Tuira. They are known locally in
Darién as Coco Roto, and around Almirante as Coco Quam.

Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 2, 1960, pp. 104, 107), describes
the eggs as deep olive-green. Most are without markings, but some
have fine brown or blackish spots or irregular lines on the larger
end. The average size is 62.5X 42.6 mm. Nehrkorn (Kat. Eiersamml.,
1899, p. 229) gives the measurements of 2 spotted eggs collected by
Hauxwell in Pert as 52-53 x 37-38.5 mm. I have seen no description
of the nest.

124 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

PLEGADIS FALCINELLUS FALCINELLUS (Linnaeus): Glossy Ibis; Morito

Tantalus Falcinellus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 241. (Lake
Neusiedl, Austria.)

An ibis with smoothly feathered head, that is dark in color through-
out.

Description—Length 460 to 560 mm. Adult, in the hand, above
shining bronzy green, with purplish reflections ; lower parts chestnut.
At any distance, in life, they appear black.

Immature, upper surface duller, lower surface dark grayish brown ;
head and neck streaked with white.

Iris brown; bare lores purplish black; bill fuscous brown; tarsus
and toes greenish-brown.

Measurements.—Males (5 from southeastern United States and
Hispaniola) wing 275-286 (279.6), tail 97.9-104.0 (101.0), culmen
from base 127.5-136.6 (131.3), tarsus 99.2-112.0 (103.1) mm.

Females (5 from southeastern United States and Hispaniola) wing
252-260 (257.4), tail 90.3-94.5 (92.5), culmen from base 100.4-108.1
(102.7), tarsus 78.0-88.0 (81.8) mm.

Casual wanderer. One record, March 18, 1949, a specimen taken
near the La Jagua Hunting Club east of Pacora.

On March 18, 1949, three fed together over the drying muddy bed
of Ciénaga Campana. After watching them for a few minutes I
flushed them in order to drop one at long range. Presumably this
small flock may have been migrant from one of the known breeding
colonies in the Greater Antilles, though one may speculate on the
possibility of nesting groups elsewhere.

I was told that dark-colored ibises (called coco negro) are found
at times in this region, but it seems probable that these were the
Cayenne ibis. It seems probable also that the white-faced glossy ibis,
Plegadis chihi (Vieillot) , may occur here.

While there has been much uncertainty relative to identification of
immature specimens of the two species of glossy ibises I have found
them to be readily separable. In P. f. falcinellus back, wings, and
tail are deep oil green, and the entire dorsal surface appears darker
and blacker. In P. chihi back, wings, and tail are lighter green with
a distinct brassy sheen, and the dorsal surface is lighter, more dark
brownish gray.

The type locality listed above has been designated by Hellmayr and
Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 2, 1948, p. 265).

FAMILY THRESKIORNITHIDAE 125

EUDOCIMUS ALBUS (Linnaeus): White Ibis; Coco Blanco
Ficure 20
Scolopax alba Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 145. (South Carolina.)

Differs from other ibises found in Panama by white undersurface
of the body.

Description.—Length 560 to 610 mm. Adult, white; tips of outer-
most primaries black, with a sheen of steely blue.

Immature, upper surface, head, neck, and upper breast streaked
with grayish brown.

Fic. 20.—Head of white ibis, coco blanco, Eudocimus albus.

Iris bluish white ; bare skin of head orange-red ; bill orange-red with
terminal third olive; tarsus and toes rosy flesh-color; claws black
(Dickey and van Rossem, Birds El Salvador, 1938, p. 89).

Measurements.—Males (5 from southeastern United States) wing
279-285 (282.6), tail 107.1-119.8 (112.1), culmen from base 145.4-
163.0 (155.1), tarsus 90.3-102.5 (95.9) mm.

Females (5 from Florida) wing 260-268 (265), tail 93.3-104.8
(98.6), culmen from base 118.5-130.0 (125.6), tarsus 83.8-88.0
(85.5) mm.

Resident. Tolerably common locally in the coastal swamps on the
Pacific side: Found on Isla Coiba; and in the Archipiélago de las
Perlas (islas San José, Pedro Gonzalez, Rey, Viveros, Pacheca).

126 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The most western record on the mainland is for the head of
Montijo Bay where Aldrich (Scient. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist.,
vol. 7, 1937, pp. 36-37) found them common in 1932. There is a
specimen from Isla Coiba in the British Museum collected on the St.
George Expedition in 1924; and I recorded them there in fair num-
ber in 1956. There were numbers near the coast in the Province of
Herrera in 1948, and several on the mudflats at Puerto Salado, below
Aguadulce, Coclé, Jan. 25, 1963. Other recent records are from
Farfan Beach, Canal Zone (specimen September 28, 1953), and of
one seen near Panama City (J. M. Abbott, March 7, 1942). Hallinan
(Auk, 1924, p. 307) shot one on Isla Taboguilla December 5, 1915. I
have seen them regularly in the marshes near the La Jagua Hunting
Club, and in 1950 found them common near Chiman, where they
ranged inland on the Rio Chiman to the Rio Curutt. Several were
seen at Majé, Panama in 1950, and others near El Real, Darién in
1964. The first formal record for Panama is that of 3 on the Rio
Sabana, Darién, reported by Salvadori and Festa (Boll. Mus. Zool.
Anat. Comp. Univ. Torino, vol. 14, no. 339, 1899, pp. 2, 12).

White ibises are found in tidal ponds in mangroves, and also
around ciénagas and shallow waters on the flats, but do not go far
inland. They sleep in the coastal swamps, and may be seen in small
flocks flying to and from such roosts in morning and evening. The
immature birds sometimes allow close approach, but adults are more
wary.

On June 7, 1941, Maj. Gen. G. Ralph Meyer found a colony on
Isla Changamé at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal and took
6 sets of 2 eggs each, which are now in the National Museum. The
nests were shallow platforms, 175 to 200 mm. in diameter, made
of twigs and weed stems, with some leaves in the lining, placed on
the tops of cactus and stunted trees. The eggs are subelliptical, dull
white to buffy white, marked with chocolate to cinnamon-brown,
changing to lilac where the pigment is overlaid by a deposit of shell.
Some are heavily blotched, mainly around the larger end, others are
spotted finely throughout. These 12 eggs range in length from 52.1
to 61.0 mm., and in width from 35.5 to 38.8 mm., with the average
56.7 X 37.3 mm.

THERISTICUS CAUDATUS CAUDATUS (Boddaert): White-throated Ibis;
Bandurria Comin

Scolopax caudatus Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl., 1783, p. 57. (Cayenne.)

An ibis with heavy body and short legs; a prominent white patch
in the wing, that otherwise is dark in color.

FAMILY THRESKIORNITHIDAE 127

Description —Length 710-760 mm. Head and neck white, with
crown and lower foreneck brownish buff; back dark gray; wings
black with a large white patch across the center; coverts light gray;
below, including underside of wings and tail, black.

In specimens of the closely similar subspecies Theristicus c.
hyperorius Todd that I collected in Paraguay I recorded the colors
of the soft parts as follows: Iris light red; bill and bare skin on
head dull black, except for lower eyelid which was pale purplish blue ;
tarsus dull red, somewhat paler on toes ; claws dull black.

Measurements.—Males (4 from Colombia), wing 385-394 (391),
tail 193-203 (198.7), culmen from base 131-149 (143.5), tarsus
80.0-83.3 (81.5) mm.

Females (2 from Colombia), wing 383, 387, tail 190, 197, culmen
from base 130.6-141.0, tarsus 77.1, 78.6 mm.

Casual wanderer from South America: One record, near Pacora,
Panama.

The species ranges from Colombia and Venezuela to northern
Argentina.

Through Karl Curtis the U. S. National Museum has received one
of these birds killed by Baldomiro Moreno, September 18, 1950, from
a flock of four on the savannas near San José, beyond Pacora. The
specimen was roughly skinned by Baldomiro, and was prepared for
me by Ratibor Hartmann, of the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory. The
record is the first for Central America. Another was reported to me
by Baldomiro as seen on the same savanna in November, 1958.

AJAIA AJAJA (Linnaeus): Roseate Spoonbill; Garza Paleta
Ficure 21

Platalea Ajaja Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 140. (Rio Sao
Francisco, eastern Brazil)

An ibislike species, with flattened bill, broadly expanded at the tip.

Description—Length 710 to 810 mm. Bill broad, flat, expanded
at the tip. Adult, pink, with lesser wing coverts and tail coverts light
red ; crown bare.

Immature, whiter ; crown feathered, except on the forehead.

Measurements.—Males (5 from México, El Salvador, Colombia,
and Argentina), wing 347-365 (353.4), tail 93.0-101.5 (95.1), culmen
from base 156-173 (167.4), tarsus 106.6-111.6 (108.7) mm.

Females (4 from Florida, Louisiana, Colombia and Argentina),
wing 332-357, tail 86.8-97.6 (93.4), culmen from base 150-177
(158.7), tarsus 96.5-116.6 (103.8) mm.

128 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Resident. Found along the Pacific coast ; now uncommon.

The spoonbill still remains in remote areas of extensive swamps,
though in reduced numbers. It is reported from near Puerto
Armuelles, where it was recorded in November 1929 (McClellan,
Proc. California Acad. Sci., vol. 23, 1938, p. 256), across to Darién,
where I saw one near the mouth of the Rio Tuquesa, March 27, 1959.
I have seen it also near the mouth of the Rio Vidal in western
Veraguas (June 8, 1953, March 25, 1965) and at the Ciénaga de
Buho, near Santa Maria, Herrera (March 10, 1948). It is found
regularly in the swamps around the lower Rio Chico and the Rio La
Jagua, though it is necessary to go far across from the La Jagua
Hunting Club to see it. Here I collected two on March 21, 1958.
There is said to have been a small colony of them until about 1930 in

Fic. 21.—Head of roseate spoonbill, garza paleta, Ajaja ajaia, with throat pouch
inflated.

mangroves at the mouths of small streams in the Cocoli area in the
Canal Zone.

The birds seem to be restricted to the Pacific slope, as the only
record for the Caribbean side is of one at Gatun, Canal Zone, in
November, 1911 (Jewel, Auk, 1913, p. 424).

Spoonbills feed around ponds where they walk through the shal-
lows, swinging the bill from side to side to cut the mud and water,
and so to sift out mollusks and other food.

They are known to many of the country hunters as the pato cuchara.

FAMILY ANATIDAE I29

Order ANSERIFORMES
Family ANATIDAE: Ducks ; Patos

This family, of world-wide distribution and many kinds, has 14
species in Panama, of which 5 are resident and 7 come as migrants
during the period of northern winter. There are 2 others that appear
to be of accidental occurrence through stray individuals. Habitat
for these birds is somewhat restricted since the species concerned
frequent broad reaches of fresh or brackish waters. They have been
best known on the Pacific slope, though now numbers of the
migrants come to the artificial ponds made in recent years in the
extensive cleared areas between the Changuinola and Sixaola rivers
on the Caribbean side.

The isthmus, particularly along the Pacific is a regular flyway for
those that pass to South America in their migrations. Duck hunting
is a favored sport and numbers are killed each year.

KEY TO SPECIES OF ANATIDAE

Pert land stOe WwithOut, at lobes. 5 a/sicis eicleic craie'e c syeie ove are aotsieinane eo ecatere exe, seine a 2
PAINE REOR WILE a eLODS ayer soveres. cays -eiavelaveucre yale eereloisl cis laje s-cceruere oreteisucrOreierskerers 14
Zulbowes engrot tarsus swith, reticulateyscalesm. sclsciiseiieeioiote eine seieioeteioele 3
Hower end of tarsus with transverse scaless.- Jo.c-.sces cs ces eleiceee ser 5

3. Neck black; forepart of head white; sides heavily barred.
White-faced tree duck, Dendrocygna viduata, p. 130
Neck not black; no white on head; sides plain or longitudinally

Streakedi ees Ar ae esc seats eae earache roa es ee raat Ale estate tee per geare ei thctatelks 4
4. No white in wing; mainly cinnamon brown, with elongated feathers on sides
andiflanks en lid posters Fulvous tree duck, Dendrocygna b. bicolor, p. 131

A prominent white patch in wing ; breast gray ; abdomen black.
Black-bellied tree duck, Dendrocygna a. autumnalis, p. 132
5. Space around eye partly bare, usually with colored caruncles.
Muscovy duck, Catrina moschata, p. 134
Space ninmirontioteyerteatheredee ssacesies sales sorsteceuioe cence eerie 6
6. A ridge or flat-sided tubercle on upper surface of bill near base.
American comb duck, Sarkidiornis sylvicola, p. 137

Bill without a ridge or projecting tubercle on upper surface........... 7

7. Bill greatly broadened at tip............. Shoveler, Spatula clypeata, p. 145
Eaenoe proadened at GPs lsccccane sk shee soc cs genes hmOne meee ees 8

8. Larger, 460 mm. or more long; bend of wing without a prominent blue
PALO LEON MER Ht Scie tia a Nails, alc MORIA Sie he ths. « Slat AE, SORE IT 9
Smaller, not more than 380 mm. long; bend of wing with a prominent blue
BREE Om asets 5 chee ao ersaee wlsgd aie TNE biel ase netianauece cia, cheer eS Ee Re 11

9. Bill smaller, not more than 38 mm. long; a prominent white patch on wing.
American widgeon, Mareca americana, p. 146
Bill larger, 50 mm, or more long; no white patch in wing.............. 10

130 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

10. Tail elongated, with the feathers sharply pointed; wing speculum green in
male; sray in‘feniales...3. scaeruee ee cee Pintail, Anas acuta, p. 140
Tail rounded ; wing speculum deep, shining blue in both sexes.
Mallard, Anas p. platyrhynchos, p. 139
11. A prominent white crescent on forepart of head in front of eye.
Blue-winged teal, Anas discors, male, p. 141
No: white marie on) torepartcofvheadhieren asiewis eines see a ereecieie isle «ele 12
12. Plumage cinnamon or chestnut brown, above and below.
Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera septentrionalium, adult male, p. 144
Blackish above edged with buffy white, lighter below, mottled in appearance
throughout” cee ieee foe eee ee tae ela wobec eter ee ees One ae 13
13. Bill slightly smaller, 37-41 mm. long.
Blue-winged teal, Anas discors, female, p. 141
Bill slightly heavier, 41-44 mm. long.
Cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera septentrionalium, female, p. 144
14. Smaller, wing less than 150 mm.; tail longer, with narrowed feathers, the
extended feet not reaching to its end.
Masked duck, Oryura dominica, p. 150
Larger, wing more than 175 mm.; tail shorter, with broader feathers, the

extended ifeet reaching sto its \Cnd’...jciceic cisisiss1slels ace etereersiee e eioteierele sree 15
15. Wing speculum white............ Lesser scaup duck, Aythya affinis, p. 148
Wine speculumigrayeree.. oes: «- Ring-necked duck, Aythya collaris, p. 150

DENDROCYGNA VIDUATA (Linnaeus): White-faced Tree Duck; Jacamillo

Anas viduata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 205. (Cartagena,

Colombia. )

Forepart of head white ; sides black barred with white.

Description—Length 380 to 430 mm. Head white to behind level
of eyes; posterior area of head, sides of neck, center of breast,
abdomen, lower back, wings, and tail black; foreneck white in some,
or black with a spot of white in the center in others; a brown band
around lower neck, upper breast, and upper back; sides buffy white
barred with black ; upper back fuscous lined with buff.

Iris brown; bill black; tarsus bluish gray; toes darker ; claws black.

Measurements.—Males (4 from Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, and
Argentina), wing 206-229 (218), tail 56.5-63.4 (60.7), culmen from
base 47.0-49.0 (48.0), tarsus 49.5-56.7 (54.3) mm.

Females (4 from Panama, Venezuela, and Argentina), wing 207-
228 (215), tail 60.5-64.4 (62.2), culmen from base 43.8-49.3 (46.6),
tarsus 49.8-53.7 (51.7) mm.

Resident. Formerly fairly common, now rare; recorded from the
Canal Zone, and from the marshes near the Rio Pacora and the Rio
La Jagua.

Little is known regarding this species in Panama. Griscom (Bull.
Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 296) records it with the statement
“Canal Zone (1 shot),” without further detail. There are two speci-

FAMILY ANATIDAE I3I

mens in the U. S. National Museum from the marshes near Pacora,
Panama, one taken on July 30, 1928, by J. A. Weber, and one
collected July 20, 1931, by Rex Benson.

The species seems always to have been local in occurrence, since
it was not reported by early naturalists and collectors except as noted.
Karl Curtis informs me that in the early 1930’s there was an in-
vasion of hundreds of these ducks in the La Jagua area and that they
nested there in cover of tall grass in the pastures, in company with
the black-bellied tree duck. Elsewhere they are reported as nesting in
hollow trees. The 8 to 12 eggs are described as yellowish or ivory
white, with a size range from 42 to 51 mm. long by 34 to 41 mm.
broad. In the records of the La Jagua Hunting Club, Herbert Clark
recorded 40 shot in 1940, 9 in 1941, 4 in 1942, and one in 1943,
an account that indicates their steady decline in number. None have
been seen in recent years.

The species is known locally as the jacamillo, from the form of
the head markings that suggest a bridle. It has been recorded else-
where in Central America only in Guanacaste, Costa Rica (at
Bebedero).

DENDROCYGNA BICOLOR BICOLOR (Vieillot): Fulvous Tree Duck;
Yaguaso Colorado

Anas bicolor Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 5, Dec. 1816, p. 136.
(Paraguay. )

Under surface plain cinnamon-brown; with prominent stripes of
buff and black on the elongated flank feathers.

Description—tLength 460 to 480 mm. Head, upper neck, and
under surface cinnamon-brown, deeper in color on crown and sides;
a black streak down hind neck, and a band of dull white, lined finely
with black, on the middle of foreneck; back, wings, and tail black,
the back barred broadly with cinnamon brown; lesser wing coverts
rufous brown; upper tail coverts buff; sides and flanks with promi-
nent, elongated feathers, each with a broad central stripe of buff,
bordered narrowly with black.

Measurements.—Males (4 from Colombia and Argentina), wing
215-219(217), tail 49.0-58.0 (53.7), culmen from base 44.9-50.0
(47.6), tarsus 52.2-57.5 (55.3) mm.

Females (3 from Argentina), wing 203-218 (208), tail 49.0-58.2
(52.4), culmen from base 45.5-48.0 (47.0), tarsus 51.5-56.5 (54.2)
mm.

Accidental visitor. The only record is of one shot by Karl Curtis in

132 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

the La Jagua marshes, in eastern Panama province on June 14, 1936
(Griswold, Auk, 1936, p. 457).

The specimen, in the collections of the Museum of Comparative
Zoology, is an adult bird in slightly worn plumage. The species is
found in northwestern Colombia and may be expected to wander
casually into Darién.

DENDROCYGNA AUTUMNALIS AUTUMNALIS (Linnaeus): Black-bellied
Tree Duck: Giiichichi

Ficure 22
Anas autumnalis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 127. (West Indies.)

A prominent white patch in the wing; sides and abdomen black.

Description.—Length 430 to 460 mm. Crown, lower neck, upper
breast, and back rufescent brown; sides of head, and upper neck
light gray ; throat white ; lower back, abdomen, flight feathers, and tail
black; a band of brownish gray across breast; lesser wing coverts
brownish buff; middle coverts gray; greater coverts, and bases of
central primaries prominently white ; under tail coverts streaked with
white.

Measurements.—Males (5 from Panama and northern Colombia),
wing 217-235 (227), tail 60.4-76.0 (67.1), culmen from base 47.5-
57.5 (50.7), tarsus 55.1-57.2 (56.2) mm.

Females (5 from Panama and northern Colombia), wing 222-237
(226), tail 59.0-70.5 (64.0), culmen from base 46.6-50.0 (48.5),
tarsus 52.0-56.0 (54.9) mm.

Resident. Tolerably common; recorded on the Pacific slope from
western Chiriqui (Divala), Veraguas (Sona), Herrera (lower Rio
Santa Maria, Ciénaga Macana), eastern Panama (Tocumen, Pacora,
Rio La Jagua) ; Darién (specimen in U. S. National Museum with-
out definite locality) ; and, on the Caribbean side, in the eastern San
Blas (Permé, Obaldia).

Lawrence (Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist., vol. 8, 1863, p. 13) recorded
one received from McLeannan; Salvin had a specimen from the
same source (Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 27, 1895, p. 161)
and saw two tame birds kept by McLeannan at Lion Hill (Sclater
and Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1876, p. 374). Festa, also, ob-
tained a pair alive in Panama City (Salvadori and Festa, Boll. Mus.
Zool. Anat. Comp. Univ. Torino, vol. 14, no. 339, 1899, p. 13).

These attractive ducks are found along the lower courses of the
larger rivers, in the brackish waters back of the mangrove swamps,
and about fresh-water lagoons.

FAMILY ANATIDAE 133

In the early morning of March 4, 1948, on the Rio Santa Maria,
above the mouth, I saw about 20 resting on an open sandbar exposed
by low tide, some asleep and some preening. From a distance they
resembled small geese. Later, as the water level rose with the incom-
ing tide, the flock took flight toward distant mangrove swamps. One

i sal
>a PELE S IS

ie Meeay
v ;
t

Fic. 22.—Black-bellied tree duck, gitichichi, Dendrocygna autumnalis autumnalis.

taken a few days later, an immature bird, came flying slowly past me
at the Ciénaga Macana, as I stood in water to my waist, and alighted
on a growth of water hyacinth. I waded slowly toward it through
the sticky mud, expecting each moment that it would fly, but it stood
watching with head erect, flicking its wings alternately until I was
close enough for a shot. In June 1953 I noted these ducks regularly
in pairs on the Rio San Pablo, below Sona, Veraguas ; a female taken
on June 2 was about to lay. Here they rested on sandbanks and also
perched in trees.

134 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

From 1936 to 1942 records of the La Jagua Hunting Club show
this species as one of importance as game until at the very end of
the period it showed great decrease in number. A few still remain, as
I saw several here at the end of June 1953. They are subject to little
hunting pressure now during May and June, as that period marks
the usual end of the shooting season.

Little is known of their nesting in Panama except that the eggs are
reported from hollows in trees. Karl Curtis was told of one nest
with 25 in a hollow stub at the Ciénaga Macana. In color the eggs
are ivory white. Measurements given by Schonwetter (Handb. Ool.
pt. 2, 1960, p. 124) for the species as a whole (without regard to
geographic races) are as follows: 44-58 x 29-42 mm.

These ducks are popular as captives and, kept usually in pairs, live
well in a domesticated state. Young birds may be tethered by a cord
tied about the neck or to one leg, but they soon become tame so
that they are allowed to range in freedom among the usual domestic
fowl. In view of the regular commerce that existed with the Spanish
mainland in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries it is quite
probable that captive ducks of this species recorded in Jamaica by
Gosse in 1847, and by March in 1866, may have come in part from
Panama.

A northern race, Dendrocygna a. fulgens Friedmann, with the
breast, foreneck, and back deeper reddish brown, that ranges from
Costa Rica north to southern Texas, may come to extreme western
Panama, but to date it has not been recorded.

CAIRINA MOSCHATA (Linnaeus): Muscovy Duck; Pato Real
FIcureE 23
Anas moschata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 124. (Brazil.)

Largest of the ducks found in Panama; brownish black, with a
greenish sheen.

Description—Length, male, 760 to 840 mm., female 580 to 610
mm. Male, with a prominent crest, and fleshy reddish caruncles over
the eye and at the base of the bill; grayish black underneath; blacker
above with a sheen of green, particularly on the wings, changing to
violet on the upper back; under side of wing and wing coverts white,
the latter forming a prominent patch.

Female, similar but duller, with caruncles on head reduced or
absent.

Immature, duller in color, with white in wing reduced to a few
feathers in the greater coverts.

FAMILY ANATIDAE 135

An adult male that I shot in Paraguay had the soft parts colored
as follows: iris cream-buff ; nail on mandible and maxilla dark neutral
gray ; remainder of tip of bill dark drab gray, washed on the margin
with brown; spots behind nostrils, line of culmen, and central part
of mandibular rami, pale drab gray; band around bill in front of
nostrils, base of bill, and bare skin on side of head, black; caruncles
black at base, purplish vinaceous at tip ; tarsus and toes black.

Fic. 23.—Muscovy duck, pato real, Cairina moschata.

Measurements—Males (5 from México, Costa Rica, Colombia,
Paraguay, and northern Argentina), wing 363-404 (385), tail 182-
198 (191), culmen, from frontal feathering, 66.6-76.6 (69.9), tarsus
63.2-70.0 (66.3) mm.

Females (5 from México and Colombia), wing 293-326 (308), tail
142-167 (153), culmen, from frontal feathering, 52.0-59.5 (54.8),
tarsus 45.9-55.0 (51.2) mm.

Resident. Fairly common locally on the Pacific slope in eastern
Panama (Rio La Jagua, Rio Chico, Rio Chiman, Rio Majé), and
Darién (Laguna de Pita, Rio Tuira, Rio Jaqué) ; Isla Coiba.

136 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The only published record that refers to the Canal Zone is that of
Osbert Salvin in 1863, who said of it (Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1864, p. 373), following his brief visit at Lion Hill,
“Common in the swamps of the low forests.” Karl Curtis has in-
formed me that he found these ducks common on the lower Chagres
and along its tributary the Rio Indio below Gatun in early days on
the Isthmus, but through hunting, and as the formation of Gatun
Lake flooded out their haunts, they have become rare.

The pato real in Panama is the duck most prized by hunters and the
one that is universally known. It is curious, therefore, that the
definite information available on its distribution, as outlined above,
covers a somewhat limited area. It is probable that it ranges also along
the Caribbean coast.

These ducks frequent small channels or swampy places in wooded
areas, where they range singly or in small groups. I have seen them
flying morning and evening, sometimes high in air, but more often
low, above water. On Isla Coiba at sunrise one morning half a dozen
passed along the shore of Bahia Damas, the only time that I have seen
them over salt water. At the La Jagua Hunting Club they are found
in fair abundance. From 1936 to 1943 the number shot annually
ranged from 13 (in 1936) to 79 (in 1939). One evening here, as I
was writing notes by lamp light, one, apparently confused by the
light, flew against the side of the house.

Males often are nearly double the size of females and are decidedly
heavier. The late Dr. Herbert Clark weighed 65 shot at La Jagua
and recorded the heaviest as 74 pounds (34 kilos). Phillips (Nat.
Hist. Ducks, vol. 1, 1922, p. 57) reports males with a maximum
weight of 4 to 5 kilos, and females of 24 kilos.

The nesting season appears to be in June, as on June 28, 1953, at
La Jagua I was told of a female seen with 11 newly hatched young.
The eggs are laid in hollows in trees, rarely amid rushes, on a scanty
amount of down from the parent bird. The setting is usually 8 or 9,
occasionally more, perhaps when 2 females join. The eggs are glossy
white with a buffy tinge, oval in form. Schonwetter (Handb. Ool.,
pt. 2, 1960, p. 125) gives the range of measurement as 56.5-67.5X
42.7-48.0 mm.

In two stomachs of males taken in the Canal Zone March 14, 1920,
one held many remains of a thick-shelled seed that was not identified.
The other was filled with fragments of seeds of some species of
pickerelweed (Pontederiaceae) and a few of a sedge (Fimbristylis).

FAMILY ANATIDAE 137

I have recorded a wing bone of this species from deposits of Late
Pleistocene age at El Hatillo, west of Pesé, Herrera, where it was
found by C. Lewis Gazin, during excavations in the fossil beds of
this area (Wetmore, Wilson Bull., vol. 68, 1956, p. 327).

SARKIDIORNIS SYLVICOLA Ihering and Ihering: American Comb Duck;
Pato Crestudo

FiGure 24

Sarkidiornis sylvicola Ihering and Ihering, Cat. Fauna Brazileira, vol. 1, Aves
Brazil, 1907, p. 72. (Northeastern Brazil.)

A very large duck with a rounded comb on the base of the bill
in the male; back, sides, and spots on head and neck, black ; elsewhere
white.

Description—Length, male 610 mm., female 500 to 540 mm. Male,
with a fleshy comb on the bill, 35 by 50 mm. in the adult, smaller in
the immature; feathers on back of head and upper hindneck curled,
forming a slight crest; center of crown, hindneck, and scattered
spots over sides of head and upper neck, black with a violet sheen ;
sides, back, wings, and tail black, with a sheen varying from blue
and violet to green and bronzy green; rest of plumage white.

Female, without the comb or crest; sides grayish brown; more
heavily spotted on head, and barred on back and sides of lower
neck,

The species may be confused by hunters with the pato real, as the
two are about the same size. Males of the comb ducks are easily told
by the rounded, compressed ridge rising from the base of the bill
over the nostrils, this being very large in adults, and of fair size in
immature individuals. The females lack the comb but may be
recognized by the white underparts and the blackish spotting on
the white of the neck and sides of the head.

“Bill dull lead color; iris black or very dark brown; legs and feet
dirty yellowish green.” (Phillips, Nat. Hist. Ducks, vol. 1, 1922,
p77.)

Measurements——Males (4 from Panama, Venezuela, and Para-
guay), wing 327-365 (348), tail 129-135 (131), culmen from base
56.3-69.9 (63.3), tarsus 69.3-76.1 (73.5) mm.

Female (1 from Paraguay), wing 301, tail 116, culmen from base
48.3, tarsus 52.8 mm.

Resident. Tolerably common on the Rio Chucunaque in Darién;
casual on the Rio La Jagua, eastern Panama.

138 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

The first record of this species for the isthmus was an immature
male taken March 30, 1949 (Wetmore, Auk, 1951, p. 526; the date
given as “May 29” in the original reference is in error). A band of 5
comb ducks, according to native hunters, had appeared on the
marshes on the Rio La Jagua, at the end of March 1949, and a few
days later on March 30 Baldomiro Moreno, our helper, shot one
near the La Jagua Hunting Club while night-hunting for pato real.
This was an immature male, with the comb small, very fat, and the
testes in resting stage. Later, on May 20 and 21, Karl Curtis saw
three comb ducks together and one flying alone.

In Darién, on March 27, 1959, on the Rio Chucunaque, near the
mouth of the Rio Tuquesa, one that proved to be an adult male flew

Fic. 24.—Head of American comb duck, pato crestudo, Sarkidiornis sylvicola,
male, to show the knob on the bill.

overhead and presently returned to perch on an open branch in the
top of a tall guarumo. In silhouette and in manner of flight the
bird was so like the muscovy duck that I did not recognize it until it
alighted, when I could see the large comb on the bill and the white
underparts. In the tree the bird jerked and craned the extended neck
as the male Muscovy does when nervous or excited. I was told that
they were regular in occurrence here, but few seemed to distinguish
them from the ordinary pato real. Little is known of their habits
anywhere within their extensive range in South America.

It is probable that the species will be found from time to time in
marshy areas adjacent to the lower Rio Bayano and the Rio Chico,

FAMILY ANATIDAE 139

particularly in dry seasons when scarcity of water may make it
necessary for them to wander from their usual haunts.

Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 2, 1960, pp. 113, 114) remarks that
eggs of the genus are cream-colored and smooth. He gives the
dimensions of 2 eggs of S. sylvicola (p. 125) as 58.4-60.6 x 43.2-43.6
mm.

ANAS PLATYRHYNCHOS PLATYRHYNCHOS Linnaeus: Mallard;
Anade Real

Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 125. (Sweden.)

A large duck; male head green, and a white collar around neck;
female mottled brown, with blue wing speculum, bordered on both
sides by a line of white.

Description —Length 560 to 660 mm. Male, head and neck bright
green, with a narrow collar of white; back brownish; rump, and
upper and lower tail coverts, black, the middle upper coverts curled
upward at the end; wing speculum bright blue, bordered with white
on either side; breast chestnut brown; rest of under surface gray.

Female, mottled dusky and brown, with the wing speculum like
that of the male.

Measurements (from Delacour, Waterfowl World, vol. 2, 1956, p.
42) .—Males, wing 260-270, tail 82-95, culmen 50-56, tarsus 40-44 mm.

Females, wing 240-270, tail 80-90, culmen 43-52, tarsus 38-42 mm.

An accidental visitor. Migrant from the north.

The only report of this species that is at all definite is of “one
seen” by Jewel (Auk, 1913, p. 424) on one of the lakes near
Miraflores, Canal Zone, on Nov. 26, 1911. Other notices in literature
refer to Lawrence (Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, 1863, p. 13)
in an account of birds collected by McLeannan, where the mallard is
included with the statement that this species was one of “a few
satisfactorily determined from a list furnished by him, without
specimens—such for instance as the King Vulture, Musk Duck,
Mallard, Brown Pelican, etc. I omit many others named in the list,
as they require to be more positively identified.”

Karl Curtis informs me that in over 40 years of hunting he has
never seen a mallard, though from time to time female pintails have
been brought to him on the supposition that they were the species
under discussion. North of Panama, the mallard comes regularly to
southern México and is reported casually to Nicaragua and Costa
Rica.

I40 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

ANAS ACUTA Linnaeus: Pintail; Pato Rabudo
Anas acuta Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 126. (Sweden.)

Of medium size, with long, slender neck, and pointed tail; wing
speculum bronze green or grayish brown with a bronze sheen.

Description—Length 580 to 710 mm. Male, head and hindneck
grayish brown; back gray, finely lined with black; long scapulars
and tertials black, bordered with gray; wing coverts brownish gray;
long, pointed middle tail feathers black; foreneck and under parts
white; sides barred finely with black; under tail coverts black,
speculum bronze green.

Female, blackish brown, spotted and streaked with buff; below
dull white mottled with brown ; speculum grayish brown with a sheen
of bronze green ; tail pointed, but shorter than in the male.

Measurements (from Delacour, Waterfowl World, vol. 2, 1956, p.
131).—Males, wing 254-287, tail 172-209, culmen 48-59, tarsus 39-44
mm.

Females, wing 242-266, tail 114-127, culmen 45-50, tarsus 38-42
mm.

An irregular winter migrant. At times abundant.

Published reports of this duck are based mainly on its inclusion by
Lawrence (Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, 1863, p. 13) in a list of
birds sent to him without supporting specimens by James McLeannan.
The records of the La Jagua Hunting Club segregated ducks killed by
species beginning in 1936. The pintail appears first in 1938 when 45
were shot, and figures annually to the end of the record in 1943,
when 47 were taken. There seem to have been few present in 1941
when only 3 were shot, and in 1942 when 6 were killed. In 1949
at La Jagua I saw one killed by Baldomiro Moreno on March 12,
when the flight was nearly at end. Earlier they had been common.
Moreno caught one alive while night hunting on March 29, probably
a cripple. One banded by Ian Cowan at Murphy Lake, 150-mile
House, Kamloops District, British Columbia, August 1, 1954, was
reported by Karl Curtis as killed at the La Jagua Hunting Club on
December 15 in the same year. There are 5 additional returns of
banded birds from La Jagua and of 9 others from Bocas del Toro,
Los Santos, and Coclé. On January 2, 1955 I saw one at a pozo
above La Jagua, and learned that several thousand had been present
through December. On January 8 I was told that thousands of ducks,
including many pintails, rested on bars at the mouth of the Rio Chico.
The birds continued to be abundant through January, and Karl Curtis
told me that 10 were shot February 2. Pintails have been reported
there in greater or lesser number annually since that time.

FAMILY ANATIDAE I4I

They come also to fresh-water impoundments near Changuinola,
but I have no detail as to their abundance in this area.

ANAS DISCORS Linnaeus: Blue-winged Teal; Cerceta Ala-azul
Figure 25

Small size and grayish-blue patch on the shoulder distinguish this
teal from other ducks found in Panama.

Description—Length 340 to 380 mm. Male, head and neck dark
gray, blacker on crown, with a broad white patch on the side of the
forepart of the head; upper surface blackish, with edgings of buff

Fic. 25.—Foot of blue-winged teal, cerceta ala-azul, Anas discors, without a
lobe on the hindtoe.

and dull gray; lesser and middle wing coverts and a line on the
tertials grayish blue, forming a prominent patch; primary coverts
broadly white at ends, black at base; speculum deep green; under
tail coverts black, with a white patch on flanks; rest of lower surface
dull rusty brown, barred and spotted with black, the feathers white
basally.

Female, duller, marked by grayish-blue shoulder patch; no white
on head or flank; under surface mottled with dull white, dull buff,
and dull black ; exposed culmen 37-41.5 mm.

142 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Common winter visitor; most abundant of all ducks; found
wherever there are fresh-water ponds, and along the larger rivers,
from sea level to lakes and pools in mountain areas.

Two geographic races are represented among those that come to
Panama.

Records of the 121 banded blue-winged teal that have been reported
from Panama all came from the interior range of the typical sub-
species and cover the suitable lowland areas in the Republic, but more
especially such well-known shooting localities as the mouth of the
Rio Tuira in Darién, the La Jagua marshes in eastern Province of
Panama, the marshes near Rio Hato and Aguadulce, Coclé, the area
from Paris, Herrera to Las Tablas, Los Santos, and the vicinity of
Pedregal in western Chiriqui. The returns indicate a considerable
flight from the north during October, with a few earlier as shown by
dates of birds killed in Chiriqui, September 12, and in Coclé, Septem-
ber 19. Seven of the reports are of birds shot more than 2 years
after having been banded, one having lived for 4 and another for 5
years.

ANAS DISCORS DISCORS Linnaeus
Anas discors Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 205. (South Carolina.)

Characters——The typical subspecies is somewhat lighter in color
than Anas d. orphna.

Measurements (from Stewart and Aldrich, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash-
ington, 1956, pp. 31-32).—Males (25 specimens), wing 173-193
(181.9), tail 59.5-71.5 (64.6), culmen 37.5-42.0 (39.9), tarsus 30-35
(32.2) mm.

Females (15 specimens), wing 167-183 (174.5), tail 59.5-70.0 (64),
culmen 37-40 (38.9), tarsus 30-33 (31.4) mm.

Migrant from the north. The abundant form in Panama.

Records of actual occurrence, assumed to be the typical race, are
as follows:

Chiriqui: Lakes at 1,280 meters, near El Volcan; Las Lajas (one Feb. 15,
1956).

Bocas del Toro: Changuinola, abundant; Almirante (specimen, Oct. 27, 1960).

Veraguas: Laguna del Castillo (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870,
p. 219).

Herrera: Ciénaga Macana, Ciénaga de Buho.

Los Santos: Punta Mala.

Coclé: Puerto Aguadulce.

Colén (western) : Rio Indio.

Canal Zone: Mindi, Gatun Lake, Gamboa, Juan Mina, Chiva Chiva Lakes.

FAMILY ANATIDAE 143

Panama (eastern): Pacora, Rio La Jagua, Chico, El Llano, Chiman, Rio
Curutt, Charco del Toro on Rio Majé.

Darién: Pinogana, Boca de Cupe.

San Blas: Mandinga, Puerto Obaldia.

Isla Coiba: Several seen in January 1956; reported to be regular in

occurrence.

I have male and female specimens taken on the Rio La Jagua near
Chico, March 15, 1949. An albino was killed here by Gil Hulcher
on April 17, 1949. One banded at Lanz Lake, Rock County, Ne-
braska, on July 30, 1955, was killed at the head of tidewater on the
Rio Tonosi, below Tonosi, Los Santos, on February 22, 1958.

The main flight from the north arrives in the latter half of October,
and the birds remain in numbers until the latter part of April. Early
records of fall arrival are as follows: September 18, 1945 (specimen
in Museo Nacional, from Puerto La Chorrera) ; September 22, 1931
(Puerto Obaldia, San Blas, specimen in Carnegie Museum) ; Septem-
ber 23, 1928 (Changuinola, specimen, Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool.,
vol. 71, 1931, p. 307) ; October 14, 1911 (Canal Zone, Jewel, Auk,
1913, p. 424) ; October 15, 1915 (Gamboa, Hallinan, Auk. 1924, p.
307).

At the La Jagua Club I have noted regular evening flights from the
latter part of March into April and have observed these also in the
last week of March near the head of tidewater on the Rio Maje.
I believe that these were birds passing northward from wintering
grounds in South America. Karl Curtis recorded 3 of these teal
flying at La Jagua on May 20 and 21, 1949, an unusually late date.
The occasional bird found there through the period of northern
summer is undoubtedly a cripple from the winter shooting. The
flight in 1959, 1960 and 1961 was reported to be unusually small,
undoubtedly a reflection of the reduced numbers found these years in
the north.

About ponds and lakes blue-winged teal range in small bands that
feed by dabbling in the shallows, and then rest and preen on some
secluded shore. Where not disturbed they become very tame, and
in travel on the rivers I have had flocks fly ahead of my piragua
repeatedly, often for considerable distances. Hundreds have been
reported on occasion from the seashore near the mouth of the Rio
Pacora. The largest concentrations that I have recorded personally
have been on the impounded waters of flooded fields near
Changuinola.

On two occasions I have seen these teal alight on the open sea,
once off Punta Mala, where a bird rose to fly through a host of
circling terns, and once at high tide off Panama Viejo.

144 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Much of the hunting of all kinds in Panama to date has been
through jack-lighting at night, which, so far as ducks are concerned,
requires more skill than may be supposed. Men wait in complete
dark at pools favored by ducks, with head lamp and gun in readiness.
When the birds arrive they alight with an audible spatter and dis-
turbance in the water. As the headlight is flashed the gun must fire
instantly, since the birds rise in the second that the light appears and
are gone. Some become expert at this, but others never learn the
proper coordination. The annual kill at the La Jagua Hunting Club
has ranged from 85 in 1938 to 257 in 1942 and 173 in 1943.

ANAS DISCORS ORPHNA Stewart and Aldrich

Anas discors orphna Stewart and Aldrich, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 69,
May 21, 1956, p. 31. (Elliott, Dorchester County, Maryland.)

Characters——The dark markings blacker; head and neck darker
gray ; averaging darker throughout.

Measurements (from Stewart and Aldrich, cit. supra).—Males (8
specimens), wing 180-193 (186.1), tail 61.0-69.5 (66.4), culmen 35.0-
43.5 (41.0), tarsus 30.5-34.5 (32.0) mm.

Females (3 specimens), wing 168.5-180.0 (173.2), tail 59.5-65.5
(63.3), culmen 39.0-41.5 (40.0), tarsus 30.5-33.0 (31.5) mm.

Winter visitor from the north. Rare.

The only record for Panama is a male shot by Rudolfo Hinds near
Almirante, Bocas del Toro, March 25, 1960.

This subspecies, marked by darker colors, nests in brackish waters
along the Atlantic seaboard from Nova Scotia south to northeastern
North Carolina. In migration it has been reported in Cuba and in
Venezuela.

ANAS CYANOPTERA SEPTENTRIONALIUM Snyder and Lumsden:
Cinnamon Teal; Cerceta Colorado

Anas cyanoptera septentrionalium Snyder and Lumsden, Occ. Pap. Royal
Ontario Mus. Zool., no. 10, Aug. 10, 1951, p. 16. (2 miles south of Jensen,
Utah.)

Similar in form and color of shoulder to the blue-winged teal ; male
reddish brown, without white mark in front of eye; female differs
from blue-wing only in faintly longer bill.

Description—Length 340 to 380 mm. Male, in size and form like
the blue-winged teal but reddish brown, with blackish rump and tail,
and markings of black on the back ; wing coverts grayish blue.

Female, so like the female blue-winged teal that it may be identified
with difficulty ; bill usually averaging longer, 40.8 to 44.1 mm.

FAMILY ANATIDAE 145

Measurements (from Snyder and Lumsden, cit. supra, p. 12).—
Males (41 specimens), wing 176-194 (184.9), tail 64-77 (71.2), cul-
men 39-47 (43.9), tarsus 30-34 (32.2) mm.

Females (personal records, 12 specimens), wing 172-181 (176.1),
tail 59.0-69.8 (64.5), culmen 40.8-44.1 (42.1), tarsus 31.0-32.1 (31.7)
mm.

Winter visitor. Abundance not known.

Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 296) reported
it as “Canal Zone (1 shot)” without giving details as to the source
for his statement. The only definite occurrences are of 3 banded
birds, 2 from California and Utah killed at the Rio La Jagua January
20, 1955, and January 7, 1956, and one from Idaho, taken near
Chame November 8, 1957. Karl Curtis informs me that he shot one
at La Jagua in the month of June, which may have been a bird that
did not move northward in spring with the other ducks, but also
raises the interesting possibility that it may have been a wanderer
from one of the populations of this species found in South America.

SPATULA CLYPEATA (Linnaeus): Shoveler; Pato Cuchara
Ficure 26

Anas clypeata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 124. (Southern

Sweden. )

Differs from all other ducks found in Panama in the form of the
bill, which is narrow at the base and much widened toward the tip.

Description—Length 460 to 510 mm. Male, head, neck, and back
black, the head with a sheen of green; lateral tail feathers white, cen-
tral ones black; wing coverts light blue; speculum green, bordered
with white anteriorly; upper breast white; lower breast, sides, and
abdomen chestnut brown, with white on the flanks.

Female, brown, mottled with buff; blue wing patch and broad bill
tip as in the male.

Measurements.—Males (5 from eastern United States), wing 232-
239 (237), tail 76.0-85.4 (80.5), culmen 60.5-71.0 (66.9), tarsus 35.8-
40.7 (38.2) mm.

Females (5 from eastern United States), wing 221-226 (223.2),
tail 74.6-88.7 (79.8), culmen 59.5-61.8 (60.5), tarsus 34.7-37.7 (36.1)
mm.

Winter visitor. Tolerably common at times, but irregular in ap-
pearance.

W. W. Brown, Jr., obtained a female at David, Chiriqui, October
16, 1900 (Bangs, Auk, 1901, p. 358; reported as from “Divala” by
Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 297, through a

146 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

slip of the pen). I was told that shovelers were shot occasionally
near Changuinola, Bocas del Toro. The records of the La Jagua
Hunting Club list 2 killed in 1940 and 9 in 1943. At times they have
been fairly common there. In recent years, Karl Curtis shot a male
there in January 1953 and another (sex not stated) on February 3,
1955 ; and I secured a female there on January 14, 1962.

Fic. 26.—Head of shoveler, pato cuchara, Spatula clypeata, male, to show form
of bill.

MARECA AMERICANA (Gmelin): American Widgeon; Pato Calvo
FIGuRE 27
Anas americana Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 526. (New York.)

A medium-sized duck with small bill; male with white crown.

Description—Length 460 to 540 mm. Male, crown white; a green
stripe behind eye; rest of head light buff, sprinkled with small dots
of black; upper surface light brown with fine lines of black; a
prominent white patch on the wing; speculum green, bordered by
black ; rump, undertail coverts, and tail black ; breast and sides pinkish
brown; a prominent patch on either side of the flanks; under wing
coverts white. Bill short and small.

Female, head dull white, finely spotted with blackish brown ; black-
ish brown above, lined with dull brown; speculum black; a white or
grayish patch on the wing; upper breast and sides brown; lower
breast and abdomen white; bill like that of male.

Measurements.—Males (5 from southeastern United States), wing
253-260 (255.4), tail 98.2-126.5 (110.1), culmen 35.0-37.6 (35.9),
tarsus 36.9-38.8 (37.9) mm.

Females (5 from Alaska to California and Maryland), wing 233-
245 (240.6), tail 85.6-96.0 (90.3), culmen 32.7-36.7 (34.1), tarsus
35.3-37.2 (36.4) mm.

FAMILY ANATIDAE 147

Irregular winter visitor. Fairly common some years on the Pacific
side in the Canal Zone and eastern Panama province ; more common
near Changuinola, Bocas del Toro.

In 1958, near Changuinola, I recorded 15 to 20 scattered over a
broad lagoon on January 17, and a hundred or more in the same water
on January 30. I was told that many were shot here each year.
Charles O. Handley, Jr., recorded one on the Rio Changuinola at
the mouth of the Rio Teribe on March 7, 1960. Griscom (Bull. Mus.
Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 297) reported “Canal Zone (once),” a
record based probably on the head of a female in the Lawrence
collection, collected by McLeannan in 1863. December 10, 1955, I

Fic. 27.—Head of American widgeon, pato calvo, Mareca americana, male.

saw an adult male near Juan Mina, Canal Zone, resting in a little
bay at one side of the main stream of the Rio Chagres, and on
January 1, 1956, I noted 3 at the Miraflores lakes beyond Fort
Clayton. In 1957 the birds were more common, as I saw a number at
the lakes last mentioned on January 13 and Z1 and February 24. On
January 10, 1961, I shot a male on the Chagres at Juan Mina, which
appears to be the second complete specimen record for the isthmus.

At the Rio La Jagua Karl Curtis shot one during a hunt in 1935,
and another January 15, 1938 (Bond and de Schauense, Acad. Nat.
Sci. Philadelphia, Mon. 6, 1944, p. 27). According to Mr. Curtis two
were killed there in 1954. There is record of one banded as a duckling
in Saskatchewan July 27, 1956, that was taken in southern Los
Santos, in December, 1957.

In summary, it appears that these ducks come in fair numbers
from time to time but may not be present each year.

148 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

AYTHYA AFFINIS (Eyton): Lesser Scaup; Pato Pechiblanco
Ficure 28
Fuligula affinis Eyton, Mon, Anatidae or duck tribe, June, 1838, p. 157. (North

America. )

Of medium size, with white wing speculum; young males, and fe-
males with white in front of eye.

Description.—Length 380 to 410 mm. Adult male, head and neck
black, with faint purplish sheen; upper back, breast, rump, wings,
upper and under tail coverts, and tail black, often with a brownish
wash; center of back and scapulars lined narrowly with black and
white ; wing speculum white, bordered with black.

Female and immature male, forepart of head, breast, and abdomen
white; rest of plumage brownish black, except for the white wing
speculum, like that of the male.

Measurements.—Males (5 from southeastern United States), wing
193-200 (197), tail 51.8-54.5 (52.6), culmen 39.6-42.9 (41.1), tarsus
33.9-36.0 (35.0) mm.

Females (5 from the United States), wing 185-191 (187.4), tail
48.0-51.0 (49.6), culmen 36.6-40.0 (38.2), tarsus 33.0-34.8 (33.6)
mm.

Regular winter visitor. Tolerably common on larger bodies of
fresh water, seen occasionally on salt water; arrives from the north
about the middle of November, and remains through March. Re-
corded as follows:

Chiriqui: Lakes near El Volcan.

Bocas del Toro: Changuinola, Almirante.

Veraguas: Laguna del Castillo (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870,

. 219).

Casal geil Gatun Lake, Gamboa, Juan Mina, Chiva Chiva Lakes.

Panama (eastern) : Panama Viejo; Rio La Jagua.

Isla Coiba (lagoon at Catival).

Three records of banded birds include one each from Almirante
Bay, Rio Hato, and La Jagua.

Lesser scaups are diving ducks that frequent ponds and lakes of
quiet water and are seldom seen where tidal and other currents are
changeable and rapid. They have the sociable habits common to most
species of their family, and so it is usual to see them in small flocks.
Single individuals may become separated during feeding periods,
when the birds dive constantly, but later, when all are at rest, they
group again, on open water, or, if in some place where they are not
disturbed, at the water’s edge. I have found them regularly on the

FAMILY ANATIDAE 149

lakes at 1280 meters elevation near El Volcan, Chiriqui, and I shot a
female here on February 15, 1960. They come regularly also to the
artificial lakes in the banana farms near Changuinola, where I re-
corded them in January 1958.

The main body of these ducks in Panama winters on Gatun and
Madden Lakes and on the broad stretches of water on the Rio

Fic. 28.—Foot of lesser scaup, pato pechiblanco, Aythya affinis, with a distinct
lobe on the hindtoe.

Chagres above Gamboa. Here they are hunted regularly and become
quite wild. There are usually a few on the small lakes in the Pedro
Miguel, Chiva Chiva area, and a few come with other ducks in the
marshes along the Rio La Jagua, where from one to a dozen may be
shot annually, though the water areas here in the main are too shallow
to attract ducks that feed by diving. I recorded five on a small lagoon
at Catival on Isla Coiba, January 14, 1956. Once, on December 31,
1955, I saw five on the salt water of the bay offshore from Panama
Viejo, but this is unusual.

I50 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

AYTHYA COLLARIS (Donovan): Ring-necked Duck; Pato de Collar

Anas collaris Donovan, Brit. Birds, vol. 6, 1809, pl. 147, and text. (Lincolnshire ?,
England. Found in Leadenhall Market, London.)

Size of lesser scaup duck but with gray wing speculum; a light
colored ring around bill back of tip ; male with dark back.

Description —Length 410 to 460 mm. Male, head and neck black
with a sheen of purple; an indistinct chestnut collar on neck; back
and upper breast black; lower breast and abdomen white; wing
speculum gray ; bill bluish gray, with two white rings and a black tip.

Female, head, neck, and upper parts dull brown; lower breast and
abdomen white ; speculum and light-ringed bill as in the male.

Measurements.—Males (5 from southeastern United States), wing
185-199 (191.4), tail 54.8-57.0 (54.8) culmen 43.7-46.4 (45.0), tarsus
34.3-35.9 (34.9) mm.

Females (5 from southeastern United States), wing 173-183
(178.8), tail 50.8-57.3 (54.0), culmen 42.2-46.7 (44.2), tarsus 32.1-
35.4 (33.6) mm.

Winter visitor from the north. Not common.

This is a migrant from North America, that was first formally
recorded for Panama from a male seen on a lake at the Rio Caimito
near Red Tank in the Canal Zone on February 25, 1951, by Dr. and
Mrs. Robert Scholes (Condor, 1954, p. 166). I saw several on the
Rio Chagres near Juan Mina in January and again in December 1955,
and noted one near Pedro Miguel on January 7, 1960. Karl Curtis
informs me that they have been shot from time to time along the
Rio La Jagua.

The species, here near the southern limit of its winter migration,
is little known in Panama because of its general similarity to the
Lesser Scaup Duck.

OXYURA DOMINICA (Linnaeus): Masked Duck; Pato Tigre
Ficure 29
Anas dominica Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 201. (Hispaniola.)

A small, mottled-brown duck, with heavy neck, and tail usually
elevated when on the water; a prominent white patch in the wing.

Description —Length 320 to 360 mm. Male, head and throat black ;
neck, upper surface, and sides chestnut-brown, the two last men-
tioned streaked with black; wings and tail black, with a large white
patch on the wing coverts ; under surface dull brownish buff.

Female, dull black above, spotted and barred irregularly with
brownish buff; sides of head and under surface buffy brown, with a

FAMILY ANATIDAE I5I

black line through the eye, and another on the side of the head from
the gape back over the ear coverts; breast and sides mottled with
black ; a prominent white wing patch.

Immature male resembles the female but is more extensively black
on the crown.

Measurements—Males (5 from Panama), wing 136.2-138.0
(137.2), tail 75.2-79.0 (77.1), culmen from base 31.1-33.9 (32.0),
tarsus 26.1-27.6 (27.0) mm.

Fic. 29.—Masked duck, pato tigre, Oxyura dominica, male.

Females (5 from México, Panama, and Venezuela), wing 132.0-
139.0 (136.4), tail 74.0-79.2 (76.5, average of 4), tarsus 25.7-27.9
(26.9) mm.

An adult male, taken December 12, 1955, had the iris reddish
brown; base of the maxilla light blue, shading to light greenish blue
toward the tip; nail, space immediately behind, and culmen, to and
including the nostrils, and a few irregular, scattered spots over the
rest of the bill, black; tip of mandible flesh color; mandibular rami
pale grayish blue, with a line on either side of the tip, spots toward
the base, and the bare skin between, black; tarsi and toes, including
the nails, greenish olive-brown.

Resident. In the tropical zone in suitable fresh waters; locally
fairly common.

152 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Recorded as follows:

Veraguas: Pacific slope (specimen in British Museum collected by Arcé).

Herrera: Ciénaga Macana.

Canal Zone: Rio Chagres between Gamboa, Juan Mina, and Santa Rosa;
Miraflores lakes.

Panama (eastern) : Rio La Jagua.

Darién: Laguna de Pita (Salvadori and Festa, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp.
Univ. Torino, vol. 14, no. 339, 1899, p. 13).

The masked duck is an inhabitant of fresh-water ponds and the
quiet waters of the larger streams, where there are extensive growths
of aquatic plants that make suitable shelter. Usually two to a dozen
or more are found together in small pools or in open stands of floating
vegetation where they remain quiet or seek cover. If they have not
been disturbed by shooting often they are tame and allow fairly close
approach. At such times they remain quiet, with neck drawn in,
even when boats pass close at hand, as they are camouflaged against
their background, if indeed they are not actually hidden. Their flight
is swift and strong, with the white patch in the wing showing
prominently. As they rise from open water they may splatter along
for 4 or 5 meters to gain momentum, but they also go straight up
as readily as teal. In alighting they come in a few feet above the
surface, bank, back stroke into the wind, and then drop with a
plump into the water, where they bob up and down for a few sec-
onds, often without moving forward appreciably. Both methods—
that of arising and that of alighting—are practical adaptations to a
water surface covered with floating or submerged vegetation. On
the wing masked ducks suggest their relative, the ruddy duck
(Oxyura jamaicensis), as they have the same bulky head, thickened
neck, and short, rounded form. Flight in the two is equally strong,
but masked ducks rise more easily from the surface of the water.
While they are active on the wing they hide regularly among standing
water plants. Sometimes when approached they submerge quietly,
and then usually disappear completely, even where the plant cover
appears too sparse to give them protection.

Little is known as yet concerning their nesting. The egg in the
Barnes collection described by Bent (U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 130, 1925,
p. 162) may be of doubtful identity since, with a measurement of
63.0 by 45.8 mm., it appears to be too large. Schénwetter (Handb.
Ool., pt. 2, 1960, p. 116) describes the eggs as cream-colored, with a
roughened shell, and (pt. 3, 1961, p. 133) gives the measurements of
9 specimens as 59-63 X44-47.4 mm. which also seems over large.
Bond (Checkl. Birds West Indies, Third Suppl., 1958, p. 3, fig. 1)

FAMILY CATHARTIDAE 153

lists 5 eggs from Cuba as decidedly smaller and smoother shelled
than those of the Ruddy Duck, in color pale buff to buffy white,
subelliptical in form, with measurements 53.7-55.6 x 40-41.6 mm. Per-
sons living near the haunts of the pato tigre in Panama say that it
makes a nest among rushes and that it lays 4 to 6 eggs. At Juan
Mina Enrique van Horn told me that he had seen a parent with 5
young about the first of December 1955. On December 12 I shot
a male in breeding condition that had the intromittent organ much
enlarged, with blackish, spiny papillae around the base.

The skin over the neck and upper breast in these birds is loose,
thickened with fatty tissue, and full as it is in the ruddy duck, and like
that species the syrinx in the male is simple without the enlarged
bulb found in males of most ducks. The esophagus, when inflated
with air, has an elongated sac near the center that is 25 mm. in
diameter. The trachea is enlarged at the upper end, and there is a
small elliptical aperture here on the ventral surface that opens into
a rounded, thin-walled sac, about 10 mm. in diameter when inflated.
There is also a somewhat larger extension that opens from another
aperture on the dorsal surface of the trachea. Evidently these have
some relation to a similar larger sac found in the male ruddy duck
(Wetmore, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 52, 1917, pp. 479-482). These
openings in the trachea of the masked duck were described many
years ago by von Pelzeln (Orn. Brasiliens, 1870, p. 321) who, how-
ever, seems not to have detected the air-sacs into which they led.

Call notes have been described for the masked duck, but in my
experience with these birds they have been silent. They are hunted
to some extent, but they do not fly as much as the true game species.
Shooting, however, has reduced their numbers.

At present the masked duck is recorded from the Caribbean drain-
age only on the Rio Chagres. It is probable, however, that it is found
near Changuinola, in Bocas del Toro, as these birds are known to
wander extensively.

Order FALCONIFORMES
Family CATHARTIDAE: American Vultures ; Buitres Americanos

The birds of this family, of large size, known everywhere as
carrion-eaters, have the head and neck bare, or with only a scanty
growth of short down or hairlike feathers. The seven living species are
found only in the Americas, where they range from temperate
regions in the far north and far south, and the higher mountains,
throughout the warmer central areas, with their greatest abundance

154 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

in the vast extent of the Tropics. Four of the seven kinds are known
from Panama, where they are seen so constantly that often they
attract little attention. Three, the Gallinazo, the Noneca, and the
Cacicon are readily recognized, while the fourth, the Guala is usually
confused with the Noneca because of general similarity in form in
these two species.

KEY TO SPECIES OF CATHARTIDAE

1. Larger; head relatively short and heavy; commissure shorter, with the
posterior angle of mouth located below, or very slightly behind, the nostril;
bill shorter, not more than two-thirds the length of the head; eye light
colored, yellowish white in adult, grayish white in immature.

King vulture, Sarcoramphus papa, p. 154

Smaller; head relatively longer and more slender; commissure much longer
in relation to the rest of the head, with the posterior angle of the mouth
located farther back, almost beneath the eye; bill longer than the head;
eye dark, retidis Hraws, Or PLrOwl te ssc. see sce te Mee ied cca 2

2. Tail square ended; legs longer, feet extending beyond end of tail when bird is
flying ; head completely black in life.

Black vulture, Coragyps atratus, p. 157
Tail rounded; legs shorter, feet not reaching end of tail during flight; head
TOU OF (ON ANIS Or NC ie a aves es sts ais cs eeicie ia Sia adeuel Coton EEE Eke 3

3. With small but prominent wartlike processes on sides of neck; head mainly
orange, yellow and blue in life.

Yellow-headed vulture, Cathartes burrovianus, p. 168
Sides of neck smooth, head mainly red in life.
Turkey vulture, Cathartes aura, p. 161

SARCORAMPHUS PAPA (Linnaeus): King Vulture; Rey Gallinazo
Ficure 30
Vultur Papa Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 86. (Surinam. )

Largest of the vultures found in Panama; adult, white with black
wings ; immature at a distance appears wholly black.

Description.—Length 710 to 810 mm. Adult, head and neck bare,
except for a pattern of black hairlike feathers on head ; a conspicuous,
irregularly lobed caruncle on cere; bare skin of head, upper neck, and
crop, variegated with yellow, orange, and black; a dark gray ruff
around lower neck; flight feathers, rump, and tail black; elsewhere
white with a buffy tinge on back and shoulders.

Immature, caruncle on bill small, often not developed; plumage
throughout blackish brown, with increasing age gradually becoming
white on breast and abdomen.

Aldrich (Scient. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, 1937, p.
37) gives the following description of the soft parts in an adult:
“Nape (greatly thickened and wrinkled skin) yellow ; posterior auric-
ular region flesh color washed with purplish red; sides of throat

FAMILY CATHARTIDAE 155

reddish orange; middle of throat yellowish orange ; area of thickened
and greatly wrinkled skin on side of head running in a reverse S-
shaped curve from nape to angle of jaw, reddish orange on dorsal

)

Nes od
soe Nall ws
AWA ORG
y AN

Fic. 30.—King vulture, rey gallinazo, Sarcoram phus papa.

fourth, bluish gray on adjoining fourth (on same plane with eye),
and gray on remaining (central) half; crown reddish orange; ring
around eye red ; remainder of sides of head purplish red; cere and
caruncle orange ; anterior two thirds of bill dull red; posterior third
black ; iris white.”

156 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

A female living in the New York Zoological Park weighed 3 kilo-
grams (Conway, Auk, 1962, p. 275).

Measurements——Males (10 from México, Costa Rica, and Colom-
bia), wing 490-525 (503), tail 207-227 (215), culmen from cere
32.1-38.8 (35.2), tarsus 93-103 (98.6) mm.

Females (2 from México), wing 490-497 (493), tail 213-217 (215),
culmen from cere 33.5-34.0 (33.7), tarsus 100-106 (103) mm.

Resident. Found in small number throughout the Isthmus, from
coastal areas to 1200 to 1500 meters elevation in the mountains;
recorded from all of the provinces and territories, and on Isla Coiba.
The total population is not large.

The usual sight of this species is of one soaring high above the
earth, when its greater size and, if it is an adult, the conspicuous black
and white pattern separate it instantly from other vultures that may
be in the air. Rarely two appear in the same area of sky, and on a
few occasions I have seen as many as four.

The rey gallinazo comes to carrion with the other vultures, when
its larger size dominates the scene, so that the smaller species usually
wait in the background until the king vulture leaves. It is this circum-
stance that has given the species its local names in Panama of cacique
and cacicén. Once, however, at Ana Luz, below Chepo, I saw one
feeding at a carcass amid an avid swarm of black vultures.

When attracted by a prospect of food king vultures sometimes
descend from high in air with great rapidity, and a roaring of wings
that may be startling, particularly in heavy forest where the view
of the sky is cut off by the high tree crown. At our camp at
Quebrada Cauchero, on the base of Cerro Chucanti, one made such
a descent when it spotted our trays of specimens spread out to dry
on a pole rack in our tiny clearing. Occasionally I have come across
one perched at rest in forest, when the bird peered down through
light-colored eyes, with head depressed to the level of the shoulders
or below. On Isla Coiba they were especially tame as they were not
disturbed, so that I approached one within 12 meters without alarm-
ing it, but this is unusual.

In spite of the wide range of this species, from central México
through Central America and South America to northern Argentina,
little is known of its nesting. An egg in the collections of the U. S.
National Museum, laid by a bird in captivity in the National Zoological
Park on April 7, 1920, is unusual, for though elliptical in its central
outline it is definitely bluntly pointed at both ends. It is dull white,
unmarked, and has a slightly roughened, granular shell. It measures

FAMILY CATHARTIDAE 157

91.4x60.8 mm. This is similar to the dimensions of 92X60 mm.
given by Swann for one from “South America” (locality not listed)
in the British Museum.

The Penards (Vog. Guyana, vol. 1, 1908, p. 357) state that the nest
is in a hollow tree or rock fissure, and that one egg is laid. This they
describe as oval, white or dirty white, with somewhat shining,
roughened shell, in size 92x63 mm. Col. L. R. Wolfe has a single
egg in his collection, collected many years ago in northeastern Pert,
and formerly in the collection of J. Parker Norris, Jr. This is
rounded oval, dull white in color, with a very finely pitted shell,
and measures 89.4 by 64.2 mm (Ool. Rec., 1951, p. 18). Norris (Ool.
Rec., 1926, p. 25) lists another from nothern Bolivia taken in
October 1874, with a dimension of 92.5 X 65.0 mm.

On February 19, 1954, on Barro Colorado Island I saw a young
bird, only a week or two on the wing, perched in a large tree near
the laboratory building. It must have been reared near at hand. In
January 1957 Carl Koford found a young bird in down, with wings
nearly developed but the tail still rudimentary, living on the forest
floor, also on Barro Colorado. This bird was kept under observation
until it was able to fly.

Heck (Zool. Gart., vol. 27, pt. 6, 1963, p. 296) in a report of a
breeding pair in captivity at the Catskill Game Farm gives the incu-
bation period to hatching for single eggs as 56 and 58 days.

CORAGYPS ATRATUS BRASILIENSIS (Bonaparte): Black Vulture;
Gallinazo

Ficure 31

Cathartes brasiliensis Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Avium, vol. 1, pt. 1, 1850, p. 9.
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.)

Tail square-ended and short, so that in flight, when the legs are
extended back, the toes project beyond the end.

Description—Length 560 to 660 mm. Adult, black throughout,
except on the under side of the central webs of the outer primaries,
which are white, and form a prominent light patch on either wing
when the bird is in the air; head and neck without feathers, black,
the skin much wrinkled.

Juvenile, when hatched, with down pale cinnamon-buff over the
body, changing to olive-brown on the nape and the back of the neck,
and dark neutral gray from the center of the crown forward.

Measurements—Males (17 from México, Panama, Colombia,
Venezuela, British Guiana, and Surinam), wing 386-410 (401), tail

158 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Fic. 31.—Black vulture, gallinazo, Coragyps atratus brasiliensis.

160-195 (174), culmen from cere 21.8-23.7 (22.8), tarsus 69.5-82.0
(77.9) mm.

Females (23 from México, El Salvador, Panama, Colombia,
Trinidad, British Guiana, Pert, Brazil, and Bolivia), wing 388-413
(400), tail 160-181 (170), culmen from cere 21.0-24.6 (23.0), tarsus
71,8-82.0 (77.1) mm.

FAMILY CATHARTIDAE 159

Resident throughout the isthmus, except in the very high moun-
tains, found mainly in settled areas; absent or rare in regions of un-
broken forest. Isla Coiba; islas Pacheca, Saboga, Bayoneta, Sefiora,
Pedro Gonzalez, and San José, in the Archipiélago de las Perlas;
Isla Taboga ; Isla Gobernadora.

The black vulture, recognized throughout tropical and subtropical
America as an efficient scavenger, is one of the prominent species in
settled areas, found singly or a few together around country houses
or congregated in dozens about abattoirs or refuse dumps near
villages. They enjoy protection in general through recognition of their
efficient services in disposal of offal, though in recent years there has
been consideration of the possibility that they may be carriers of
some animal diseases as they move from carcasses of dead animals to
rest near living ones in corrals and farmyards. These are matters
that are under special study.

Where black vultures become unusually tame they often enter
familiarly in patios, or come near buildings, where care must be used
to prevent their thievery of meats or other human food. And it is
necessary always, where they have become more or less domestic, for
the naturalist to guard his specimens. In some village areas, where
there is dependence on rain water caught by drain spouts from build-
ings, these vultures are distinctly troublesome when abundant, as
their droppings may pollute the metal roofs, and so wash into the
cisterns.

In flight these birds flap the wings rapidly several times, spread
them stiffly to glide, then flap again, a method of alternately different
movements that serves to identify them at any distance from the
steadily soaring turkey vultures. However, black vultures also are
adept at soaring in rising air currents without change to flapping
wings. In such a manner they often continue for long periods,
sometimes rising until they may be barely seen against the sky.

Keen vision is proverbial among vultures as they detect sources of
food at distances that seem almost incredible. In work on the San
Blas coast at Mandinga, in 1957 I saw none of this species until one
morning I spread bodies of small birds that I had skinned for speci-
mens on the old abandoned air strip in order to secure a check on
the forms of turkey vultures present. At noon I saw first one black
vulture and then another in descent at a sharp angle from high in
air, and walked out to find that 9 had arrived, and that all of the
meat had been eaten. During the month that I lived there I saw only
one other bird of this species.

Near the coast black vultures watch the beaches for dead fish
cast up by the waves. If tide is rising so that the waves wash over

160 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

their feet they may seize small bits of such refuse and pull it back
away from the water. About large carcasses dozens congregate with
much scrambling, jostling, and fighting, in which the black vultures by
force of number often crowd out the turkey vultures. Only when
the king vulture, the cacicén, arrives do they fall back. The rapidity
with which a band of black vultures will strip a dead horse or cow
to bare bones and shreds of hide is remarkable. Often when a feeding
group is disturbed one or two scramble out of the body cavity where
they have been concealed amid the ribs.

At abattoirs groups of black vultures gather as animals are killed.
On such occasions they run and hop about in much excitement while
forced to wait, often holding the tail partly erect over the back, an
odd attitude that gives them the appearance in outline of huge rails.
It is then that the hissing sigh that is their usual note is most often
heard. Though ordinarily aggressive when a number are together I
have seen a laughing gull refuse to give way to a single vulture that
attempted to seize a bit of fish on which the gull was feeding.

Animal carrion is the main sustenance of the black vulture, but on
occasion it takes vegetable food. At Almirante they fed on ripe
avocados in trees growing beside the houses, and when the fruits
tumbled to the ground descended to finish them there. I have seen
them eating scraps of the soft meat of coconuts (pipas) that had
been drained of fluid and cast aside. And they also eat the oily pulp
covering the seeds of some of the palms.

In the Canal Zone dozens gather in evening to roost in the trees on
the slopes of Ancon Hill, and many soar for hours here in the strong
air currents, particularly during the dry season. Elsewhere I have
observed scattered individuals or small groups coming to roost in
coconut and other tall palms. At La Jagua one season two slept on a
dead stub, where they were exposed to the strong sweep of the wind.
At Panama Viejo in evening many come out from the city to roost in
palms and other trees.

While silent in the main, I have heard them utter a low, guttural
note, cro0-00-00 croo croo, varied to a husky aspiration, hwuh-h-h,
repeated several times.

The eggs, normally 2 in number, are laid in a hollow log, a hole
in a tree base, under matted vegetation in low rastrojo, or, in hill coun-
try, in cavities among rocks. There is no nest lining. On Isla Coiba
in 1956 convicts working in the fields reported that the vultures had
begun to nest the middle of January. On March 20, 1961, at La
Jagua I found two half-grown young in a dense stand of spiny pita
at the border of forest beside the marsh. They ran out when poked

FAMILY CATHARTIDAE 161

with a stick, but immediately scuttled back under the cover of their
spiny shelter. At Sona, Veraguas, I saw young recently on the wing
at the beginning of June.

The eggs are fairly smooth, white with a very faint bluish or
greenish tinge, ordinarily spotted rather heavily with chestnut brown.
Three sets of 2 each in the U. S. National Museum, collected on the
island of Trinidad, of the same tropical race of black vulture that is
found in Panama, vary from subelliptical to long elliptical in form,
and from 70.9X48.1 mm. to 74.0X51.2 mm. in size. A single egg
from La Jagua, Panama, taken on January 13, 1962, laid on the
ground in a huge cavity in the base of a large tree, measures 69.9 x
51.0 mm.

The typical subspecies of black vulture, Coragyps atratus atratus
(Bechstein) differs from the tropical race in larger size, with a wing
measurement in both sexes ranging from 414 to 445 (average 426)
mm. The tropical subspecies, which is the one of Panama, found
from southern México to southern Brazil, has the wing 386 to 413
(401) mm. The two are alike in general form, and in color, except
that in the tropical race the light area on the under wing is somewhat
more extensive, and is whiter, so that it appears slightly more promi-
nent . (For further discussion, see Wetmore, Smithsonian Misc. Coll.,
vol. 145, no. 1, 1962, pp. 1-4.) While it has been suggested that the
Black Vulture may be migratory (Eisenmann, Wilson Bull., 1963, pp.
244-249) through Panama, my personal observations do not verify
this supposition.

In northern South America this species is called zamuro.

CATHARTES AURA Linnaeus: Turkey Vulture; Noneca
Ficures 32, 33

Tail long so that in flight the feet do not project beyond end;
wings longer, more pointed.

Description—Length 635 to 760 mm. Adult, dull black in general,
with more or less of a bluish gloss above; the wing coverts edged
with dark brown; under surface of wings grayish white, beyond the
black under wing coverts; bare head and upper neck of adult red,
marked with transverse yellow lines in the resident race ruficollis,
entirely red in the two forms that come to Panama as migrants from
the north.

Immature birds have the neck, and to less degree the head, covered
with short, grayish black down, except for an irregular mark of dull
white on either side of the back of the head. Juvenile: Nestlings when
hatched are covered with soft white down.

162 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Soaring turkey vultures, a constant feature of open skies through-
out tropical America, are more in evidence in open country but are
seen regularly also where forest cover remains. On the wing their
graceful evolutions, performed with a minimum of obvious effort,
constantly please the eye, but birds at rest, in hunched position with
featherless heads protruding, are completely without esthetic attrac-
tion. Their food is carrion, like that of their companion species, and

VEN)
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i

SY
YT ea

TTY
pith 8
YL
UNE

Fic. 32.—Turkey vulture, noneca, Cathartes aura.

they are found regularly at large carcasses, usually a bit apart from
the jostling confusion of any mob of black vultures. The turkey
vulture takes fresher flesh when available and swings and circles for
hours, now high, now low, in its search for recently dead bodies of
animals of any kind, large or small. Sea beaches at changing tides
are examined, and in recent years their highway patrol gives them
constant small supplies of food in the bodies of animals killed by
automobiles.

FAMILY CATHARTIDAE 163

Three geographic races of this species found on the isthmus are
described in detail beyond, one of them resident and the other two
present as visitors. The two visitors, which are migrants from the
north, have the bare skin of the head completely red in life. In the
resident form there are several lines of yellow across the nape, and
usually an irregular ivory-yellow spot in the center of the crown.

Fic. 33.—Head of turkey vulture, noneca, Cathartes aura, with wrinkled skin
without papillae on the neck.

The migrants arrive from the north during October and continue
to pass during November, often in tremendous flocks (see Loftin,
Caribbean Journ. Sci., vol. 3, 1963, pp. 63-64). While many remain
on the isthmus, thousands pass farther south into northwestern South
America. The return flight north begins in February, and continues
through March and early April, forming a notable addition to the
great migratory flight of the Swainson’s and broad-winged hawks.
At Chiman on March 1, 1950, I estimated that about 15,000 passed
in the hour before sunset, an indication of the vast numbers con-
cerned. In these travels the turkey vulture moves mainly as a sail
plane, soaring by means of supporting air currents, with a minimum
of the greater muscular effort required by flapping flight. In this the
trade winds that blow steadily from the northeast through the dry
season are the main means of assistance, aided by the rising thermals

164 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

generated by the heat of the sun. These migrant movements in
Panama were reported first by Frank M. Chapman (My Tropical Air
Castle, 1929, pp. 147-148; Auk, 1933, pp. 30-34) in his observations
at Barro Colorado Island. In the course of my studies I have found
that the main lines of flight are not isthmus-wide at random but follow
a definite pattern. Most of the birds that come from South America
cross from the lower Atrato basin in Colombia to the Pacific side
of Panama in eastern Darién. Then they travel northwest, between
the sea and the inland mountains, quartering against the steady north-
east trade winds, a course that they follow until they reach the central,
low depression crossed from sea to sea by the Canal Zone. Here the
vultures move across Gatun Lake, and then swing over the Caribbean
slope, turning gradually northwestward again, to continue over Bocas
del Toro, and on to Costa Rica. They travel sometimes in small,
separated bands of 25 to 400 or more individuals, but during the
period of greatest movement join in continuous lines in which thou-
sands pass during the course of an hour. The flights vary from 150
to 500 meters or more above the earth, with the birds moving steadily
forward, supported by slightly bowed, stiffly held wings that carry
them steadily without flapping. Occasionally they encounter rising
thermals in which they may circle, sometimes to gain altitude, but
ordinarily they pass quickly and silently across the sky.

So far as I have observed, the movement is entirely by day, and at
dusk the vultures come down to sleep in open trees, where they re-
main in companies. Periods of rain, when the wind drops or changes
direction, may leave them stranded. This happens particularly in the
heavier rainfall found along the north coast. At Almirante in early
morning I have seen several hundred perched near together in dead
trees during rains that held the birds motionless for hours. Not until
past noon did the heat of the sun build up the necessary rising air
currents to enable them to move. There is no pause for feeding in
these migrations, but regularly some of the birds drop down to open
stretches along the rivers to drink.

In addition to the main line of flight that I have described in
detail I have seen small groups moving north near Jaqué on the
coast of Darién. Small flights in the Tonosi valley near the southern
end of the Azuero Peninsula may be indication that turkey vultures,
like numerous small birds, may cross the open Gulf of Panama from
the Chocd or adjacent Darién. Small groups pass north through
Chiriqui.

At present data on movement during the southward flight that be-
gins in October are not available in detail.

FAMILY CATHARTIDAE 165

*
While this species is usually known as noneca in Panama, it is
called also aura, aura tiiiosa, and by some catana.

CATHARTES AURA AURA (Linnaeus)
Vultur Aura Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 86. (Veracruz, México.)

Characters ——Under surface brownish black; wing coverts edged
with brown; definitely less dark throughout than C. a. ruficollis;
head in life entirely red.

Measurements——Males (21 specimens), wing 462-495 (478), tail
226-249 (238), culmen from cere 22.8-25.1 (22.6), tarsus 58.8-64.5
(62.4) mm.

Females (12 specimens), wing 471-495 (482), tail 231-251 (241),
culmen from cere 22.7-25.9 (24.1), tarsus 58.6-66.5 (62.5) mm.

Migrant. Common, October to April, through the isthmus.

Birds with the wholly red heads that mark this race and the next,
C. a. meridionalis, are recorded in my notes throughout the republic.
Museum specimens of the subspecies aura have been examined from
Empire and Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone; Alhajuela, Panama ;
Jaqué, Darién; and Isla San José, Pearl Islands.

CATHARTES AURA MERIDIONALIS Swann

Cathartes aura meridionalis Swann, Syn. Accipitres, pt. 1, Sept. 28, 1921, p. 3.
(Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia.)

Cathartes aura teter Friedmann, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 46, Oct. 26,
1933, p. 188. (Riverside, California.)

Characters——Similar in color of plumage and of bare head to C. a.
aura, but larger, as indicated by longer wing.

Measurements.—Males (25 specimens), wing 487-528 (509), tail
237-268 (253), culmen from cere 22.2-26.6 (24.5), tarsus 60.6-65.1
(63.7) mm.

Females (16 specimens), wing 495-526 (511), tail 245-272 (259),
culmen from cere 24.0-26.3 (25.2), tarsus 62.5-67.6 (64.9) mm.

Migrant. Common, October to April, throughout the republic.

As stated above, birds with wholly red heads are recorded in my
notes from all of the political divisions. Museum specimens of the
race C. a. meridionalis have been examined from Paracoté, at the head
of Montijo Bay, Veraguas; Empire and Barro Colorado Island,
Canal Zone; Puerto Obaldia, San Blas; and Isla San José in the
Pearl Islands.

The type of Swann’s race meridionalis from Colombia named in
1921 is a migrant bird from western North America (see Wetmore,
Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 146, no. 6, Aug. 14, 1964, p. 4.)

166 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

CATHARTES AURA RUFICOLLIS Spix

Cathartes ruficollis Spix, Avium Spec. Nov. Brasiliam, vol. 1, 1824, p. 2. (In-
terior of Baia and Piaui, Brazil.)

Characters—Borders of wing coverts very dark brown; under sur-
face of body decidedly black; in life, head and neck dull red with
several transverse lines of greenish white or dull yellow on back of
head; adult usually with an irregular area of yellowish white in
center of crown.

Adults shot in the latter part of March had the general color of
cere, head and upper part of the neck dull red; 8 narrow, raised ridges
across the back of the head and upper hindneck pale bluish to pale
greenish white ; an irregular area in center of crown dull ivory white,
that in one bird measured 16 mm. wide; tarsus dull grayish white, dull
red on front when first killed, but fading immediately until only a
faint reddish tinge remained ; toes dull brownish white; claws black.

Measurements—Males (18 specimens), wing 476-508 (490), tail
235-265 (254), culmen from cere 21.9-24.3 (23.2), tarsus 60.0-64.9
(62.4) mm.

Females (21 specimens), wing 475-509 (491), tail 235-264 (247),
culmen from cere 22.3-26.6 (23.7), tarsus 60.4-68.0 (63.8) mm.

Resident throughout the republic from the Costa Rican border east-
ward to Colombia.

Definite records of birds with the typical head marking are as fol-
lows:

Chiriqui: Alanje, Boquete, San Félix, Remedios, Guabala.

Veraguas: Puerto Vidal, Sona, lower course of Rio San Pablo.

Coclé: El Valle.

Canal Zone: Gamboa, Juan Mina.

Panama: Rio La Jagua, Chepo, Chiman.

Darién: mouth of Rio Tuquesa on the Rio Chucunaque, Boca de Paya, Jaqué,

Rio Jaqué.
San Blas: Mandinga.
Isla Parida; Isla Coiba; Isla Taboga; Isla San José.

Turkey vultures (of any of the races) are not common in the
Archipiélago de las Perlas. Murphy (Auk, 1945, p. 116) has reported
them at Isla Pacheca, and in addition to the record listed for Isla
San José I have seen them (without knowledge of the subspecies) on
Saboga, Chapera, Cafias, Rey, Bayoneta, and Pedro Gonzalez.

The identification of a turkey vulture collected May 12, 1944, on
Isla San José in the Pearl Islands as this subspecies (Wetmore,

FAMILY CATHARTIDAE 167

Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 106, no. 1, Aug. 5, 1946, pp. 24-25) was
interpreted then as a record of a wanderer from some nearby South
American area, since that was the known range of this race at the
time. Others of this subspecies were found in Darién two years later,
and in subsequent seasons the race ruficollis, little by little, was traced
westward across the isthmus. As I have found it within 30 kilometers
of the Costa Rican border, below Alanje in western Chiriqui, it seems
probable that it may range farther north in Central America. The
records listed are of birds collected, and of others observed close at
hand so that the head marking was seen clearly. It remains to deter-
mine the identity of the resident subspecies of the Caribbean coast in
western Colon and Bocas del Toro.

While these birds have the usual habit of the species of feeding on
carrion, I was interested to find the crop of one killed at La Jagua
late in March filled with bright yellowish-orange pulp from the large
fruits of the spiny-trunked corozo palm. I was told that this was
a common source of food for vultures. The bird that I examined
personally was of the resident race ruficollis. It is not certain that
migrant aura from the north shares this habit.

Though there is no detailed information regarding the breeding of
this race in Panama, other than that I was told that they used hollows
in tree trunks on, or very near, the ground, it is assumed that nesting
here is like that elsewhere in the range of the race. In general, two
eggs are laid on whatever natural accumulation of decayed wood,
humus, or earth there is in the hollow selected as a nest shelter. Oc-
casionally one egg or three may be encountered. In color the eggs
are dull white to creamy white, marked more or less heavily with spots
and blotches of light to very dark brown.

The young of ruficollis, when fully grown and able to fly, have
head and bill dull black, the former covered with short, blackish
down, except for the spot of dull white on either side of the nape.
When nestling turkey vultures are approached they often assume a
grotesque attitude, with arched neck, head bent down so that the
bill touches the breast, and partly feathered wings spread, while they
utter a peculiar cat-like hiss. At intervals the tip of one wing is
struck sharply against the ground, and the note changes to a rough
growl, the sound and the note coming abruptly in startling fashion.
The vocal efforts of adult birds are limited to low, barely audible
hissing sounds.

168 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

CATHARTES BURROVIANUS BURROVIANUS Cassin: Yellow-headed
Vulture; Guala

Ficure 34

Cathartes Burrovianus Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 2, no. 8,
1845, p. 212. (Near Veracruz Llave, Veracruz, México.)

In flight generally similar to the other turkey vulture, but near at
hand seen to have the bare skin of the side of the head bright orange,
becoming somewhat duller on neck ; crown bluish gray.

Description —Length 530 to 590 mm. General appearance like that
of the red-headed turkey vulture, but more brownish black on lower
surface; definitely smaller, and of lesser bulk; neck with numerous
small but prominent papillae, easily seen in fresh specimens, and
readily evident on close examination in dried skins. In life the ruff
on the neck comes higher on the back of the neck than in the red-
headed species, a distinction between the two that often is lost when
the birds are prepared as museum specimens, as the position of the
ruff may be shifted by stretching or contraction.

In two young recently from the nest (collected near Sona) I found
that a few papillae had begun development. Now that these two have
been preserved as museum specimens the caruncles are seen best
under a lens.

The following color notes were made from an adult female taken
at the Ciénaga Macana, Herrera, March 17, 1948: Iris red; cere,
forepart of crown to center of eyes, nape, back of head, and throat,
dull orange-red; center of crown dull bluish gray; sides of head,
from posterior loral space back through the space around the eye
and the ear, including the area to below the gape, bright orange;
lores greenish yellow; spot in front of eye and slightly above it dull
bluish gray; sides and front of neck, including the area covered by
papillae dull orange-red. Another taken at the same time had the
colors somewhat duller. An adult female, near breeding, shot March
24, 1961, at La Jagua, was more brilliantly colored, as indicated by
the following: Iris orange red ; center of crown indigo, in an irregular
triangle with the apex forward, bordered narrowly on either side by
pale greenish blue; side of head down over the mandibular rami, and
including the loral area, bright orange; bare foreneck, including the
prominent caruncles, dull orange; back of head dull blue, crossed by 3
irregular rows of caruncles which are dull orange; bill dull ivory
white; crus dull yellowish white; front of tarsus dull greenish gray;
rest dull white ; toes fuscous black ; claws fuscous.

Measurements.——Males (6 from Panama, Colombia and north-

FAMILY CATHARTIDAE mH 169

western Venezuela), wing 432-454 (445), tail 195-218 (204), culmen
from cere 19.6-23.3 (21.5), tarsus 52.4-59.1 (56.9) mm.

Females (7 from Panama, Colombia, and northwestern Venezuela),
wing 444-459 (449), tail 193-214 (199), culmen from cere 21.1-24.0
(22.5, average of 6), tarsus 56.0-60.0 (57.9) mm.

Resident. Locally common, on the Pacific slope, from Chiriqui
through Veraguas and Coclé to the eastern section of the Province
of Panama, including the eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula in
Herrera and Los Santos.

Fic. 34.—Head of yellow-headed vulture, guala, Cathartes burrovianus burro-
vianus, with wartlike papillae on the neck.

This species is found in more open areas near the largest streams,
and near marshes, particularly during the dry season. In the period
of rains it spreads with the greater extent of the open swampy areas
that form its haunts.

When seen near at hand it may be known by the extensive yellow
on the sides of the head and neck, while in the hand the prominent
papillae on the neck, in addition to the head colors mentioned, identify
it readily. In flight at any distance, when the colors are not visible,
it may not be distinguished from the other species. For a time I
thought that these birds were lighter colored on the underside of the
wing, but this has proved to be a variable matter in both species.

170 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The first report of the yellow-headed vulture as a bird of Panama
came in the dry season of 1948 when Watson M. Perrygo and I were
in the field on the eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula. On March
17, during routine collecting, we shot 3 turkey vultures at the Ciénaga
Macana, near the small settlement of El Rincon, not far from the
lower course of the Rio Santa Maria. In life they had seemed some-
what smail, and in the hand the peculiar head markings brought to
mind at once the yellow-headed vultures that I had known in the
distant Chaco of northern Argentina and western Paraguay. The
head colors were recorded on Kodachrome film within an hour
through the assistance of Richard Stewart of the National Geographic
Society. Subsequent studies of vultures in museum collections led
to their identification in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila-
delphia with Cassin’s ancient type specimen of Cathartes burrovianus.
Since this recognition of its presence the bird has been found regu-
larly on the Pacific slope of Panama. Thus far it has been seen in
the savannas and the sections adjacent to them, east to the region near
the Rio La Jagua. It is possible that it may occur also in Darién in
the extensive swamps adjacent to the lower Rio Sabana and the Rio
Tuira.

In the open marshes toward the Rio Chico, below the La Jagua
Hunting Club in dry season I have recorded them constantly, some-
times to the number of 20 to 30 in a day. As they are never disturbed
here they are not wild. Often I have walked very near them as they
rested quietly in low, leafless trees. These lower areas around lagoons
containing water are their regular haunt, and their occurrence on
the higher savannas comes mainly during the period of rains.

They have the same graceful flight as the red-headed species, but on
the whole seem more sedentary and less given to soaring at great
altitudes. Fish seem to be a regular food, sought in drying pools,
and they seem to come to mammal carcasses infrequently. One that I
shot at La Jagua had fragments of fish in the crop, so fresh that they
had evidently been taken alive. Once, near David, I saw one flying
with a large dead lizard in its bill to prevent being robbed of its meal
by black vultures, one of the few occasions on which I have seen a
vulture of this genus carrying anything.

Little is known of their nesting in the Republic. Near the Rio San
Pablo a short distance below Sona on May 14, 1953, I found a pair
with two young, only recently able to fly, that rested in an open-
branched tree. Early the following morning the young were not seen
on my arrival, but at my first shot at another bird both came flying to

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE I7I

the same tree. Evidently the nesting place was somewhere near. In
the hand, I found that both had the neck and back of the head covered
with down as usual in this genus. A white band crossed the back of
the head, the down above and below this being dull, dark brown. This
mark is lost soon, since in older birds, that are obviously immature, as
indicated by the soft feathering that remains on the head and neck, the
back of the head is uniform in color.

No records of the eggs of this northern race of the species have
come to my attention.

In Panama it is only an occasional hunter, like Baldomiro Moreno,
who recognizes these birds as different, and these few merely know
them as another kind of noneca, the name for the red-headed species.
In Colombia they are called guala. The typical form is recorded in
the lowlands from eastern México, to Honduras and Panama, and
across northern Colombia to northwestern Venezuela. Cathartes b.
urubitinga, found from the llanos of eastern Colombia and the lower
Orinoco valley in Venezuela south to the southern Chaco in Argentina
is larger, with the wing in adult males from 454-493 (474.5), and in
adult females 461-501 (484) mm.

Family ACCIPITRIDAE: Hawks, Eagles, and Allies; Gavilanes,
Aguilas, y Especies Afines

The members of this family, worldwide except in Antarctica in
their distribution, are numerous in tropical America, where many live
in heavy forests. These species range through the high tree crown,
or the intermediate branches below, and seldom descend lower. Other
kinds that inhabit more open lands usually secure their food on or
near the ground.

The reputation of the family as predators on domestic fowls comes
from those that are hunters of birds and small mammals and that on
occasion come to capture chickens. The majority of the hawks found
in Panama, however, are harmless, as their food is large insects, crabs,
frogs, lizards, snakes, and the mice and rats that abound about culti-
vated fields. It is unfortunate that few persons distinguish these from
the predatory kinds, so that all are regarded with disfavor and are
killed at every opportunity. For this reason, and also through the
extensive clearing of forests, most of the family now are rare. Only
a few of the forest inhabitants have been able to adapt their lives to
the scattered tracts of second growth that now furnish the main
forest cover over extensive areas.

It should be noted that many of the species resident in the Tropics
are far more sedentary than their relatives of the temperate zones.

172 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

They are active when feeding, particularly when caring for young,
but at other times may remain quietly on some perch for long pe-
riods and so escape attention. Only part of the tropical species appear
to soar with any regularity in the open air above the forest.

In addition to the resident kinds a few others come during the
northern winter. Among these the migrant flocks that pass over the
isthmus twice each year, en route to and from winter homes in
South America, form one of the spectacular sights of the bird world.

KEY TO SPECIES OF ACCIPITRIDAE

1. Tail long and deeply forked. .Swallow-tailed kite, Elanoides forficatus, p. 175

Tail not deente FOcket id vs ng ane 6t-ns nha aece pied spb eee es eek bese e ce 2

2. Side of maxilla with two deep notches on margin separating two distinct
toothlike projections.

Double-toothed kite, Harpagus bidentatus fasciatus, p. 184

Side of maxilla not double-toothed on margin..........eeeeeeeeeeeees a

3. Tarsus short and heavy; length less, or only slightly more, than middle toe
GNC MEIGIW, As oui csc sole cnn en esind na as ote piaiei< sale wineie use ae eames annie 4
Tarsus proportionately longer; length decidedly more than middle toe with
LAW Wiis oo tese ecb tao eravere ate wile lai tclatare ial evelevete el sisters otalaverete tavelarstaratelefetelcVaretexsls's 8

4. Maxilla narrow, in proportion to its width at base, the tip produced in a
slender, elongated Hook.) siz. i). i Pehild dw atoiaysie:sislorelwrniahee dine rain leis sae 5
Maxilla not excessively slender or elongated in proportion to its width at
ASE sce Licterala se Mmiaceis is Mints wise se cte mtera Vetelm ates Wo Sreibre ee wie ete ere abate ok avete 6

5. Tail long, more than 150 mm.; wing more pointed, distance between tips of
longest primaries and longest secondaries more than 80 mm.
Everglade kite, Rostrhamus sociabilis sociabilis, p. 180
Tail short, less than 140 mm.; wing rounded, distance between tip of longest
primaries and longest secondaries 50 mm. or less.
Slender-billed kite, Helicolestes hamatus, p. 182
6. Inner webs of outer primaries chestnut.
Plumbeous kite, Ictinia plumbea, p. 177
Inner webs of outer primaries without chestnut..............eeeeeeeee 7
7. Tarsus less than 40 mm.; bill strongly compressed, with narrow, elongated
IG ota vos Se Hook-billed kite, Chondrohierax uncinatus uncinatus, p. 188
Tarsus 42 to 51 mm.; maxilla swollen laterally, with tip broader and less
elongated........... Cayenne kite, Leptodon cayanensis cayanensis, p. 186
S)!\ Head » conspictiously crested iil. iio. Fae. ead Piece ee SOG hoe cles wines wrath 9
Head not. conspicdoushynerested:. socks. ss. Shei. Gee cep home «wees ona aie 13
9. Size very large, wing more than 500 mm.; feet unusually strong and
powerfull: saicctzie se setae ec eivictelsls Harpy eagle, Harpia harpyja, p. 249
Size ‘stiialler, ‘feet morthal 10 SIZEs, « sic. c,s aein sinners Urano nega cpies vat 10
TOs MParsus ‘feathered (tov thertoOesac crescents seins ais ales cibiejais tialecsit’e sic se cieerstore 11
Tarsus bare except at upper end.
Crested eagle, Morphnus guianensis, p. 246
11. Under surface white, without dark markings.
Black-and-white hawk-eagle, Spizastur melanoleucus, p. 244
Under surface mainly black, or white barred with black............... 12

12:

13.

14.

LS:

16.

Ws

18.

19.

20.

fal

22,

Za.

24.

295:

26.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 173

Under surface of body black, or blackish slate.
Black hawk-eagle, Spizaetus tyrannus serus, p. 240
Under surface white, barred more or less with black; head and neck marked
with chestnut...... Barred hawk-eagle, Spizaetus ornatus vicarius, p. 241
Size large and robust, wing 490 mm. or more.
Solitary eagle, Urubitornis solitaria solitaria, p. 238
Size smaller, wing, under. 450) mm. iarativee. S53 RAG Rh a I Se 14
Feathers from auricular region around forepart of head elongated to form a
distinct facial) nufiis.e.'...0: Marsh hawk, Circus cyaneus hudsonius, p. 251
Without a facial ruff; feathers of side and forepart of head not distinctly
LOM AATEC soars waco aici oie wie ore aati regershoveas ere okateue cereus ianscexe #teberbotelet tal aezerebet 15
Outer toe conspicuously shorter than inner toe; tibiotarsal joint capable of
forward and backward flexure.
Crane hawk, Ischnosceles caerulescens, p. 253
Outer toe as long as, or longer, than inner toe; tibiotarsal joint capable only
OB HOL Wal MMORULE vo). csysnen ciefabre aprraeisieetnieosiee <feun <iiaan horas eeereneae 16
Under side of toes finely and sharply spiculate.
Black-collared hawk, Busarellus nigricollis nigricollis, p. 227
Underside of toes normal, sometimes roughened, but never sharply spicu-

RET a passat het riche Seah nae Sorts cel ae MR acs ec cin iy te cates 17
Lesser and middle wing coverts chestnut-brown................2000: 18
Lesser and middle wing coverts not prominently chestnut-brown........ 20

Size small, wing less than 150 mm.

Tiny hawk, Accipiter superciliosus fontanier, immature, brown phase, p. 192
Sizevlarge, wing. more than s0O mines scr iis oswicie oSs00'. os le Gals cla amewoar 19
Wings cinnamon-rufous tipped with black.

Savanna hawk, Heterospizias meridionalis meridionalis, p. 223
Wings fuscous, more or less buffy white or white on inner webs.
Harris’s hawk, Parabuteo unicinctus harrisi, p. 226
Breast, abdomen, and tibia white, finely and evenly barred with black.
Barred hawk, Leucopternis princeps, p. 222
astern wider suriace Not aS 10 DO. c. sain a's ss/a.0'4 010, Sigh wae seinibie'e te wines 21
Under surface plain dark gray, with the tibia barred with white.
Plumbeous hawk, Leucopternis plumbea, p. 221
Under ‘surface’ not ‘plaineray; tibia ‘not’ barred: 2.60. oy. ke Ses ceebie, oc 22
Upper surface mainly pure white except for black-tipped wings and tail.
White hawk, Leucopternis albicollis costaricensis, p. 217
Woper surtace with little, if any, white 2a. vse ia. cc occ see eee cee os 23
Entire under surface pure white.
Semiplumbeous hawk, Leucopternis semiplumbea, p. 220
Lower ‘suriace fot’ plain wilite/. te. cai.) ie coda cce macate demons 24
Tarsus decidedly longer, more than 115 mm., so that the outstretched feet
reach nearly to end of the tail.
Greater black hawk, Buteogallus urubitinga, p. 229

Tarsus shorter, less: that: LOO Amati 32 800s Ae wi. 5.0 ae ete 25
Smallerwwane: less" thanvGS0 ani ye ete e!s. 5 cioe seek as eee wiae Was 26
Larger, winetmore than S60 mie tsk Lek. old te aa PRG 35

Very small, wing less than 150 mm.
Tiny hawk, Accipiter superciliosus fontaimer,
adult and immature, light phase, p. 192
Larger, wine more. thrard 1O0 i000) o53/5)5e Geis a. didia.otetelaisrvers avarai dieiyeoucaes © 27

174 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

27. Tibia russet to cinnamon, without bars; under surface without bars or
streaks, buffy white to cinnamon-buff (immatures), or dark gray (adults).
Bicolored hawk, Accipiter bicolor bicolor, p. 190

Tibia not plain russet or chestnut without bars, under surface streaked or

barred, or if plain, black ‘toxslatesblacle: Oo. shia ts widtevacles e satedenes 28

26, Loralvarea) heavily featienedies) oe ee Ie owe eiere nels cenesscewnvn 29
Loral area, bare. except for scattered (bristles: 221 22/2. oi)... cecres coe 31

29. Smaller, wing 160 to 210 mm.; form slender, head small; tarsus and toes
long and slender..... Sharp-shinned hawk, Accipiter striatus velox, p. 194
Larger, wing more than 240 mm.; form robust, head large; tarsus and toes
larger) heavaer ; o.0vhss<pscastarseas ion bees irene ee ve ete ot. 30

30. Upper surface black, or brownish black, without definite streaks on the
crown; under surface black, or white, usually plain, but in some with a
few narrow dusky streaks on the sides.

Short-tailed hawk, Buteo brachyurus, p. 202

Brownish gray, or grayish brown above, more or less mottled with cinna-

mon and white, especially on the crown; below barred with white and dull
brown, or white more or less streaked with dusky.

Broad-winged hawk, Buteo platypterus platypterus, p. 204

31. Much larger, wing more than 325 mm., tarsus more than 80 mm.

Lesser black hawk, Buteogallus anthracinus, p. 232
Decidedly smaller, wing less than 260 mm.; tarsus less than 75 mm...... 32

32. Ground color clear gray, barred with white on lower surface, and mottled
and barred above with dusky gray.

Gray hawk, Buteo nitidus blakei, adult, p. 199
Groundscolorinoteclearperavieg.acmiemes cost coc meeorcecreoreiie ne 33

33. Back and wings sooty black, with crown buffy white streaked narrowly with

black; tibia plain buff..Gray hawk, Buteo nitidus blaket, immature, p. 199
Back and wings not sooty black, tibia not plain buff.................. 34

34. Head, back, and wings grayish brown, lined and mottled with white and
buff ; lower surface white, streaked with sooty brown; tibia barred nar-
rowly with dusky.

Gray hawk, Buteo nitidus blakei, immature, second stage, p. 199

Head, back, and wings plain grayish brown; breast, abdomen, and tibia
cinnamon, barred with white ; foreneck and upper breast dark gray.

Large-billed hawk, Buteo magnirostris, p. 211

35. Tail not more than half as long as wing.

White-tailed hawk, Buteo albicaudatus hypospodius, p. 195
Tail more than balf as Jone was wine on. eet ce es a belles oes ecto 36
36. Three outer primaries distinctly emarginate, or notched, on inner web.
Swainson’s hawk, Buteo swainsoni, p. 208
Four outer primaries distinctly emarginate or notched on inner web.... 37

37. Black above and below, including under wing coverts; the under surface in
immature birds lightly spotted with white.

Zone-tailed hawk, Buteo albonotatus, p. 197

Upper surface of tail cinnamon-brown, with a black subterminal band
(adult) ; or grayish, or blackish-brown, barred narrowly with dusky
black Cimmature);. 3:05... ciet Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, p. 206

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 175

ELANOIDES FORFICATUS YETAPA (Vieillot): Swallow-tailed Kite;
Gavilan Tijereta

Ficure 35

Milvus yetapa Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 20, May 30, 1818,
p. 564. (Paraguay.)

The long, deeply forked tail identifies this species at a glance from
any other hawk.

Description—Length 500 to 630 mm. Adult, wing coverts and
back very dark green; outer scapulars, wings, and tail dark gray,
the longer feathers with a greenish sheen; inner scapulars, head,
neck, and whole of under surface, including the under wing coverts,
pure white.

Immature, head and upper breast streaked narrowly with blackish
brown.

Measurements (From Friedmann, U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 11,
1950, p. 90).—Males, wing 405-447 (418), tail 298-330 (318), culmen
from cere 19-20 (19.6), tarsus 31.5-33.0 (32.4) mm.

Females, wing 390-427 (411), tail 275-326 (304), culmen from
cere 19.5-21.0 (20.2), tarsus 32.0-33.5 (32.3) mm.

Found throughout the Republic in the tropical and lower subtropical
zones, where it nests; fairly common. Possibly migrant in part after
breeding, but from present information this is not certain.

These are birds of graceful, soaring flight that remain for long
periods on the wing. Though they eat lizards, and are reported to
take birds, nestlings, and eggs, they also feed extensively on insects
of a considerable variety of kinds. Skutch (Condor, 1965, p. 236)
saw them eating small insects which they captured in their feet while
on the wing. As the kite continued to circle it lowered the head and
brought the foot forward to place the small morsel of food in its
mouth.

The eggs of the swallow-tailed kite, with smooth shell, are white to
creamy white, marked with dark brown or chestnut in an irregular
pattern that varies from fine spots to heavy blotches. Two eggs consti-
tute the usual set, though 4 have been recorded. Schénwetter (Handb.
Ool., pt. 3, 1961, p. 154) records the measurements of 4 of this race
as 45.1-47.4 x 35.0-37.1 mm. One in the U. S. National Museum
received from Col. L. R. Wolfe, collected in Sucre, Venezuela, April
24, 1935, is elliptical in form, and in color faintly creamy white, heav-
ily marked with brown. It measures 47.9 x 39.5 mm.

176 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

A female that I collected at the lakes near El Volcan March 6, 1954,
was about to lay.

Though all of the specimens taken in Panama that I have examined
are of the race yetapa, it is probable that birds of the typical sub-

Fic. 35.—Swallow-tailed kite, gavilan tijereta, Elanoides forficatus yetapa,

species Elanoides forficatus forficatus, marked by dark blue instead
of dark green upper back and scapulars, may form part of those
that are recorded over the isthmus. This race, which nests in south-
eastern United States, moves southward in winter as far as Ecuador,
but little is known of its winter range.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 177

ICTINIA PLUMBEA (Gmelin): Plumbeous Kite; Gavilan Plomizo
FIcureE 36
Falco plumbeus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 1, 1788, p. 283. (Cayenne. )

Long wings, notched tail, and plain gray color mark this species,
usually seen soaring at the edge of forest.

Description.—Length 290 to 350 mm. Adult, head, neck, upper
back, and under surface, including under surface of wings, gray;
lower back, wings, and tail black, with a slight sheen of gray; dis-
tal half of inner webs of primaries cinnamon-brown; tail with two
broken bands of white.

Immature, upper surface dull black; head and neck with feathers
edged narrowly with white; back and wings with feathers tipped
lightly with buff, or buffy white; primaries tipped more widely with
white; tail with three prominent white bands; under surface white,
streaked heavily with dusky neutral gray; under wing coverts dark
neutral gray, edged and tipped with white and buffy white.

Iris deep red; bill black; cere dusky neutral gray; tarsus and toes
orange-yellow ; claws black.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt.
11, 1950, p. 126). —Males, wing 270-313 (298), tail 123-167 (148),
culmen from cere 15.5-18.0 (16.6), tarsus 37.0-42.4 (38.5) mm.

Females, wing 274-320 (307), tail 139-161 (145), culmen from
cere 16.0-19.5 (17.1), tarsus 34-42 (37.7) mm.

Migratory, fairly common. Breeds in areas of open forest through-
out the lowlands. Arrives from early February to the beginning of
March, and remains through September, occasionally into October.
Found on San José, Trapiche, Pedro Gonzalez, and Rey Islands in
the Perlas group.

Early arrival dates: Cerro Pirre, February 7, 1961; San Félix,
February 21, 1956; Chiman, February 26, 1950; Armila, San Blas,
February 27, 1963; El Uracillo, February 28, 1952; Boca de Paya,
March 2, 1959. Late dates of occurrence: Cocoli, Canal Zone, August
1, 1955 (specimen in U.S. National Museum); Barro Colorado
Island, Canal Zone, August 17, 1927, (Van Tyne, in Eisenmann,
Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 117, 1952, p. 14) ; Isla San José, latter
part of September (Morrison, in Wetmore, Smithsonian Misc. Coll.,
106, no. 1, 1946, p. 26); Almirante, Bocas del Toro, October 10,
1960, male collected by R. Hinds.

While not abundant this kite is widely distributed and so is seen
with fair regularity. It is found about groves and open stands of

VOL. 150

i

in such

is
de of the Azuero Pen-

iscom re-

, and Gr

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

2:
ON ae
Hl. mn Ti Ue 7

Wy

Sy,

: Ve 4 1a

SLY:
— c Ge

Fic. 36.—Plumbeous kite, gavilan plomizo, Ictinia plumbea.

178

so that cultivated areas where there is older rastrojo are favor-

trees,

it. In sections of dense forest it may be encountered along

the borders but it does not appear to penetrate into the interior

able to

though it may sweep high overhead in its soaring evolutions. Open

astures with scattered trees are favored localities, and it

Pp

areas that I have found them on the eastern si

as far down as the Rio Caldera, back of Punta Mala. I have

la,

seen them at 900 meters elevation above El Valle

insu

cords a breeding bird from Cana (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. vol. 69,

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 179

1929, p. 158), which appears to be near the upper limits of the range.

These kites, like the related Mississippi kite of the north, feed
mainly on insects. Orthoptera are favored items; beetles and occa-
sionally dragonflies are taken. In the latter part of the dry season
when cicadas are abundant they are picked off expertly while the
bird is on the wing, and often eaten while the hawk continues its
flight. They are said to eat lizards, but this I have not observed.
Small birds show no fear of these kites.

Plumbeous kites are ready to nest when they arrive on their breeding
grounds and mate immediately. Those taken at this time have the
body encased in fat, this being true particularly of the females. They
spend much time on the wing, soaring gracefully, and at rest select
exposed perches, the open branches of the guarumo (Cecropia)
being especially favored. In the air the long, pointed wings suggest
those of a falcon. They present a dark silhouette until the sun strikes
them at the proper angle, when the light-colored head sometimes ap-
pears almost white. The distinct notch in the tip of the tail may be
seen as they turn.

The nest is a fair-sized structure of sticks deeply cupped, located
rather high in trees. Seven sets of one egg each of this species, pre-
sented to the U.S. National Museum by Col. L. R. Wolfe, collected
at Guanoco, Sucre, Venezuela, are dull white, with a very finely
granulated shell, without markings. They are broad oval to nearly
elliptical in form and measure as follows: 42.6-45.0 x 34.0-37.9 mm.
Eggs of these birds become much soiled as incubation proceeds which
may account for reports of those with distinct markings.

The young at hatching are covered with white down.

The closely allied Mississippi kite, Ictinia misisippiensis (Wilson),
which nests now from northeastern Kansas, Tennessee, and South
Carolina south to northern Texas, Louisiana, and northern Florida,
also is migrant but with a winter range as yet not clearly known.
It is recorded through eastern and southern México and once in
eastern Guatemala. Aside from this, 3 specimens are reported
taken far to the south, December 14, 1944, and February 26, 1942, at
Colonia Nueva Italia, Villeta, southern Paraguay (Blake, Auk, 1949,
p. 82) and Mocovi, Chaco, northern Argentina, Jan. 6, 1904 (Eisen-
mann, Auk, 1963, p. 74). I have felt certain that some of the migrant
flocks I have seen on the Pacific side of Panama were the Mississippi
kite, but have not been able to substantiate this belief with specimens.
On April 14, 1949, while I was walking over an open savanna on the
western end of Cerro Carbunco, northwest of Chepo, a flock of 25
circled in ascending spirals barely beyond gun range. They rose

180 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

rapidly and finally whirled to disappear over the crest of the ridge.
Watson Perrygo and I, both of us familiar with the two species
concerned, watched them closely and were satisfied that they were
the Mississippi kite. On March 20, 1950, at Charco del Toro on the
Rio Majé, between 300 and 400 kites that I believed to be the north-
ern bird rushed past, swerving about with roaring wings, ahead of
a heavy rain. And on April 7, 1959, at Las Cumbres, outside of Pan-
ama City, I watched a flock of 75 shifting in formation as they beat
against the strong tradewind, that also seemed to be this species.
Fully adult birds of the Mississippi kite are similar to the other
species in size, and in general gray and black color but lack the
broken white bar in the tail. The bright brown of the inner webs
of the primaries, prominent on all of these feathers in the plumbeous
kite, is restricted to a few small, hidden spots on a few of the inner-
most feathers. The toes are dusky instead of yellow like the tarsus.

ROSTRHAMUS SOCIABILIS SOCIABILIS (Vieillot): Everglade Kite;
Gavilan Caracolero

Figure 37

Herpetotheres sociabilis Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 18, Dec.
1817, p. 318. (Corrientes and Rio de la Plata.)

Of medium size, black, with or without buff streaks on lower
surface; rump and base of tail white; bill very slender, much curved.

Description—Length 390 to 430 mm. Adult male, black to black-
ish slate ; feathers of forehead, throat, and lower eyelid white basally ;
tail coverts, both above and below, white; tail with concealed base
white, bordered distally by an indistinct band of mouse brown, and
with end brown tipped with dull white; under surface of primaries
and secondaries, with indefinite bars of grayish white.

Adult female, somewhat browner black; throat and breast streaked
lightly with buff; elsewhere with feathers in part edged lightly with
dull cinnamon.

Immature, fuscous above, with indistinct edgings of cinnamon-
buff ; crown with indistinct streaks of dull cinnamon; forehead and
superciliary buffy white, streaked with fuscous, the superciliary
much broader above ear region; crown and nape feathers white bas-
ally; under surface buffy white, with shaft lines fuscous on throat
and foreneck; lower breast and sides heavily streaked with fus-
cous ; a band of nearly solid fuscous across upper breast; under wing
coverts tipped broadly with rufous.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 181

The very slender, much hooked bill, and equally slender claws,
coupled with the white rump and base of tail, are diagnostic. The
outermost primary is definitely notched, the next 4 sinuate in decreas-
ing amount.

Fic. 37.—Everglade kite, gavilan caracolero, Rostrhamus sociabilis sociabilis.

Measurements—Males, wing 325-341 (332.5), tail 164-182
(172.1), culmen from cere 24.5-26.5 (25.2), tarsus 49-54 (51.5) mm.

Females, wing 338-350 (342) ; tail 167.5-188 (175) ; culmen from
cere 24-25 (24.6), tarsus 47-51 (49) mm.

Rare. The only record is that of a female, in full immature dress,
taken by Wedel on March 22, 1929, at Permé, San Blas.

This kite frequents fresh-water marshes where it feeds on the
large apple snails (Pomacea). It is rare in southern Central Amer-
ica.

182 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

HELICOLESTES HAMATUS (Temminck): Slender-billed Kite;
Gavilan Piquidelgado

Ficure 38

Falco hamatus Temminck, Nouv. Rec. Planch. Col., livr. 11, June 1821, pl. 61.
(Para, Brazil.)

Generally similar to the Everglade kite, but wings less pointed ;
tail short and without white; bill and claws slender, much curved.

Description —Length 380 to 410 mm. Adult, dark gray throughout,
becoming blackish on head and neck.

Immature, somewhat paler gray, with wing coverts, secondaries,
and upper tail coverts tipped narrowly with brown, buff or white;
webs of remiges barred narrowly on the lower surface with white and
light gray; under tail coverts tipped and barred with white or buffy
white ; tail sooty black, tipped and barred with white.

The female listed beyond, collected February 24, 1959, had the eye
bright golden-yellow ; base of mandible, gape, cere, and bare skin in
front of eye, reddish orange; margin of eyelid dusky neutral gray,
bordered, adjacent to the feathering, by a narrow line of reddish
orange; base of gonys dull yellowish buff; rest of bill black; tarsus
and toes reddish orange ; claws black.

Measurements——Male (1 from Darién), wing 265, tail 113.0, cul-
men from cere 25.5, tarsus 50.8 mm.

Females (5 from Darién, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Brazil), wing
272-285 (279), tail 120.4-132.4 (129.2), culmen from cere 26.7-
27.7 (27.3), tarsus 46.0-51.0 (48.8) mm.

Resident. Rare; recorded only in the Tuira Valley, Darién, near
the mouth of the Rio Paya.

This is a little known species of tropical South America, known
in Panama only from the Paya region of Darién. On February 24,
1959, I found one, a female perched over a shaded pool in a forest
quebrada, near the point where the small stream came down a bed
broken by rock exposures into the Rio Tuira. The bird flew a short
distance to another perch, where it continued to give a low mewing
call of a single note. It ranged at intermediate levels, well below the
heavy tree crown of the high forest. There were numerous shells of
the apple snail (Pomacea zeteki Morrison) scattered about along the
sandy shore of the quebrada, which I assumed the kite had shared
with the limpkins that ranged in the same area. Later I received
another of these kites that had been taken in 1958 in this same sec-
tion by collectors for the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory. These are
the first reports of the species outside South America (see Wetmore,
Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 145, no. 1, 1962, p. 11).

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 183

Haverschmidt (Auk, 1959, p. 35), in Surinam, found a nest placed
on a strong branch of a huge cotton-tree growing in a coffee plan-
tation. The nest, rather small, was made of sticks, in the form usual
among tree-nesting hawks. The single nestling was “mouse brown,
with a dirty white stripe over the back: its head was dirty white with
a mouse brown triangle on top. Soft parts were as follows: iris
black ; bill glossy black, with the white egg tooth still on the upper

Fic. 38.—Slender-billed kite, gavilan piquidelgado, Helicolestes hamatus.

mandible; cere and sides of bill orange yellow; inside of mouth red-
dish pink; feet orange yellow with claws glossy black.” Eggs of
this interesting species are not yet known.

The slender-billed kite in general form and food habits is a forest-
inhabiting counterpart of the Everglade kite of open marshlands.
The forest bird differs in heavier form, and in relatively shorter and
more rounded wings, in which the primaries project less beyond the
secondaries. The tail also relatively is shorter. A more interesting
distinction is found in the immature plumage, which resembles the

184 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

plain color of the adult rather closely, while the Everglade kite at
this age differs decidedly in heavily streaked pattern. Amadon (Amer.
Mus. Nov. no. 2166, 1964, pp. 3-4) after discussion of these matters,
in view of the general resemblance, suggests union of the two under
the older genus name Rostrhamus since they have no other close
relatives. It appears plausible to believe that the two have related
ancestry. But it would appear that hamatus is the more conservative,
perhaps more like the ancestral stock, from its smaller population.
Pending information on its internal anatomy, particularly the skele-
ton, I prefer here to emphasize the differences by listing the two in
separate genera.

HARPAGUS BIDENTATUS FASCIATUS Lawrence: Double-toothed Kite;
Gavilan Bidente

FIcureE 39

Harpagus fasciatus Lawrence, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 20, 1868
(April-May, 1869), p. 429. (Guatemala. )

The irregular, double-toothed margins toward the tip of the maxilla
and mandible serve to identify this species in any plumage from other
hawks found in Panama.

Description—Length 290 to 330 mm. Male, above, including side
of head, dull gray ; wings and tail blackish, the latter with whitish tip,
and 3 broken cross bars, the uppermost concealed by the tail coverts ;
throat and upper foreneck white, streaked with dull gray and grayish
black; upper breast chestnut brown at sides, gray, barred indistinctly
with chestnut brown, in center; lower breast and abdomen barred
narrowly with white, and more broadly with gray bordered narrowly
with chestnut; under tail coverts and under wing coverts white;
under surface of wing barred broadly with white.

Female, somewhat browner gray above; upper breast chestnut-
brown, with scant indication of bars; lower surface elsewhere barred
broadly with chestnut brown, with gray edging reduced, and white
bars prominent.

Immature, grayish above, with the concealed feather bases white
on head, back, and coverts; below white, streaked broadly on breast,
and barred irregularly on sides and abdomen, with fuscous.

I recorded the colors of the soft parts in a female of the typical
H. b. bidentatus, taken in Venezuela, as follows: Iris orange-red;
maxilla black, except for a dull gray area extending across the
posterior tooth and the base of the tomium behind; mandible dull
gray; cere dull greenish; tarsus and toes bright yellow; claws black.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 185

Measurements.—Males (5 from Panama), wing 200-204 (201.8),
tail 132.8-140.0 (137.4), culmen from cere 15.1-17.3 (16.1), tarsus
41.5-44.3 (42.8) mm.

Females (4 from Panama), wing 207-216 (211.7), tail 139.1-149.7
(144.7), culmen from cere 15.4-16.4 (16.0), tarsus 40.5-43.8 (42.6)
mm.

Resident. Tolerably common in forested areas throughout the main-
land; Isla Coiba. (There are no definite records for the provinces of
Coclé or Los Santos, but I feel quite certain that the bird is found
there.)

Primarily this is a bird of forested areas, where it is encountered
not only in heavy stands but also where the tree growth is fairly open.

Fic. 39.—Head of double-toothed kite, gavilan bidente, Harpagus bidentatus
fasciatus.

It is thus able to find suitable cover in second growth and comes also
into groves and lines of trees that border fields, pastures, and streams
in savanna country. Because of its small size it is little molested, and
so usually it is not especially wary. Often I have seen them close
at hand, perched low down in leafy branches. They also come to low
perches in the open in cultivated fields. They feed mainly on lizards
and large insects that they capture in the trees, when necessary climb-
ing, walking, or hopping actively along sloping branches in pursuit.
While these kites are attracted occasionally by squeaking, the small
forest birds show no fear at their presence, though they may scold or
dart at them. I have never seen them attack a bird.

On March 26 and 27, 1955, at the base of Cerro Chame I found a
pair at the foundation of a nest of small sticks placed in a crotch 12
meters from the ground in open forest. The location, within 15
meters of a trail, was open without any screen of leaves or branches
for concealment. Laughlin (Condor, 1952, pp. 137-139) described a

186 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

completed nest found on Barro Colorado Island on June 29, 1951, as
made of twigs, shallow, and placed over 20 meters from the ground,
in a crotch in a tall cedro espinoso (Bombacopsis fendleri), where it
was concealed from above but not from the side. The female began
incubation on July 3. The male drove at a large woodpecker, at white-
faced monkeys, and Aracari toucans, and chased them away, but a
Swainson’s toucan was seen to intimidate the female and take one
egg. A few days later the nest was found deserted. The egg, seized
by the toucan “appeared whitish speckled with brown,” which agrees
with published descriptions of the eggs of the related Harpagus
diodon of South America.

The double-toothed kite is silent in the main except when nesting,
when they utter high-pitched calls, in shrill intonation like those of
other small hawks.

While these kites are found most often in the tropical zone, they
range in Chiriqui to 1,300 meters in the forested valleys. I was in-
terested to collect one in heavy forest on Isla Coiba.

The typical form, Harpagus bidentatus bidentatus (Latham), which
ranges from eastern Colombia, east of the Andes, Venezuela, and
Trinidad to eastern Bolivia and south central Brazil, is less heavily
barred on the lower surface.

LEPTODON CAYANENSIS CAYANENSIS (Latham): Cayenne Kite; Gavilan
Cabecigris

Falco cayanensis Latham, Index Orn., vol. 1, 1790, p. 28. (Cayenne, French
Guiana. )

In the hand these hawks differ from any others found in Panama
by the short, heavy tarsus, which is 42 to 50 mm. long, feathered for
nearly half its length. In life the gray head, dark back, banded tail
and light-colored undersurface are diagnostic.

Description—Length 450 to 525 mm. Adult, head gray, paler on
the foreneck and throat; rest of upper surface dark gray with a
bluish cast; primaries and secondaries with very faintly indicated
lighter gray bands; tail blackish, tipped narrowly with grayish white,
with 2 narrow bands of light gray, and a third broken one of variable
extent, more or less concealed by the upper tail coverts ; under surface
white, with a tinge of gray; flanks and tibia spotted and streaked
with dark gray; under wing coverts grayish black; undersurface
of wing blackish banded with grayish white.

Immature in light phase, crown and upper surface brownish black ;
tail with two bands of brownish gray, and a broad tip of light brown;

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 187

forehead, sides of head, ring around hind neck, and under surface,
including under wing coverts, white. The head is entirely white in
some, except for a small area in the center of the crown.

Immature in dark phase, the upper surface, head, throat, and
upper breast black; rest of the lower surface white, heavily streaked
with black. In some the white streaking extends also over the fore-
neck and upper breast.

An adult female taken near Mandinga, Comarca de San Blas, on
February 8, 1957, had the iris hazel brown; cere and extreme base of
maxilla neutral gray ; rest of maxilla, and sides of mandible for distal
half, including the tip, dark neutral gray ; bare space on side of head,
including eyelids, space above eye, lores, gape, base of mandible, distal
half of gonys, side of maxilla below nostril, and inside of the nares,
including the outer edge of the operculum, light bluish gray; tarsus
pale neutral gray; scutes of toes light neutral gray; under side of
toes brownish white ; claws black.

Measurements.—Males (5 from Panama and northern Colombia),
wing 292-302 (297), tail 199-215 (206), culmen from cere 23.6-25.0
(24.3), tarsus 43.0-49.6 (45.9) mm.

Females (5 from Panama and northern Colombia), wing 307-326
(314), tail 218-242 (228), culmen from cere 24.5-26.6 (25.4), tarsus
42.0-44.0 (42.9) mm.

Resident. Fairly common in forested areas in the tropical and sub-
tropical zones. Records to date do not include Colon, or Coclé, where
the species should be found, nor is it reported from the eastern side
of the Azuero Peninsula, or from any of the larger islands.

While a species that is widely spread through the isthmus, it is
comparatively little known, since it ranges in the high tree crown of
the forests where it is concealed in the leafy canopy. Although most
frequent in unbroken forest, in the savanna country on the Pacific
slope it comes in lesser number into the lines of trees along the banks
of streams and marshes, as around La Jagua.

Cayenne kites soar regularly and are observed sometimes in early
morning on tall dead stubs, but on the whole they are seen mainly
by chance through some small opening in the high leafy cover. To-
ward the end of the dry season they begin to call, a loud kek kek kek
kek, repeated at short intervals, a sound that carries far. At such
times they rest on high dead branches that look out over the forest.
Others widely separated, to the number of two or three, may answer.
Though one that I followed and shot proved to be a female, it is my
assumption that the call is given by both sexes. I have heard the

188 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

note from near sea level on the San Blas coast to 2,000 meters
elevation above Cerro Punta. The immature bird in dark phase—
black above and white heavily streaked with black below—is especially
striking in appearance, since it is so different from the adult in light
phase.

The stomach of one taken at Cana was filled with 55 pupae and
38 adults of a wasp (Odynerus pachyodynerus) with a few bits of an
ant (Azteca. sp.). Haverschmidt (Condor, 1962, p. 154) in Surinam
reports them as eating a variety of insects. In one he found a frog and
in another the shell of a small bird’s egg.

Schénwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 3, 1961, p. 155, pl. 6, fig. 7) gives
the measurements of 3 eggs from Trinidad as 53.4-54.3 x 42.2-
45.0 mm. His plate illustrates an egg that is elliptical in form, and
plain white in color. Haverschmidt (Journ. f. Orn., 1964, p. 66)
considers the identification doubtful as the measurements appear
small for a bird of this size.

Specimens from southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia to northern
Argentina are larger (wing in a male from the Paraguayan Chaco
355, tail 250 mm.), as indicated by Hellmayr and Conover (Cat.
Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 4, 1949, p. 25), and are to be recognized, ac-
cording to Hellmayr, as Leptodon c. monachus Vieillot, described as
Sparvius monachus Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 10,
June, 1817, p. 341. (“Bresil’’)

CHONDROHIERAX UNCINATUS UNCINATUS (Temminck): Hook-billed
Kite; Gavilan Piquiganchudo

Ficure 40

Falco uncinatus Temminck, Nouv. Rec. Planch. Col., livr. 18, Jan., 1822, pls. 103,
104. (Baia, Brazil.)

The large, somewhat compressed, strongly hooked bill is the im-
portant character on which to recognize this species; in its dark and
light color phases it varies greatly in color.

Description—Length 380 to 420 mm. Adults, dark phase, from
dark gray to fuscous-black, with a broad white band across the center
of the tail, which has a gray end, bordered narrowly at the tip with
white ; concealed bases of the feathers back of the center of crown and
of the nape white. Adults, light phase, fuscous-black above, grayish
on the sides of the head and wing, and barred broadly below with
buffy white and bright brown (the latter color bordered with dark
gray below) ; under side of wings barred with white; the tail band

gray.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 189

Immature in dark phase, two bands across the tail, and the tip
buffy white; narrow tips of cinnamon above and below, and the
bases of the feathers of the under surface prominently white. Im-
mature, light phase, white to buffy white below, with a light band
across the hind neck, more or less barred with fuscous below; 3 tail
bands of brownish gray.

An immature bird in dark phase, taken at Juan Mina on January
14, 1955, had the iris dull Marguerite yellow; maxilla and anterior
half of cutting edge of mandible dusky neutral gray ; rest of mandible,
anterior one-fourth of loral space, and cere, dull yellowish green;
remainder of loral space, and bare eye ring, light vetiver green; gape,

Fic. 40.—Head of hook-billed kite, gavilan piquiganchudo, Chondrohterax unct-
natus uncinatus.

and a bare spot above lores, orange; tarsus and toes yellow; claws
black. An adult in complete dark phase taken at 200 meters eleva-
tion in the Cerro Azul along the upper Rio Pacora differed in having
the iris bluish gray.

Measurements.—Males (6 from Panama and Colombia), wing 272-
290 (281), tail 177-195 (185), culmen from cere 26.7-31.5 (29.7),
tarsus 34.6-39.9 (37.1) mm.

Females (5 from Panama and Colombia), wing 272-285 (280),
tail 179-193 (186), culmen from cere 30.0-30.9 (30.3), tarsus 33.5-
39.5 (36.5) mm.

Resident. In forested areas in the tropical and lower subtropical
zones. Recorded to date from Chiriqui (Boquete, El Volcan) ;
Veraguas (Arcé specimen without locality) ; eastern Panama (lower
slopes of the Cerro Azul); Isla Saboga, and Isla Pedro Gonzalez,

IgO0 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Archipiélago de las Perlas. Known from the Caribbean slope only in
the lower Chagres Valley, where it has been taken at Madden Dam,
Juan Mina, Gamboa, Barro Colorado Island, and near Lion Hill.

This is a forest species, found ordinarily on wooded slopes above
streams, often in hill country. It is a sedentary bird that perches
in the middle branches, or in the tree crown, though it comes lower at
times, even to the ground, when it is in search of the large land snails
that are a major source of its food. The hooked bill tip often is
worn, apparently from extracting these animals from the shell. Once
I had one clamber along a branch and then fly a few feet toward me,
attracted by the squeaking sounds that I was using to decoy other
birds. In the hand this kite seems slight in body, with feet especially
weak for a hawk, particularly when these are contrasted with the
heavy bill. Birds in dark phase may be confused with the crab hawk,
until it is noted that the tail is longer, the body form more slender,
and the legs and feet shorter and weaker.

The type locality has been designated as Baia by Hellmayr and
Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 4, 1949, p. 27).

Haverschmidt (Journ. f. Orn., 1964, pp. 64-66) describes a nest
in Surinam found in mid-April that was placed about 10 meters from
the ground in a shade tree over coffee. The shallow structure built
of dry twigs held two young covered with white down with a slight
reddish wash on the head, back, and wings.

Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 3, 1961, p. 155, pl. 6, fig. 8) records
2 eggs of this bird from Trinidad with measurements of 53.5-53.7 x
40.4-40.6 mm. The specimen figured (in color) is white (apparently
with a light tinge of buff) spotted and blotched rather lightly with
brown. In form it is slightly pointed oval.

ACCIPITER BICOLOR BICOLOR (Vieillot): Bicolored Hawk; Gavilan
Pantalon

Sparvius bicolor Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 10, June 21,
1817, p. 325. (Cayenne.)

A long-tailed, slender-bodied bird-hunter, gray in the adult, white
or buff underneath in the immature ; end of tail rounded.

Description.—Length 350 to 420 mm. Adult, crown and upper
hindneck sooty black; wings and tail fuscous-black, the latter with
3 brownish crossbars; rest of upper surface slate-gray ; sides of head
slate; below pale neutral gray, becoming lighter on lower abdomen,
and white on lower tail coverts; tibia chestnut; under wing coverts
mixed white and chestnut; under wing surface dull neutral gray to
dull black, barred heavily with white; tail bars white on under side.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE Ig!i

Immature, head black, becoming brownish on cheeks; above fus-
cous; under surface from nearly white in some individuals to
ochraceous in others, the paler ones with an indistinct whitish or
buffy ring on hindneck.

An adult female, taken on Isla Coiba, had the following colors:
Iris orange; base of maxilla below nostril, and base of mandible,
neutral gray; rest of bill black; cere dusky neutral gray; edge of
eyelids honey yellow; rest of the bare skin about the eye, and on
the loral area, dull yellowish green; tarsus and toes yellow; claws
black.

Measurements.—Males (5 from Panama and northern Colombia),
wing 202-211 (207), tail 166-173 (170), culmen from cere 14.6-15.5
(14.9), tarsus 59.9-64.1 (61.7) mm.

Females (5 from Panama and northern Colombia), wing 234-240
(237), tail 177-189 (184), culmen from cere 16.7-19.5 (18.1), tarsus
67.3-69.3 (68.4) mm.

Resident. Rare; widely distributed, but not recorded from Los
Santos and Herrera on the eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula,
Coclé, or San Blas. Found on Isla Coiba.

This is another forest species, a hunter of small birds, that may be
more common than appears from the few seen, since a fair number
have been collected over a period of one hundred years.

In Chiriqui it has been taken from Boquete across the southern
slopes of the volcano to Bugaba, near the Costa Rican boundary, as
well as near San Félix in the eastern part of the province. Salvin
(Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 215) received skins from Arcé
shot at Chitra and Calovévora in Veraguas. These are records that
may not be duplicated as most of the lowland forest cover in these
provinces now is gone. At Paracoté, Aldrich (Scient. Publ. Cleve-
land Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, 1937, p. 42) shot an immature male as
it crossed an open field with direct flight, alternately beating the wings
and gliding. Lawrence received one from McLeannan, taken some-
where along the Panama Railroad, and there is one in the National
Museum from the same source marked Frijoles. Imhof (manuscript
notes) recorded one in the Madden Forest Reserve May 31, 1942. In
Bocas del Toro, von Wedel collected one (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp.
Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 311) near Almirante, and Monniche one at
Cedral near 1,500 meters elevation on the Holcomb Trail. Loye Miller
secured one near Cricamola on August 31, 1936 (specimen at the
University of California in Los Angeles).

The only records for the eastern area are of a male taken at San
Antonio on the lower Rio Bayano east of Chepo (Havemeyer collec-

192 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

tion in the Peabody Museum at Yale), and specimens from 600
meters elevation near Cana, Darién. The species has been reported
most often in the western part of the republic.

On Isla Coiba on January 17, 1956, a female, attracted by the calls
of a wounded thrush, came dashing in through low branches to a
perch a few feet from me. This bird had the double ovary, usual in
the genus Accipiter, with indication in the left lobe that the bird had
laid rather recently. The right ovary was about one-third the size
of the other. A few days later, on January 23 a prisoner brought me
an immature male that had begun the molt to adult dress on back,
tertials and tail.

Capt. Vivian Hewitt (Ool. Rec., 1937, pp. 13-14) reports an egg
collected in the “Rio Orinoco District” in Venezuela, as white with
slight rust-colored streaks. It measured 38.0X32.7 mm. The nest,
on which the bird was seen, was small and cup-shaped, built of
sticks and lined with a few leaves, placed near the end of a branch
about 15 meters from the ground. Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 3,
1961, pp. 143, 160) records a single egg from western Ecuador as
pale bluish gray, sparingly spotted with dark brown. The measure-
ment is given as 46.5X35.2 mm. (As this egg, in the Passler collec-
tion, is so different from the one reported by Hewitt it is possible that
it is wrongly identified.)

ACCIPITER SUPERCILIOSUS FONTAINIER Bonaparte: Tiny Hawk;
Gavilancito Enano

Accipiter Fontainier Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 37, 1853
(not earlier than Nov. 28), p. 810. (Santa Cruz, Sierra Nevada de Santa
Marta, Colombia.)

Smallest of the hawks found in Panama.

Description —Length 200 to 250 mm. Adult, crown and hindneck
dull black; upper back dark neutral gray; rest of upper surface
fuscous ; tail with 4 dull black bars, the interspaces fuscous-brown,
a concealed spot of white at base; side of head gray, streaked in-
distinctly with dull white; under surface white, barred narrowly with
fuscous, except the throat and foreneck, which vary in marking from
a few narrow shaft streaks to plain white ; under wing coverts white,
lightly barred with dark neutral gray ; under surface of primaries and
secondaries white basally, dull light gray distally, heavily barred with
fuscous.

Immature (dark phase), above fuscous-black ; tail with 5 dark bars,
tipped narrowly with black; under parts buff, barred with buffy
brown.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 193

Immature (rufous phase), crown fuscous; rest of upper surface
hazel brown, with concealed areas of dull brown and white bases;
tail hazel barred with black; below white, barred with light brown,
and washed with bright hazel on under side of wing, sides, center of
breast, and outer side of tibia.

An adult male, taken on the Rio Tuira, had the iris bright orange-
red; rim of eyelids, bare skin around eyes, lores, cere, gape, and
mandibular rami, bright yellow; maxilla (except base), and extreme
tip of mandible, dusky neutral gray; base of maxilla below nostril,
and rest of mandible dull buffy white; tarsus and toes yellow, the
toes slightly brighter ; claws black.

Measurements——Males (3 from Panama and northwestern Colom-
bia), wing 130.3-132.5 (131.5), tail 86.7-92.9 (89.9), culmen from
cere 10.8-11.5 (11.1), tarsus 40.8-42.2 (41.3) mm.

Female (1 from Panama), wing 149.7, tail 105.7, culmen from cere
12.7, tarsus 45.0 mm.

Resident. Rare ; found in forested areas in the tropical zone.

This is a little-known species, small in size, that has been recorded
seldom. McLeannan collected one early in his work, that is presumed
to have come from near Lion Hill (Lawrence, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist.
New York, vol. 7, 1862, p. 462). Arcé secured one a few years later
near Santiago, Veraguas (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867, p.
158). Hasso von Wedel shot a male at Obaldia, San Blas (Griscom,
Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 313). There is an immature
bird (a female from its size), not previously reported, in the Na-
tional Museum, collected on February 10, 1889, by H. T. Heyde in
forest on the Atlantic slope in the Cascajal area of northern Cocleé.

I have found the species twice, first on February 22, 1959, in heavy
forest at Boca de Paya, on the Rio Tuira, Darién. I was watching
small birds moving among leaves a few feet over my head, when one
of these little hawks swooped in, seized one of them and then flew
to a perch 50 meters distant, holding its prey in its feet. I shot the
hawk immediately, and as it fell the little bird flew away, apparently
unharmed.

On March 9, 1961, on the Rio Pequeni above the Candelaria Sta-
tion, I had a similar experience when one of these small hawks seized
an arrocero immediately in front of me and alighted with it on a
branch. My companion, who was ahead, shot, and again the little
bird, its prey, flew away unharmed. The hawk was another male,
somewhat younger, as there were still two chestnut feathers with
dusky bars in the scapulars of one side. The colors of the side of
the head and of the tarsus also were slightly duller than in the adult.

194 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Nothing is known of the nesting of this subspecies. Eggs of the
closely allied typical form Accipiter s. superciliosus (Linnaeus)
from Minas Geraes, Brazil, are described by L. R. Wolfe (Ool. Rec.,
1936, p. 84) as pale bluish white, with a greenish tinge when viewed
against a strong light. One egg has a wash of light brown over the
large end, and scattered streaks and spots of this color elsewhere. The
other two in the set appear unmarked until viewed against the light
as mentioned, when small specks of reddish scattered through the
shell may be seen. They measure 36.1 X 29.0, 36.6 x 29.1, and 39.0x
29.0 mm. Capt. Vivian Hewitt (Ool. Rec., 1937, p. 13), in Venezuela,
flushed one of these hawks from a hole in a tree while climbing to a
nest of a Busarellus. Both nests were empty but two weeks later he
found that the small accipiters had abandoned the hole, and had
taken over the nest of the larger hawk. The single egg that both
parents guarded was plain white without markings, and measured
35.0 X 27.5 mm.

The typical race superciliosus, found from eastern Colombia, east
of the Andes, and Venezuela, south through eastern Brazil to Mis-
iones in northeastern Argentina, differs only in slightly less heavy bar-
ring on the undersurface, with the dark bars grayer, less black. Size is
the same in both races. The subspecies found in Panama ranges
from Nicaragua south through Central America and Colombia west
of the eastern Andes to western Ecuador.

ACCIPITER STRIATUS VELOX (Wilson): Sharp-shinned Hawk;
Gavilancito de Paso

Falco velox Wilson, Amer. Orn., vol. 5, 1812, p. 116, pl. 45, fig. 1. (Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. )

Similar in form to the bicolored hawk, but smaller, darker and
with a definite pattern of streaks or bars on the lower surface; end
of tail square.

Description Length 250 to 350 mm. Adult, above slate gray,
darker on the crown; feathers of nape with concealed white bases ;
underparts cinnamon-brown, spotted and barred with white; tail
tipped with white, with 4 blackish bands; under tail coverts white ;
under wing coverts white, spotted and barred with fuscous; under
wing broadly barred with blackish.

Immature, above fuscous, darker on the head, narrowly edged with
tawny ; scapulars and tertials with concealed white spots; lower sur-
face white or pale buff streaked and spotted with fuscous and dull
brown.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 195

Measurements——Males, wing 162-178 (171), tail 134-152 (140.8),
culmen from cere 9.5-11 (10.3), tarsus 46-54 (49.9) mm.

Females, wing 195-210 (200), tail 150-179 (165.6), culmen from
cere 10.5-14 (12.7), tarsus 45-58.5 (54.9) mm.

Migrant from the north to western Panama; rare.

Arcé secured one on the Volcan de Chiriqui (Salvin, Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1870, p. 216) ; Mrs. Davidson collected a male February
15, 1934, at 650 meters on Horqueta, above Boquete (Davidson, Proc.
California Acad. Sci., vol. 23, 1938, p. 256), preserved in the Cali-
fornia Academy of Sciences. There is one in the Moénniche collection
in the Chicago Natural History Museum taken at about the same
elevation at Quiel, above Boquete, October 24, 1937 (Blake, Fieldiana :
Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p. 505). A specimen in the British Museum,
“obtained through Boucard from Panama” (Salvin and Godman,
Biol. Centr-Amer., vol. 3, 1897, p. 50) probably was collected by Arce.
Stone (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1918, p. 249) was in error
in listing this species from the Canal Zone.

The sharp-shinned hawk undoubtedly is more regular in occurrence
than the few records indicate. While I have not taken specimens, I
saw this species near Cerro Punta, Chiriqui on March 7, 1955, when
one circled a hundred meters in the air at sunrise near our house, and
again the following day when I recorded one flying at the edge of
the forest above the village. Near Monagrillo, Herrera, on February
25, 1948, I saw one close at hand in thick brush, and on March 15,
1957, near Pedasi, Los Santos, one circled over the pastures near the
Rio Pedasi for several minutes.

The sharpshin ranges in brushy areas, or in forest, often in under-
growth. In hunting the small birds that form its food it may dash
across the borders of fields or pastures.

BUTEO ALBICAUDATUS HYPOSPODIUS Gurney: White-tailed Hawk;
Gavilan Tejé

Buteo hypospodius Gurney, Ibis, ser. 3, vol. 6, no. 1, Jan. 1876, p. 73, pl. 3.
(Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia.)

Adult in light phase, white underneath, with dark head, dark wing
tips, and a dark band at the end of the tail.

Description.—Length 500 to 610 mm. Adult, above mainly slate
gray, including the sides of the head, the feathers of upper back
with concealed white bases; lesser wing coverts cinnamon, with
scapulars tinged with the same; outer webs of primaries and tips
black; lower back, rump, and upper tail coverts white, barred with

196 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

dark gray, tail coverts in some plain white; rectrices white, becoming
gray on the outer webs of the outer feathers, with black subterminal
band, and a white tip; sides of throat and breast gray; rest of under
surface white, barred more or less on sides with gray to brownish
gray; under wing coverts white, barred narrowly with gray to
brownish gray.

There is also a dark phase in which the under parts are gray to
slate color, edged with white.

Immature, above black to fuscous-black; hindneck with concealed
white and buffy edgings on back; below streaked more or less with
buffy white; upper tail coverts buffy white, barred irregularly with
cinnamon brown; under wing coverts barred with black and buffy
white; tail light gray, edged with dull black, and with many narrow
bars of fuscous.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 10,
1950, p. 234).—Males, wing 404-430 (416.4), tail 194-207 (200.6),
culmen from cere 23.5-27.5 (25.0), tarsus 92.0-95.0 (93.7) mm.

Females, wing 423-450 (438.8), tail 198.5-211 (201.4), culmen
from cere 25.5-28.5 (27.5), tarsus 84.5-93.0 (87.1) mm.

Resident. Rare; recorded from Calovévora and Chitra, Veraguas
(Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 215); Cricamola,
Bocas del Toro (female in University of Cincinnati Museum, taken
by von Wedel October 15, 1936). There are sight records from the
western Province of Panama; at El Espino (near the boundary of
Coclé) and Cerro Campana; also at Paris, Herrera; and on Isla
Taboga.

On March 4, 1948, I recorded one soaring near the Rio Santa
Maria, northeast of Paris, Herrera. In March 1951 I saw a pair on
several occasions soaring in strong wind across the southern slopes of
Cerro Campana. They often hung poised for several minutes over
one spot, usually with partly closed wings. Once as one remained
in that fashion I could see a small bird held in one foot. Occasionally
one of these birds came down to perch on a rock at the crest of a
ridge, but they were wary and never allowed close approach. On
March 24, 1951, I recorded a pair that flew up from perches on rocks
ona high ridge above the Rio Calabozo at El Espino.

On Christmas day, 1955, on Isla Taboga a great ascending thermal
that formed over the hill slopes early in the forenoon drew scores of
brown pelicans, frigatebirds and vultures that came from afar to
soar over the island. Among them I saw a white-tailed hawk that -
presently drifted away toward Cerro Cabra on the opposite mainland.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 197

It was my impression that the bird had come over from that area
for a time attracted by the soaring flock.

In the air the adults appear white underneath, with dark head
sharply outlined from the lower foreneck, dark wing tips, and a dark
band at the end of the tail. It would be difficult if not impossible to
distinguish those in dark stage of plumage from other species of
black colored hawks.

The Spanish name, gavildn tejé, is given in imitation of the high-
pitched double-noted, accented call, uttered often as the bird circles
high in air.

While there is no description of the breeding of this hawk in
Panama, elsewhere in the range of this race, which extends from
southern Texas through México and Central America to northern
Colombia and Venezuela, the nest is a structure of sticks placed in
low trees in open country. Bent (U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 167, 1937,
p. 218) says that the set includes 1 to 3 eggs, in color dull white to
pale bluish white, some spotted with dull brown, clay color, or buff
and some plain, without markings. Measurements vary from 52.7-
65 x 42.2-50 mm., with the average 58.9X46.5 mm. The downy
young, with the body dull buffy brown, whiter underneath, becoming
dull sepia on the head with a dull black mark through the eye, are
quite different in appearance from those of other species of the larger
hawks.

BUTEO ALBONOTATUS Kaup: Zone-tailed Hawk; Gavilan Negro

[Buteo] albonotatus Kaup, Isis von Oken, 1847, Heft 5 (May), col. 329.

(México.)

Black, with under surface of wing banded with white.

Description—Length 450 to 550 mm. Adult, black, with many of
the feathers white, or partly white, basally; some individuals with
a wash of slate color on back and breast; lores and forehead white,
with blackish shaft streaks; tail, above tipped narrowly with white,
and banded with 5 or more indistinct gray bands; below, grayish to
white, banded narrowly with neutral gray ; under surface of primaries
and secondaries neutral gray, barred with white; under wing coverts
black.

Immature, sooty brown to black, spotted irregularly with white
on lower surface; tail with numerous bands.

In the hand it may be noted that four outer primaries are distinctly
notched at the tip. The other species of the genus Buteo found in
Panama that are black or dark-colored below have only 3 of the
outer primaries cut on the inner margin.

198 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Iris dark brown; eyelids and bare space above dull gray; bill dull
neutral gray at base, shading to dusky neutral gray, or dull black,
toward tip; cere and gape yellow; tarsus and toes yellow; claws
black.

Measurements——Males (4 from Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia
and Venezuela), wing 365-394 (378.7), tail 190-205 (199), culmen
from cere 20.6-21.5 (21.0), tarsus 66.0-69.0 (68.1) mm.

Females (6 from Panama, Colombia and Venezuela), wing 385-
421 (404.3), tail 197-219 (208.5), culmen from cere 23.4-24.5 (23.8),
tarsus 70.6-80.5 (74.8) mm.

Status not certain. Rare; 6 specimens known from Panama.

W. W. Brown, Jr. collected male and female on Isla del Rey
on March 6 and 11, 1904 (which are in the Museum of Compara-
tive Zoology). A female in the U. S. National Museum was shot on
November 9, 1953, on the K-6 Road, near Cerro Galera, Canal
Zone. Hasso von Wedel secured a female at Permé, San Blas, August
27, 1929 (specimen in the Museum of Comparative Zoology) and
two others at Puerto Obaldia, August 14, 1931, and January 13,
1932 (now in the Brandt collection at the University of Cincinnati).

Material that I have seen does not justify separation of the two
races that have been recognized in most reports that include this bird.
The slaty wash supposed to mark a northern subspecies, in the series
seen has been confined to fully adult individuals, as shown by the
few broad light tail bands. The blacker individuals throughout the
range mainly are those with the narrow, multiple tail bands of the
immature. Wing measurements indicate a possible separation, in
which there is a larger population in North and Central America,
and a slightly smaller one in northern South America. The material
seen, however, does not demonstrate this clearly. It is possible that
the mixing of larger and smaller individuals found in tropical
America is due to an invasion of northern migrants, and that the
same mixing in the north may be due to faulty sex determination.

If two forms are recognized, five of the specimens recorded from
Panama, viz., the male (wing 375 mm.) and the female (wing 403)
from Isla del Rey, the female (wing 415) from Permé, and the
two from Obaldia (wing 394 and 402) appear to come within the
smaller, southern group under the name Buteo albonotatus ab-
breviatus Cabanis. These might be residents. The fourth, the female
from the Canal Zone (wing 421 mm.), which is decidedly larger,
then would be regarded as a migrant of typical Buteo albonotatus
albonotatus from the north.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE I99

BUTEO NITIDUS BLAKEI Hellmayr and Conover: Gray Hawk;
Gavilan Gris

Ficure 41

Buteo nitidus blakei Hellmayr and Conover, Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 4, Aug.
1949, p. 160. (“Pozo del Rio Grande’ = El Pozo de Térraba, 150 meters
elevation, Costa Rica.)

Distinguished in the adult by dark bands on the light gray back,
and the gray-banded under surface.

Description—Length 370 to 420 mm. Adult, upper surface light
gray, paler on crown and hindneck, marked abundantly with rather
narrow bands of darker gray, and with shaft lines of black; tips of
primaries black, and of secondaries white; upper tail coverts and
lower rump feathers black, tipped with white; tail black, with a broad
subterminal band and narrow tip white, in some individuals with
another band of white above the center; throat white; side of head
grayish white, marked obscurely with pale gray; lower surface of
body, including the sides and axillars, white, barred heavily with
neutral gray; under tail coverts white; under surface of wing white,
changing through grayish white to dark neutral gray on tips of pri-
maries, with widely separated, narrow bars of neutral gray on the
under wing coverts, as well as on the flight feathers.

Immature, crown and sides of head cream-buff to cinnamon-buff,
more or less streaked with fuscous; above fuscous with the feathers
edged with russet, more heavily on the wing coverts, which are
blotched basally with white and rufous brown; primaries black at tips,
pale rufous barred with black and with blackish brown shafts else-
where; secondaries tipped with cinnamon; upper tail coverts light
buff; tail black tipped with white, barred with 3 paler bands of
brownish gray; below cinnamon-buff, streaked and spotted broadly
with brownish black; tibia and under wing coverts cinnamon-buff ;
under surface of primaries and secondaries pale pinkish buff, barred
narrowly with dull black.

The pattern of the immature in life suggests that of the immature
broad-winged hawk, but the markings on the lower surface are much
heavier, and the upper surface is decidedly black. Usually the crown
is much paler, though in some it is heavily streaked.

A male in immature dress taken near Armila, San Blas, March 1,
1963, had the colors of the soft parts, as follows: Iris light brown;
cere and gape light honey yellow; side of maxilla at gape, lower half
of mandibular rami, and extreme base of gonys light green; rest of
maxilla and tip of mandible black; middle of mandible dull neutral
gray ; tarsus and toes bright yellow ; claws black.

200 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Measurements—Males (4 specimens), wing 234-240 (237), tail
147-150 (148) ; culmen from cere 20.0-22.0 (20.9), tarsus 66.2-70.0
(68.8) mm.

Females (5 specimens), wing 244-255 (249), tail 149-160 (164),
culmen from cere 20.8-23.3 (22.1), tarsus 67.5-73.0 (70.5) mm.

Fic. 41.—Gray hawk, gavilan gris, Buteo nitidus blaket.

Resident. Found locally in forested areas through the tropical zone,
to 1,200 meters in Chiriqui (Barriles) ; apparently most common on
the Pacific slope.

The species has not been recorded to date from Bocas del Toro nor
from Darién, though it should be found. A specimen taken by Mrs.
Davidson Terry at Barriles is the only record for Chiriqui. They are
fairly common in northern Herrera, and range to the southern end
of the Azuero Peninsula, below Pedasi.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 201

This handsome hawk spends much of its time in the higher levels
of forest trees, where usually it flies from behind cover, and so it
is not easily seen. Its apparent greater abundance on the Pacific
slope may be due to the more open cover in that area which permits
clearer view. The species is less common than the large-billed hawk
and also is much more retiring. The larger feet with longer claws,
as well as the heavier body indicate also that it is a more active
predator. Mice, rats, lizards, and frogs are recorded as its food.
It also preys on small birds to some extent. Sometimes these hawks
have decoyed to the distress calls that I use in hunting.

Near Mandinga, San Blas, at the end of January a pair were
building a nest in the upper branches of a dark-leafed tree a hundred
meters from our house, and were active in this until our departure
on February 15. The usual call was a loud kree-ee-ah, with addi-
tional whistled notes, in general like those of the crab-hawk, but
definitely higher in tone. Sometimes when I approached quietly one
of the birds that I believed to be the male would alight on an open
limb in a gray-barked jobo tree, which his color matched perfectly.
Here he rested with body inclined forward, and vibrated the tail
steadily from side to side, a movement that emphasized the black-and-
white markings of the tip. The nest, which we were unable to reach
because of the size of the tree, appeared to resemble that of other
tree-building hawks, in that it was constructed of small sticks. On
February 7 I saw one of the birds fly to it bearing a freshly broken,
leafy branch.

Wolfe (Ool. Rec., 1938, p. 50) describes a set of 2 collected by
Austin Paul Smith, May 2, 1923 in the Province of Guanacaste, Costa
Rica as lightly marked with light brown. They measure 42.5 x 36.3,
and 43.6X 37.2 mm. The ground color in eggs of this species varies
from dull white to bluish white, usually plain, rarely spotted with
brown.

This subspecies was first described by Harry Kirke Swann in 1922
as Asturina nitida costaricensis. With its transfer to the genus Buteo
this name is preoccupied by Buteo jamaicensis costaricensis Ridgway,
dated 1874. It was renamed blakei, therefore, by Hellmayr and
Conover, as indicated in the heading above. The type locality cited
by Swann as “Pozo del Rio Grande, Bornea”’ (=Boruca) has been
followed by other authors but needs correction. The type specimen,
a male in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, was collected in
1906 by C. F. Underwood at Pozo del Rio Grande,a point at about
150 meters elevation, according to Bangs (Auk, 1907, pp. 287, 290).

202 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

It now is known as El Pozo de Térraba, according to information
received from Dr. Paul Slud. Boruca is a hill town at about 450
meters, located some distance farther inland. Bangs in his list of
types (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 70, 1930, p. 189) merely quoted
what Swann had written, but with correction of the spelling of
Boruca, as he cites the locality as “Boruca, Pozo del Rio Grande,”
without realizing that the two geographic terms represented two
distinct places.

BUTEO BRACHYURUS Vieillot: Short-tailed Hawk; Gavilan Cola Corta

Buteo brachyurus Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 4, Dec., 1816,
p. 477. (Cayenne. )

A small hawk. In black phase, black with short, white-banded tail.
In light phase, white below, with a wash of cinnamon on sides of
breast.

Description—Length 370-460 mm. Adult, dark phase, black to
brownish black throughout, with a slight indication of grayish wash
on the upper back; forehead and anterior part of lores narrowly
white, with the feather shafts black; back part of crown and upper
hindneck with concealed white bases; upper tail coverts with hidden
bars of white; longer outermost under wing coverts dark neutral
gray, the rest and the axillars black; central area of flight feathers
marbled with white and pale gray; tips of primaries dull gray; tips
of secondaries dull mouse gray; shafts of flight feathers black above
white underneath, except for the tips which are dark brown; upper
surface of tail with 5 or 6 dull brownish gray bands; tail with a
narrow, indistinct terminal band of mouse brown, tipped faintly with
grayish white.

Adult, light phase, above dark grayish brown; white on forehead
and anterior lores more extensive than in dark phase; primaries and
secondaries dull black; tail with 6 somewhat irregular black bands
across the gray-brown feathers, which are tipped with brownish
black, and margined lightly with white to grayish white; sides of
head and neck brownish black, changing to dull cinnamon on sides
of upper breast; under surface elsewhere pure white; under wing
white, except for neutral gray spots on the ends of the longest
outermost under coverts, and the tips of the primaries which are
blackish brown; inner primaries and secondaries white to light gray
banded with light neutral gray to mouse brown.

Iris brown; bill black, becoming slate gray at base of mandible;
cere yellow ; tarsus and toes yellow ; claws black.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 203

Measurements.—Males (5 from México, Panama, and Venezuela),
wing 269-299 (281.6), tail 137-148 (144.8), culmen from cere 16.8-
19.6 (18.1), tarsus 54.4-61.0 (57.9) mm.

Females (5 from México, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama),
wing 299-313 (307.6), tail 151-171 (158.2), culmen from cere 19.0-
21.0 (20.2), tarsus 57.0-62.7 (59.2) mm.

Resident. Rare, in the more open lands.

Little is known of this species in Panama, where the few records
for it over a period of nearly one hundred years are widely scattered.
In Veraguas, Enrique Arcé secured two at Calovévora and another
at Calobre (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 215; Salvin and
Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., vol. 3, 1900, p. 72). W. W. Brown, Jr.,
en route to Chiriqui, shot one at Sona, July 25, 1901 (Bangs, Proc.
New England Zool. Club, vol. 3, 1902, p. 20). In Bocas del Toro,
Hasso von Wedel collected a female at Changuinola, November 5,
1928 (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 311). In the
Canal Zone, Hallinan secured one at Gatun, February 11, 1909.
Brown shot a male near Panama City, May 4, 1904 (Thayer and
Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 46, 1906, p. 214), Wedel one
at Permé, San Blas (Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932,
p. 314), and another, a female in light phase, at Puerto Obaldia, San
Blas, June 16, 1933 (in the museum of the University of Cincinnati).

I have found this species only in northern Herrera, where Perrygo
and I collected one on February 26 near Portobellilo, and another
March 8, near Santa Maria, both in 1948. The first was flying along
a line of trees bordering a lane in open country. The second was
among large trees in gallery forest. In general appearance on the
wing these birds were similar to other small hawks of the same genus.
They seem however, to be more aggressive, as one taken was killed
as it stooped swiftly at a brown robin that had come to feed on berries.
Hallinan records that the one he collected had killed two lizards, and
that it had fragments of a small bird in its stomach.

While the range of this species includes the vast area of tropical
America from México through Central America and South America
to northeastern Argentina, its nesting is known principally from the
population isolated in Florida. Here the birds build open nests in
trees often high above the ground. Bent (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull.
167, 1937, pp. 256-257) says that the usual set is of two eggs, with
a range in number from one to three. These are plain pale bluish
white in some, or dull white, spotted or blotched in varying degree
with brown. Measurements vary from 48.6-57.5 x 40.3-45.5 mm.

204 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

BUTEO PLATYPTERUS PLATYPTERUS (Vieillot): Broad-winged Hawk;
Gavilan de Paso

Sparvius platypterus Vieillot, Table Encycl. Meth., Orn., vol. 3, 1823, p. 1273.
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.)

A medium-sized, heavy-bodied hawk; adult with side of head,
foreneck and upper breast cinnamon-brown; immature white under-
neath streaked with grayish brown.

Description—Length 340 to 410 mm. Adult, above grayish brown
to dull black, the feathers edged lightly with grayish white to
cinnamon-buff; forehead and lores white; crown feathers edged
lightly with dull white; nape with concealed feather base white; pri-
maries and secondaries tipped lightly with dull white; upper tail
coverts and lateral rump feathers tipped and barred broadly with
white ; tail blackish brown to black, with two broad bars of grayish
white, a grayish brown band near the end and white tip; side of
head below eye blackish, edged with light gray, becoming browner
over the ear region, and continuing thus down the side of the neck;
throat white to buffy white streaked with dull black; under tail coverts
white to buff, immaculate or lightly marked with light brown; rest of
lower surface, including the feathered part of legs, banded
irregularly with broad marks of wood brown, edged somewhat with
dull gray and white; under wing coverts buffy white, marked lightly
with light brown, with the longer, outermost feathers tipped and
barred lightly with grayish and brownish black; under wing feathers
white, becoming gray and finally black at tips of primaries; under
surface of secondaries barred with dark gray and wood brown.
Some individuals are whiter below and blacker above, and some
browner above and below, with others in intermediate stage between
these two styles.

Immature, blackish brown above, with the partly concealed feather
bases white so that this lighter color appears abundantly in spots and
streaks ; below white to buffy white, streaked lightly to heavily with
brownish black ; under wing surface whiter than in the adult.

Rarely an individual shows a dark phase that is almost black, so
that it resembles the short-tailed hawk, but may be told by the smaller
feet, with the middle toe without the claw shorter than the bare
portion of the tarsus in front.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 10,
1950, p. 309).—Males, wing 244-277 (262.8), tail 148.0-173.5 (159),
culmen from cere 17-20 (18.2), tarsus 57.5-65.5 (62.3) mm.

Females, wing 265-296 (282.8), tail 155-185 (171), culmen from
cere 17.1-20.5 (19.3), tarsus, 59-66.4 (62.8) mm.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 205

Winter visitor from the north and passage migrant. Common;
found throughout the mainland; recorded on Isla Coiba, and on islas
Taboga, Taboguilla, Urava, Gobernadora and Cébaco.

The broad-wing apparently is averse to long flights over water,
as though it passes regularly in migration into South America as far
as northern and eastern Venezuela, to reach these regions it moves
over land through Central America and Colombia. It has not been
recorded to date for the Archipiélago de las Perlas, though it crosses
islands immediately adjacent to the mainland. In 5 weeks in the
field on Isla Coiba I recorded only half a dozen.

These hawks appear from the north in October and remain until
April. Early dates of arrival are October 7, 1953, near Pacora (speci-
men in U. S. National Museum), October 12 to 14, 1942, flights over
Chorrera (T. A. Imhof, notes), October 19, 1929, Permé, San Blas
(Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 313). The main
flight northward from wintering grounds in South America passes
through the isthmus during the month of March. On March 31,
1950, I observed hundreds near Chiman, and on April 1, 1955, I
recorded numbers mingled with a great flight of Swainson’s hawks
over Pedro Miguel. The major migration ends abruptly. A few late
records for single birds during April are as follows: April 4, 1946, at
Jaqué, Darién; April 6, 1950, Barro Colorado Island; April 19, 1901,
near Boquete, Chiriqui (Bangs, Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol.
3, 1902, p. 20).

One banded in Maine July 5, 1938, was taken the following De-
cember near Los Santos.

Though groups of broad-wings often move alone, the major flights
usually are in company with Swainson’s hawks and follow the pattern
described for that bird. The total number, however, is less than that
of the larger species, and on the whole the broad-wing movement
is less spectacular. Those that remain on the isthmus during the
northern winter are spread singly through forested areas, including
lines of trees through cultivated lands, and older stands of second
growth. Sometimes they may come out briefly to soar in the com-
pany of native hawks, but usually they are seen perched among open
branches, in or below the tree crown. In the mountains in the cool
air of early morning often they are seen resting in the sun in dead
trees standing in the pastures. Birds taken in March for specimens
may be heavy with fat.

In Panama these hawks feed extensively on large Orthoptera and
to some degree on lizards. They appear regularly on freshly burned
lands, and then become so much blackened that they may be difficult

206 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

to recognize. Chapman (Life in an Air Castle, 1938, p. 126) saw
one capture an immature ani, but this must be unusual, as I have
never seen one show any interest in the abundant small birds when
these chance to appear near, and conversely the forest birds ordinarily
pay little or no attention to the hawks. The exceptions usually are
tropical kingbirds and Myiozetetes similis that pursue large birds of
any kind, even to turkey vultures that pass too near.

BUTEO JAMAICENSIS (Gmelin): Red-tailed Hawk; Guaraguao
Falco jamaicensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 1, 1788, p. 266. (Jamaica.)

This is a species found throughout North America, from near the
limit of tree growth in the far north south to Panama and the
Greater Antilles. In this extensive range 8 subspecies have been
recognized of which two are known from the Republic, one as a
resident in the mountains of Chiriqui and Veraguas and another as
a casual migrant. Details regarding these are covered under the two
headings that follow.

BUTEO JAMAICENSIS COSTARICENSIS Ridgway

Buteo borealis var. costaricensis Ridgway, in Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist.
N. Amer. Birds, Land Birds, vol. 3, 1874, pp. 258 (in key), 285. (Costa Rica.)

A large, broad-winged hawk with rufous brown tail in the adult.
The inner webs of the four outermost primaries are incised toward
the tip.

Description.—Length 470 to 570 mm. Adult, crown and hindneck
hair brown to black, with the concealed feather bases white; rest of
upper surface blackish brown; tail russet to cinnamon-brown, with a
narrow black subterminal band; upper tail coverts cinnamon, barred
irregularly with dusky, and tipped with white; sides of head, neck,
and upper breast hair brown, edged or washed with dull cinnamon ;
foreneck and breast white, streaked lightly with hair brown; abdo-
men, sides, flanks, and tibia cinnamon-brown; under tail coverts
cinnamon-buff ; tibia sometimes lightly barred with dull black; under
wing coverts cinnamon-brown, becoming white on outer edge, with
the longest outermost coverts dusky neutral gray, forming a large,
prominent spot; under side of flight feathers dull white, freckled
with pale gray, tipped with dusky neutral gray, and with 2 or more
bars of the same color. There are two color phases, one that is
almost entirely white below, with a few cinnamon buff bars on the
tibia, and one that is more rufescent on the under surface than the
detailed description above.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 207

Immature, like the adult, but with crown indistinctly lined with
white; tail grayish cinnamon-buff, with many narrow hair brown
crossbars; tibia whitish, barred with reddish brown; under wing
coverts mainly white.

The bright brown color of the upper surface of the tail in the adult
fades decidedly before the feathers are molted, as the birds perch and
soar much at hours when they receive the full force of the tropical
sun.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 10,
1950, p. 266).—Males, wing 368-377 (372.2), tail 207.0-216.5
(213.6), culmen from cere 25.0-26.7 (25.4), tarsus 87.0-90.5 (88.6)
mm.

Females, wing 397-410 (402.2), tail 222-239 (229.2), culmen from
cere 26.0-28.0 (26.8), tarsus 85.0-95.3 (87.1) mm.

Resident. Tolerably common in the subtropical and temperate zones
in the higher mountains of Chiriqui and Veraguas; found casually
east to the Canal Zone.

There is indication that formerly, when lowland forests in Veraguas
were extensive, these hawks came down the mountain slopes into the
tropical zone, as there is a specimen in the British Museum collected
by Arcé marked Castillo. Arcé secured specimens also in the moun-
tains of Veraguas near Chitra and Calobre. Red-tailed hawks that
are supposed to be this race are seen casually east as far as the low-
lands of the Canal Zone. The only specimen presumed to come from
this area is one in the British Museum, sent to Salvin by McLeannan
when he was stationed at Lion Hill (Sclater and Salvin, Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1864, p. 369). J. M. Abbott informs me that he saw a
red-tailed hawk at Fort Clayton, February 1, and another near Pedro
Miguel on March 3, 1942. Dr. and Mrs. Scholes recorded one along
the Chiva Chiva trail back of Fort Clayton on December 23, 1951
(Condor, 1954, p. 166). It is my supposition that these were probably
wanderers of the subspecies found in the western mountains.

Most of the specimen and other records refer to the mountains of
Chiriqui, which is the main area of present day occurrence. Here
the birds may be noted over the higher slopes of the volcano, and also
on the mountains that adjoin the main Volcan Bart. One was taken
at Boquete by W. W. Brown, Jr., and a series by Monniche at
Chiquero, Horqueta, and Lérida, in that same area. A skin in the
California Academy of Sciences was taken by Mrs. Davidson on
December 24, 1929, at Barriles across the Rio Chiriqui Viejo from
Cerro Pando. I have recorded them from time to time over Pando,
near Santa Clara (Chiriqui), near Sereno on the Costa Rican bound-

208 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

ary, and at 2,100 meters elevation above Cerro Punta. Wedel shot
one near Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, December 9, 1928 (Peters,
Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 310).

Usually they are seen soaring high in air, turning in circles, and
occasionally uttering a shrill, screaming call. As they tilt a bit in the
air currents a view of the bright brown color of the tail makes their
identification certain.

The nesting of this subspecies has not been recorded.

BUTEO JAMAICENSIS CALURUS Cassin

Buteo calurus Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 7, no. 7, Jan.-Feb.
(May 22), 1855, p. 281. (Fort Webster, Rio Mimbres, New Mexico.)

Adult, in normal phase, like B. j. costaricensis, but blacker above ;
below washed with pale buff to pale cinnamon; tibia barred definitely
with bright brown. In melanistic phase, the bird is blackish brown
above and below, with the under tail coverts marked with cinnamon ;
wings white to gray underneath. Some in the dark phase have the
head, hindneck, and upper back edged with cinnamon.

On the whole they are like the resident subspecies, but in nor-
mal dress are darker, and much darker in the black phase.

Casual wanderer from farther north. One record, a bird in the
British Museum, shot by E. Arcé in 1870 on the southern slopes
of Volcan de Chiriqui.

This darker race of the species nests from Alaska and northern
Canada south through the western United States to Baja California
and New Mexico. In winter some wander south to Guatemala, cas-
ually as far as Nicaragua.

BUTEO SWAINSONI Bonaparte: Swainson’s Hawk; Irol

Buteo Swainsoni Bonaparte, Geogr. and Comp. List, 1838, p. 3. (Fort Vancouver,
Washington. )

A large hawk, variable in color, similar in form to the red-tail, but
with three outer primaries incised at the tip.

Description—Length 450 to 550 mm. Adult, pale phase, upper
surface dark grayish brown to fuscous, the feathers with narrow
edgings of grayish white to cinnamon; forehead and lores white, the
former streaked with grayish brown; feathers of nape with concealed
white bases; lateral upper tail coverts white to tawny, barred with
grayish brown; secondaries fuscous, tipped lightly with white to
cinnamon; primaries dull black, with outer webs toward tips more
or less grayish; rectrices brownish mouse gray, tipped with grayish

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 209

or buffy white, with 9 or 10 bars of dull black; throat white, streaked
with grayish brown to dull black; sides of the head dull black ; upper
breast grayish brown to light russet, with narrow black shaft lines ;
rest of under surface buffy white, varying from nearly immaculate,
to spotted and barred irregularly with grayish brown to tawny; tibia
barred with cinnamon; under wing coverts white to buffy white with
the longer outer ones dark gray to dull black, forming a distinct spot ;
elsewhere spotted lightly with grayish brown to cinnamon.

Rufous phase, entire under surface washed with light brown,
barred narrowly with russet ; concealed nape patch buffy.

Black phase, body throughout dull black to brownish black;
under tail coverts buffy, barred with fuscous.

Immature, blackish above, with forehead extensively white; crown
and hindneck broadly streaked with white, and rest of upper surface
heavily and irregularly spotted with white; below buffy white, with
a fuscous area on breast. Birds in the first year vary from this to
individuals with under surface fuscous-black spotted with tawny.

As the description indicates there is much variation in color. In
life the lighter individuals are marked by the dark breast. The
blacker ones suggest the zone-tailed hawk, but usually they will
be seen in migrant flocks with their lighter colored companions, while
the other species is found alone or in pairs, and is very rare. In the
hand it will be seen that 3 outer primaries are notched near the tip,
in which Swainson’s hawk resembles the white-tailed hawk. From
that species Swainson’s hawk differs in having the tarsus definitely
less than 80 mm. long, while in the other this measures 85 to 95 mm.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 10,
1950, pp. 297-298).—Males, wing 362-406(383.6), tail 185-214
(204.6), culmen from cere 20.5-24.9 (22.1), tarsus 63.1-72.6 (68.2)
mm.

Females, wing 375-427 (404.6), tail 193.6-234.0 (214.6), culmen
from cere 20.5-25.7 (23.7), tarsus 61.5-76.4 (70.6) mm.

Migrant from the north. Seen usually in flocks, en route to or
from a winter range in South America.

The southward flight begins in the latter part of September (Sept.
28, 1940) and continues through October (Oct. 22, 1911). The north-
ward movement starts in early February (Feb. 3, 1952), with the
main migration in March and the beginning of April (large flocks
Apr. 2, 1950). A few continue to pass through early April. Some
remain on the isthmus during the northern winter, as indicated by
2 skins in the U. S. National Museum, one taken near Gatun, Canal

210 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Zone, December 18, 1910, and another obtained near Pacora Novem-
ber 28, 1958. The main flight seems to pass along the Pacific slope
and the central mountains from Darién to Chiriqui. In 1952 I saw
a flock at El Uracillo, Coclé, on the upper Rio Indio, but did not note
them at the mouth of the river on the Caribbean coast. There is no
present record for Bocas del Toro, nor for Herrera or Los Santos.
I have seen them on Taboga and Taboguilla, but not in the Pearl
Islands.

The great flocks of these migrant hawks constitute one of the
notable sights for the ornithologist in this part of the world. While
other species, principally the broad-winged hawk and turkey vulture,
with scattered ospreys, marsh hawks and peregrine falcons may
join, half at least of these migrants are the present species. At times
they are seen in an endless line that moves high across the sky, until
one tires of watching. Or the birds may pass rapidly in groups of a
hundred to several thousand, that pause to circle in some rising air
thermal, and then move swiftly until they disappear. In full migra-
tion across the open savanna several such flocks may appear in view
simultaneously. On other days single birds and small groups pass
more leisurely at intervals. On various occasions when examining
some high-flying bird with binoculars I have seen large flocks of hawks
passing so high above the earth that they were not visible to the
unaided eye.

The bands pause at night to sleep on some forested hill slope or
other spot where they will not be disturbed. While I have noted their
roosts in Panama only in trees, in Costa Rica and in El Salvador flocks
are recorded also as spending the night on the ground on open ridges
in the hills. They do not appear to stop for food, at least in the
isthmian part of their journey. Occasionally one or two alight on
the ground in the savannas, or on a rock on an open hillside, and some-
times small flocks may pass low overhead, but ordinarily they move far
beyond gunshot above the earth. For this reason few persons recog-
nize that they are hawks, and those who see them ordinarily call them
iroles or pdjaros del norte. The Cuna Indians call the moon that
approximates our month of September kigini or hawk, because of
the regularity with which these annual flights appear. The local name
irol applies to this species in the main, though the great mixed flocks
of Swainson’s hawk and broadwings usually are called iroles with-
out understanding that two kinds are concerned.

Like the turkey vultures these hawk flights move mainly by sailing
with set wings, propelled by favoring air currents. I recall one es-
pecially interesting flight seen in the latter part of March over the

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 2II

forest at Charco del Toro on the Rio Majé. In early morning
scattered Swainson’s hawks that appeared to have slept nearby came
over the trees in steadily increasing number, until two groups each
of a thousand or more were wheeling in circles 500 meters apart.
Suddenly the two bands joined immediately overhead, giving me an
extraordinary view. As I looked up through the rapidly moving
segments of their spirals the air seemed completely crowded with the
rapidly turning birds. This continued for 15 minutes until the entire
flock moved rapidly to a higher elevation in a favorable air current
with which they disappeared. Such flights are the more impressive
as there is no sound of calling from any of the birds.

BUTEO MAGNIROSTRIS (Gmelin): Large-billed Hawk; Cuiscuf
Ficure 42
Falco magnirostris Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 1, 1788, p. 282. (Cayenne. )

A small hawk with the wing feathers partly rufous, and the fore-
neck and upper breast gray.

Description.—Length 330 to 370 mm. Adult, above brownish gray,
darker and grayer on the crown and sides of the head; upper breast
and foreneck gray; throat feathers bordered with white or buffy
white to produce streaks; upper tail coverts buffy white, barred
broadly with black; tail with 4 heavy black bars, the uppermost con-
cealed by the upper tail coverts, the light bars rufous, or light gray,
according to the race; lower surface white to buffy white, barred
heavily with cinnamon brown to buffy brown, the bars edged more
or less prominently with gray; under wing coverts white to warm
buff, spotted irregularly with cinnamon; primaries and secondaries
cinnamon buff to rufous, barred heavily with black, with the tips
black ; lower surface of these feathers lighter in color.

Immature, like adult, but with more or less brown as a wash or
streaks in the gray of the upper breast.

The iris in adult birds is yellow; bare skin above eye and across
loral area greenish yellow; bare edge of eyelid honey yellow; cere,
gape, and base of mandibular rami dull orange; a small area on side
of maxilla (behind the “tooth,” and below the level of the nostril)
and central area of mandibular rami dull neutral gray; rest of bill
black ; tarsus and toes light orange yellow ; claws black. (Colors taken
from specimens of the race B. m. petulans.)

This is the most commonly seen hawk of the tropical zone, found
mainly in open country, and noted frequently in rows of trees along
fences in pastures and cultivated lands and also in more open stands

212 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

of second growth. In forested areas it avoids the deep shade of the
lower levels but ranges across the high forest crown, where the un-
dulating upper surface of the leafy canopy affords an open hunting
ground suited to the life of a bird that elsewhere inhabits open fields
and savannas.

i |

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vali an
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aes
Yj Dil Mf, ie
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aa dsl

Fic. 42.—Large-billed hawk, cuiscui, Buteo magnirostris.

The customary perch when at rest is shaded above but open at the
sides, so that the bird has clear view of its surroundings. The species
ranges mainly in lowland areas, from the landward side of the man-
grove swamps inland through the more open slopes of the hill country.
As clearing for farms has progressed it has become more common
at higher elevations, and now is seen regularly in the lower sub-
tropical zone in Chiriqui up to elevations of over 1,200 meters.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 213

Usually these hawks show little fear, in many places being almost
foolishly tame, so that they are easy to approach, and they come
regularly to the squeaking sounds that the hunter makes to attract
small birds. Often they betray their presence by high-pitched,
querulous calls, repeated slowly, in imitation of which they are called
cuiscui.

Following periods of rain, they sometimes rest in early morning
with partly spread wings and tail to enjoy the agreeable warmth of
the sun. In general they are of sluggish habit spending much time
at rest, making short flights only when disturbed. Though they may
soar in small circles, they do not rise high, and usually only con-
tinue for brief periods.

Their principal food is composed of lizards, large Orthoptera, and
other insects, but may include an occasional small bird, usually a
young one, or a mouse. People living in the country complain that
individuals that range near houses capture small chicks, the only
damage that may be ascribed to them, as otherwise they appear harm-
less.

The species is one of those found throughout much of the tropical
area of the Americas from México to northern Argentina. There is
considerable variation in color in different sections, so that different
authorities have recognized between 15 and 20 races in the entire
range. Four of these subspecies are found in the Republic of
Panama.

The species magnirosiris uniformly has the webs of the primaries
and secondaries rufous, and so is readily known. It has been placed
by some authorities in a distinct genus Rupornis, which however
appears to have no trenchant characters when the many species of the
broad Buteo group are considered.

Double ovaries are common in these birds, and undoubtedly have
led to the marking of some females in museum collections as males
by preparators not familiar with this condition. One female that I
took near Alanje, Chiriqui, March 3, 1960, had the right ovary
dormant, though of fair size, and ova in process of development in
the one on the left side.

BUTEO MAGNIROSTRIS ARGUTUS (Peters and Griscom)

Rupornis magnirostris arguta Peters and Griscom, Proc. New England Zodl.
Club, vol. 11, Aug. 30, 1929, p. 46. (Almirante, Bocas del Toro, Panama.)
Characters.—Distinctly brownish gray above and on foreneck and

upper breast; pale tail bands gray, or with slight rufous edging on

either side, adjacent to the black bands; light bars on lower surface
deeper buff.

214 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The measurements are similar to those of the next race, B. m.
petulans.

Resident. Fairly common in Bocas del Toro, from the Costa Rican
border through Changuinola and Almirante to Cricamola; Isla
Colon, Isla Cristobal, Isla Pastores.

This is a form of southern Central America from eastern Honduras
south to Costa Rica, that reaches its most southerly point in the low-
lands around the Laguna de Chiriqui.

A female taken along the Changuinola Canal on February 20, 1958,
was nearly ready to lay.

Kennard and Peters (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 38, 1928,
p. 449) record the eye in the adult as varying from barium yellow
to cinnamon buff and pinard yellow; and in the immature as russet.

BUTEO MAGNIROSTRIS PETULANS van Rossem
Buteo magnirostris petulans van Rossem, Condor, vol. 37, no. 4, July 15, 1935,

p. 215. (Lion Hill, Canal Zone, Panama.)

Characters——Differs from B. m. argutus in grayer coloration: less
brownish on upper surface, foreneck, and upper breast; light tail
bands entirely or mainly rufous; light interspaces on lower surface
white to very pale buff.

Measurements——Males (8 specimens), wing 205-215 (209), tail
132-151 (144), culmen from cere 16.5-17.5 (17.1, average of 6),
tarsus 55.0-64.5 (60.5) mm.

Females (16 specimens), wing 215-227 (221), tail 141-163 (153),
culmen from cere 17.8-20.2 (19.2, average of 15), tarsus 60.0-66.5
(63.5) mm.

Resident. Pacific slope, from Chiriqui, where it ranges to 1,200
meters in the mountains, eastward to the southern shores of Golfo
de San Miguel (Garachiné) in the lowlands of Darién; on the
Caribbean side from northern Coclé (El Uracillo) east through the
Province of Colon and the Canal Zone; Isla Parida; Isla Coiba; Isla
Taboguilla ; Isla Iguana, off the coast of Los Santos. Intergrades with
the race insidiatrix on the lower Rio Tuira. Birds from the lowlands
below Pacora and Chepo have the light tail bands grayer, less rufous,
and thus tend toward insidiatrix, but otherwise agree with petulans,
and are placed with that race.

As I have seen no specimens from eastern Bocas del Toro, or from
the Caribbean slope of Veraguas, this area is omitted in the range
given above. On the Pacific side this race extends throughout the
Azuero Peninsula, where I have specimens from the southern end
at Tonosi and Pedasi. Six skins from Isla Coiba agree with the series

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 215

from the mainland. Hawks of this species seen on Isla Taboguilla
are assigned here on basis of probability. I have not recorded it on
Isla Taboga, where it is probable that it has been killed off through
the long period of extensive settlement on this island.

An occupied nest seen on January 21, 1956, on Isla Coiba was
placed about 12 meters from the ground in a tree of moderate size
that stood in a second-growth thicket. A hawk was noted carrying
nesting material on March 8, 1948, near Santa Maria, Herrera, and
in the month of April I have seen them regularly in pairs in the
Pacora-Chepo area.

While the usual name for these hawks throughout the republic is
cuiscui in imitation of the call, near Sona they were called guifio.

This subspecies was known long under the name ruficauda, from
Asturina ruficauda Sclater and Salvin (Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
1869, p. 133). With the location of this form in the genus Buteo
this is preoccupied by Accipiter ruficaudus Vieillot, 1807, which is a
synonym of Buteo jamaicensis borealis (Gmelin). Accordingly the
race under discussion was named petulans by van Rossem as in-
dicated in the citation in the heading.

BUTEO MAGNIROSTRIS INSIDIATRIX (Bangs and Penard)

Rupornis magnirostris insidiatrix Bangs and Penard, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl.,
vol. 62, April, 1918, p. 36. (Bonda, Magdalena, Colombia.)

Characters.—Differs from B. m. petulans in lighter gray of dorsal
surface, with the light-colored tail bands dark gray, in some with a
faint tinge of cinnamon-buff; whiter below on the light interspaces,
with the dark bands grayer, less rufescent, varying from buffy brown
to warm brown, occasionally brighter sayal brown centrally.

Measurements. (The series measured is mainly from northern
Colombia).—Males (19 specimens), 207-219 (213.3), tail 135-157
(147.5), culmen from cere 16.4-19.9 (17.6), tarsus 60.0-65.0 (62.8)
mm.

Females (14 specimens), wing 217-234 (222.0), tail 138-164
(147.1), culmen from cere 17.3-19.8 (18.6), tarsus 57.8-67.8 (63.6)
mm.

Resident. Caribbean slope throughout the Comarca de San Blas
(Mandinga; Permé; Armila; Obaldia) ; on the Pacific side on the
Rio Chucunaque (mouth of Rio Tuquesa), and the middle Rio Tuira
and its tributaries (Pucro, Boca de Paya). Birds from the lower
Chucunaque (Yaviza), and the lower Tuira (Marraganti; El Real)
are intermediate toward petulans.

216 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

I did not find these birds at Jaqué, Darién, in 1946 and 1947, and
there are no present records for the species on the Pacific coast south
of Garachiné. To the south and east this race ranges across northern
Colombia and northern Venezuela. It is fairly common along the
Chucunaque and the Tuira, less so in the western area of the San
Blas coast. When perched near at hand it is possible to note the
gray bands on the tail, which are a field mark to distinguish this race
from petulans of farther west, in which these marks are rufous.

Todd and Carriker (Ann. Carnegie Mus., vol. 14, 1922, p. 155)
describe two eggs of this race, collected at Bonda, Magdalena, Colom-
bia, by H. H. Smith, April 13 and 18, 1898, as “dull grayish white,
specked and blotched with pale chocolate, sparsely over the small end,
more thickly about the middle, while the large end in one is palely
washed and mottled with chocolate over the greater part of the
surface; in the other, the large end is more heavily washed with a
much darker shade of chocolate and heavily streaked with lines of
dark umber. They measure 42.5X35 and 42x34, the eggs being
oval.”

J. Parker Norris, Jr. (Ool. Rec., vol. 6, 1926, p. 36), had one egg
of this subspecies, taken from a nest about 10 meters from the
ground in an upright crotch in tree in “semi-savanna country” near
La Tigrera above Santa Marta, Colombia. The egg, described as
“brownish-white marked with an indistinct cap of pinkish brown at
the large end,” measured 45.5 by 36.3 mm.

Sets that I have seen of other subspecies from Tamaulipas, México
(B. m. griseocauda), and from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (B. m.
magniplumis), were of two eggs each.

The type locality in the original description was given as “Santa
Marta Mountains.” The race was described from a female taken by
W. W. Brown, Jr., in the Museum of Comparative Zoology labeled,
“Colombia (Santa Martha) Mts. January 16, 98.” From what is
known regarding the itinerary of the collector, on the date in question
he was located at Bonda, a village a few miles east of Santa Marta.

BUTEO MAGNIROSTRIS ALIUS (Peters and Griscom)

Rupornis magnirostris alia Peters and Griscom, Proc. New England Zodl. Club,
vol. 11, Aug. 30, 1929, p. 48. (San Miguel, Isla del Rey, Archipiélago de las
Perlas, Panama)

Characters—Similar to B. m. petulans but averaging slightly
larger; foreneck and breast slightly darker gray; white edgings on
throat feathers reduced, with little or no mixture of buff; dark bars

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 217

on lower surface averaging broader and darker brown; light bars
whiter ; light tail bands grayer, less rufous.

Measurements.—Males (7 specimens), wing 210-222 (215), tail
142-161 (150), culmen from cere 18.2-20.3 (19.0, average of 6),
tarsus 62.1-67.2 (64.1) mm.

Females (2 specimens), wing 226-234 (230), tail 156-160 (158),
culmen from cere 19.5-19.8 (19.6), tarsus 66.0-69.1 (67.5) mm.

Resident. Found in the Archipiélago de las Perlas, where it is
recorded from Isla del Rey, Isla Cafias, Isla San José, and Isla Pedro
Gonzalez.

The birds were fairly common on Isla San José in 1944, but on
visits to the other islands on which they are reported I have found
them in smaller numbers. Like the races of the mainland, they range
around clearings in inhabited areas, and where forests persist rest in
the better-lighted upper branches in the tallest trees.

At times I saw yellow-green vireos scolding them. As I have not
observed this regularly elsewhere, it is an indication that this race
may be more predatory on the nests of neighbor birds than seems to
be the case on the mainland, where the lizards and large insects that
are its usual food are more abundant.

B. m., alius, in larger size and grayer tail bands, shows approach to
the subspecies insidiatrix of the northern coast of Colombia.

LEUCOPTERNIS ALBICOLLIS COSTARICENSIS Sclater: White Hawk;
Gavilan Blanco

Ficure 43
Leucopternis ghiesbreghti costaricensis W. L. Sclater, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol.

39, April 9, 1919, p. 76. (“Carillo” = Carrillo, Costa Rica.)

Of medium size; white, with black-tipped wings, and black-banded
tail.

Description—Length 470 to 510 mm. Adult, pure white, with
primaries and secondaries black, the latter tipped broadly with white ;
a broad black subterminal bar on the tail; some black mottling or
streaking on the wing coverts and tertials; under surface of wing
mainly white, with ends of flight feathers black, barred above the
tips with light gray.

Immature, with narrow shaft lines of black on the crown and more
black in the wings.

In two adult males I recorded the following colors: Iris brown;
bare skin around eye greenish slate; tip of bill dark neutral gray to
black; base clear light gray; cere greenish gray; tarsus and toes dull
light yellow, with the scutes on the inner side of the front of the
tarsus tinged centrally with pale neutral gray ; claws black.

218 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Measurements.——Males (11 specimens from Honduras, Costa
Rica, and Panama), wing 336-358 (346), tail 209-226 (215), culmen
from cere 25.1-29.0 (26.6), tarsus 82.0-93.3 (85.8) mm.

Females (3 specimens from Panama), wing 350-377 (367), tail
215-231 (221), culmen from cere 27.5-28.9 (28.1), tarsus 83.8-87.5
(85.4) mm.

Resident. Fairly common in forested areas in the tropical zone of
both slopes ; less often in the lower subtropical zone; to 1,250 meters

Fic. 43.—White hawk, gavilan blanco, Leucopternis albicollis costaricensis.

elevation in Chiriqui (Bajo Mono, near Boquete), Veraguas (Cordil-
lera de Tolé), on the high divide at 900 meters at Cavulla, on the
base of Cerro Viejo, head of Rio Mariato, western slope of the
Azuero Peninsula, and Coclé (above El Valle) ; Isla Cébaco.

This beautiful bird, one of the most attractive of its family, when
observed resting on some dead stub in early morning sun appears
pure white, and it is only on close scrutiny, or as it flies, that the
black pattern of wings and tail is seen. In the forest, which is its
normal haunt, ordinarily it rests below the high tree crown, where
its colors in the play of light and shadow as seen from below are far
from conspicuous. And often the birds stand on huge, sloping limbs
that are covered with epiphytes, completely hidden from underneath.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 219

In such wild, unsettled areas as the forests adjacent to the Rio
Chucunaque these hawks show little fear, and on several occasions I
have had them fly down to perch near at hand in order to watch me
with evident curiosity, often with a low mewing call, kee-ee wee.
This note is heard also when they rise to soar above the trees, when
against the sky their white plumage often appears gray.

Foremost in my recollections of the species is of an early morning
flight by helicopter across the lower slopes of Cerro Pirre, back of El
Real, in Darién, when in a quarter hour I counted 20 of these beauti-
ful birds, singly or in pairs soaring over the forest far below us—
moving silhouettes of white, dark wing tips on either side, against
the deep green of the unbroken forest underneath.

Their food is taken from such small mammals as mice, rats, and
small opossums, and from lizards, snakes, frogs, and large Orthop-
tera. Small birds do not seem troubled by their presence, and I have
never seen the hawk pay much attention to them. Van Tyne (Occ.
Pap. Mus. Zool. Michigan, no. 525, 1950, p. 6) records the basiliscus
lizard as regular prey.

Chapman (Trop. Air Castle, 1929, pp. 60-61), on March 9, 1929,
found a nest on Barro Colorado Island placed in the top of a tall
tree. One of the pair rested beside it with a leafy green twig in its
bill. A female shot by E. A. Goldman near Gatun on February 3,
1911, was nearly ready to lay.

The preference of this species is for forested areas in rolling hill
country, and it originally appears to have been distributed throughout
the republic, except in the extensive savannas of the central and
western areas of the Pacific slope. I have not found it in the open
scrubs of the lowlands on the eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula,
or in the swampy woodlands near the coast. As land has been cleared
for cultivation these birds have disappeared.

The body plumage is long and heavy, and there is much under
down, so that these birds appear much larger in body than is actually
the case. This may be a protective device since, though tropical tem-
peratures may not register low in terms of degrees on a thermometer,
when the air is humid it often becomes chill. As the animals that
form the food of the gavildn blanco usually are large enough so that
one constitutes a meal, or as smaller prey is so common that it is
easy to capture several, the hawk after eating may remain inactive
for considerable periods, and so need this insulation. The plumage
is so dense, in fact, that it serves almost like a protective armor that
guards the body against injury by the pellets in a shot gun charge
when the birds are at any distance.

220 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

LEUCOPTERNIS SEMIPLUMBEA Lawrence: Semiplumbeous Hawk;
Gavilan Cenizo

Leucopternis semiplumbeus Lawrence, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. 7,
Jan. 1861, p. 288. (Along the Panama Railroad, Caribbean slope, Canal Zone,
Panama.)

A small gray species, with black, white-banded tail, and white
lower surface ; bill and feet orange.

Description—Length 310 to 350 mm. Adult, upper tail coverts
and tail black, latter with a white subterminal band ; in some specimens
a second more or less complete white band below the upper tail
coverts ; rest of upper surface dark gray, usually darker on the head,
with indistinct shaft lines of black; below white, including the under
wing coverts; a few narrow shaft lines of grayish black on throat
and foreneck; tips of primaries and secondaries on under surface
light gray, barred and tipped with blackish gray; rest of under wing
white.

Juvenile, breast and sides of throat with narrow dark gray shaft
stripes.

A male taken near Chiman on February 23, 1950, had the iris bright
yellow; cere, side of premaxilla, gape, and base of mandible to
symphysis deep orange; sides of maxilla at base and mandible in
front of symphysis for one-third its length dull honey yellow; rest
of bill dark neutral gray; tarsus deep orange; claws dark neutral
gray. Another male shot at Boca de Paya, Darién, on March 8,
1959, was similar in bill, eye, and tarsus, and in addition I noted
that the edge of the eyelids, lores, and the bare skin above the eye
were orange-yellow and that the skin beneath the feathers on the
underside of the wing (including the patagium), foreneck, abdomen,
and knee was dull yellow.

There is a prominent powder down patch across the thigh.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 10,
1950, p. 384).—Males (7 specimens), wing 165-184 (179), tail 127-
137 (132.4), culmen from cere 18-20 (19.2), tarsus 55-64 (60.1) mm.

Females (14 specimens), wing 183-202 (195.2), tail 126-148
(135.7), culmen from cere 18-21 (20), tarsus 57-66 (61.6) mm.

Resident. Local in forested areas in the tropical zone; recorded
on the Pacific slope from Veraguas eastward through Darién, and on
the Caribbean side from Bocas del Toro east through the Comarca
de San Blas (Permé, Armila, Puerto Obaldia), including the Chagres
Valley (Quebrada Peluca on the Rio Boquerén).

There are no reports from the Azuero Peninsula, and the only
one from Veraguas is of a specimen without locality collected by Arcé

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 221

(Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., vol. 3, 1900, p. 84). I saw
two soaring over a forested ridge on the approach to El Valle, Coclé
on June 22, 1953. On the Pacific side of the isthmus the bird is found
mainly in Darién but is nowhere common. It is dependent on forest
cover and so disappears when the land is cleared.

These small hawks have little fear, and most of those I have seen
have been attracted when I was calling smaller birds. Then they
sometimes utter a low, mewing call. Occasionally I have observed
one resting in the morning sun along a Darién river as I passed in a
piragua, when their clear white-and-dark-gray plumage, with orange
feet and base of bill, made a beautiful contrast with the green of
the leafy background. On the Rio Jaqué one flew past carrying a
small jungle rat that slipped from its feet and dropped as the bird
perched. At the mouth of the Quebrada Peluca on the Boqueron
one scrambled actively along the stream bank in pursuit of small
frogs. Near Armila, San Blas, one was caught in a mist net set in
heavy forest.

Nothing is known of the nesting habits.

LEUCOPTERNIS PLUMBEA Salvin: Plumbeous Hawk; Gavilan Azul

Leucopternis plumbea Salvin, Ibis, ser. 3, vol. 2, pt. 3, July 1872, p. 240, pl. 8.
(Ecuador.)

Medium size ; gray, with black wings and tail.

Description—Length 350 to 370 mm. Wings and tail black, the
latter with a subterminal white band and a faintly paler tip; else-
where gray, paler below with faintly indicated black shaft lines;
tibia and lower abdomen barred with white; concealed white and
white freckling on sides, upper abdomen, and lower breast ; under sur-
face of wing white, with tips of primaries dull black, barred on
the outer half with white to grayish white.

Measurements——Males (6 from Panama), wing 219-232 (225),
tail 131.3-150.0 (139.5), culmen from cere 20.2-22.1 (21.4), tarsus
68.1-72.9 (70.8) mm.

Females (3 from Panama and Colombia), wing 233-245 (237.8),
tail 139-157 (136.9), culmen from cere 21.0-22.5 (21.5), tarsus 66-74
(69.8) mm.

Resident. Rare ; in forested areas in the tropical zone.

I have found the following records from Panama. One marked
Panama without locality and one labeled Veraguas (taken by Arcé)
in the British Museum; one from Nata, Coclé, in the U. S. National
Museum, collected on the Rio Chico by Heyde and Lux, January 7,
1889 ; and two from Permé, San Blas, in the Musetrm of Comparative

222 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Zoology, obtained by Hasso von Wedel. In the Brandt Collection at
the University of Cincinnati there are 5 males taken by Wedel at
Puerto Obaldia, San Blas, in 1931 and 1933. In addition to these,
near Armila, San Blas, on March 4, 1963, one of C. O. Handley’s
assistants brought me an adult male shot in heavy forest. This bird
had the iris brownish orange; cere and base of bill below the level
of the nostril, the gape, and the mandibular rami orange; a small area
on the base of the maxilla, in front of the orange, and the base of
the gonys neutral gray; anterior part of bill black; tarsus and toes
orange yellow ; claws black.

Apparently this species ranges in forest in a manner similar to
that of the more common Leucopternis semiplumbea. It is probable
that through clearing of its normal cover it is no longer found in
the western part of the Republic.

LEUCOPTERNIS PRINCEPS Sclater: Barred Hawk; Gavilan Rayado

Leucopternis princeps P. L. Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, Oct. 1865, p. 429,
pl. 24. (Tucurriqui, Costa Rica.)
Leucopternis princeps zimmeri Friedmann, Auk, vol. 52, Jan. 8, 1935, p. 30. (San

José de Sumaco, northeastern Ecuador.)

Black above and on foreneck; closely barred black and white on
rest of lower surface.

Description Length 550 to 590 mm. Adult, upper breast, throat,
head, and entire upper surface black, with a faint bloom of gray
through narrow edgings of this color at the ends of many feathers;
plumage with a concealed base of white, particularly on crown and
hindneck; band across tail, and hidden bars on inner secondaries,
white ; lower surface, (except upper breast), including edge of wing,
under wing coverts, and under tail coverts, white, barred narrowly
with numerous bands of black; under surface of wings gray, marbled
with white, barred distally and tipped with dark neutral gray.

Immature, like the adult but with wing coverts narrowly tipped
with white.

Kennard made the following record of the soft parts from a male
taken on the Boquete Trail, March 12, 1926: “Bill chrome yellow
and tea green; iris dark chocolate; tarsus chrome yellow” (Kennard
and Peters, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1928, p. 449).

Measurements.—Males (3 from Costa Rica and Panama), wing
347-360 (354.3), tail 185-220 (199.7), culmen from cere 28.7-30.8
(29.5), tarsus 80.5-98.3 (91.2) mm.

Females (5 from Costa Rica and Panama), wing 352-381 (368),
tail 191-218 (201.8), culmen from cere 29.2-33.3 (31.4), tarsus 95.0-
96.5 (95.5) mm.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 223

Resident. Rare; found in heavy forest in the Subtropical Zone; re-
corded in western Chiriqui from Quiel, above Boquete, at 1,500 meters
elevation on the slopes of the volcano, and also near Boquete; in
Bocas del Toro, on the Rio Changena at 750 meters, and on the
Boquete Trail at 950 meters; in Los Santos, on Cerro Hoya at 1,200
meters; and in Darién, on Cerro Pirre, at 1,500 meters on the head
of Rio Limon.

These are the only certain reports. The record in literature for a
specimen in the American Museum of Natural History, obtained from
J. H. Batty, marked “Isla Cebaco,” an island of low elevation off
the mouth of Montijo Bay on the coast of southern Veraguas, is
certainly erroneous, like many others in collections that Batty sent
to Rothschild. The species is known only from the subtropical zone,
and the specimen probably came from near Boquete.

Nothing is known to me of the nesting of this handsome species
or of its habits beyond the fact that it is a forest inhabitant. The
species ranges in mountain areas from Costa Rica through Panama
and western Colombia to Ecuador.

Herbert Friedmann (Auk, 1935, p. 30), with limited material,
found that 4 seen from Ecuador appeared smaller than 6 others from
Costa Rica and Panama and separated the southern group on this
basis under the name Leucopternis princeps zimmeri. Additional
material that I have seen from Panama does not support the size
difference described, as the bird appears variable in dimensions
throughout the range.

HETEROSPIZIAS MERIDIONALIS MERIDIONALIS (Latham):
Savanna Hawk; Gavilan Acanelado

Falco meridionalis Latham, Index Orn., vol. 1, 1790, p. 3. (Cayenne. )

Description.—Length 460 to 500 mm. A savanna species of reddish
brown plumage, with black tail banded with white. Adult, crown
rufous-brown, with shaft lines of black edged with gray; sides of
head brownish gray, with shaft lines of neutral gray bordered nar-
rowly with buff; hind neck cinnamon, barred narrowly with dark
neutral gray, becoming brownish gray on upper back, edged with
cinnamon bordered with dark neutral gray, and finally on rest of
back brownish gray, edged irregularly with cinnamon to buff; wing
coverts rufous-brown, the middle and greater series dark gray
basally; primaries and secondaries rufous-brown tipped with black,
changing to brownish gray on inner secondaries, barred more or less
on inner webs with black; upper tail coverts variegated black and
cinnamon-brown, tipped with white; tail black, with tip and a broad

224 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

central bar white; under surface cinnamon-brown to cinnamon-buff,
with foreneck lined indistinctly with shaft streaks of neutral gray ; the
rest, including sides and axillars, barred narrowly with black; tibia
and under tail coverts rufous-brown, the latter tipped with buff;
under surface of wing cinnamon, barred irregularly with black ; under
wing coverts cinnamon, tipped with buffy white along the edge of
the wing.

Immature, “birds during their first season are very dark brown,
almost black, save for more or less white on the under surface and
some rufous in the primaries and greater coverts. During the second
year the amount of rufous in the wings is increased and invades more
or less of the underwing surface as well as the lesser wing coverts.
In the third year the under parts and head become rufous, barred
below, save on the throat, with blackish, but the back remains fuscous
brown. In fully adult plumage, apparently in the fourth year, the
upper back assumes an ashy shade” (Wetmore, U. S. Nat. Mus.
Bull. 133, 1926, p. 114).

Measurements.—Males (10 specimens), wing 375-396 (388.8),
tail 176-200 (188.1), culmen from cere 23.0-24.5 (23.7), tarsus 98.7-
112.4 (106.7) mm.

Females (5 specimens), wing 375-403 (388.6), tail 170-193
(180.2), culmen from cere 23.0-25.8 (24.6), tarsus 97.0-105.0
(102.3) mm.

Resident. Fairly common on the tropical savannas of the Pacific
slope from Veraguas (Sona) through Coclé to near the lower
Bayano (below Chepo) in the eastern section of the Province of
Panama. Casual in western Chiriqui (Dolega, sight record), Bocas
del Toro (Changuinola, sight record, Eisenmann, Condor 1957, p.
250) and Comarca de San Blas (Permé, Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp.
Zool., vol. 72, 1932, 9.313),

This is a hawk of open lands, restricted, however, to the lowlands,
as there are no reports for it on the elevated open grass slopes of
the mountains. It is especially common on the savannas east of
Pacora, where it ranges to the last of the prairies at Ana Luz, near
the Rio Bayano below Chepo. On the eastern side of the Azuero
Peninsula I have noted it in the region between Parita, Paris, and
Santa Maria, in the Province of Herrera. And on March 27, 1948,
near Punta Mala, in southern Los Santos, I found feathers of one
that had been killed recently. Occasionally one is seen on Albrook
Field and Howard Field in the Canal Zone.

In early morning I have observed these hawks walking about on
the ground, standing very tall on their long legs and moving easily

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 225

and gracefully. The top of the head at such times often appears
almost white in the rays of the rising sun. This is one of the hawks
(known collectively to the countryman as bebe humo) that follows
grass fires to feed on large insects and lizards flushed, killed, or
injured by the flames. These, with rats and mice, seem to constitute
the principal items of food. Birds, except for an occasional aggres-
sive kingbird or fork-tailed fly-catcher, pay little attention to them,
and so it would appear that they are not active in molesting them.

The Penards (Vog. Guyana, vol. 1, 1908, p. 391) describe the nest
in Surinam as made of sticks and twigs, placed in trees at eleva-
tions ranging from high to low. The one or two eggs in a set are
described as white with a few reddish-brown spots and blotches. An
egg that I saw in the possession of Dr. Carlos Lehmann, collected at
Maicao, in the Guajira Peninsula of Colombia, April 15, 1941, before
it was blown was light blue, with a few small scattered spots of light
cinnamon. Schénwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 3, 1961, p. 163) gives
variation in the measurements of 15 eggs as 55.5-64.0 x 46.0-48.2 mm.

As a species this bird ranges in open country from western
Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela south to Argentina. No differ-
ences in color are evident when specimens of similar age are com-
pared, but in the far south, in northern Argentina, the birds are
appreciably larger. There has been some uncertainty regarding this
since an occasional specimen of large size has been taken in the more
northern parts of South America, but these I believe are winter
migrants from the southern limits of the range, as they stand out
in size among those that appear to be resident. As an example of this,
10 specimens from northern Colombia from Bolivar, Magdalena,
and the Guajira have wing measurements of 379 to 403 mm. One
that I shot at Maicao in the Guajira on April 14, 1941, in the same
area in which I secured two of the smaller birds, has the primaries
worn at the tip but still measures 418 mm. The date represents the
nonbreeding period in the far south, and I regard this bird as a
migrant of the following form.

The southern race, Heterospizias meridionalis rufulus (Vieillot),
with wing 418 to 452 mm., on the basis of present data is the breeding
race from southern Paraguay and Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the
provinces of Cordoba and Santa Fé, Argentina. In the northern
subspecies, Heterospizias m. meridionalis, which ranges from Panama
south to Bolivia, northern Paraguay, and southern Brazil (north of
the southeastern state of Rio Grande do Sul) the wing measurement
ranges from 379 to 412 mm. Intergradation comes apparently in
northwestern Argentina, from Tucuman northward, and in central

226 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Paraguay. Kirke Swann recognized the two forms and in 1921
named the southern one australis, a name, however, that is antedated
by rufulus Vieillot of 1816.

Plotnick (Hornero, 1956, pp. 136-139), in a study of the osteology,
has established that Heterospizias is a genus of the subfamily
Buteoninae and not of the Accipitrinae, where it has been placed by
Peters and others. This I find fully verified on examination of
skeleton material available.

PARABUTEO UNICINCTUS HARRISI (Audubon): Harris’s Hawk;
Gavilan Andapié

Buteo Harrisi Audubon, Birds Amer. (folio), vol. 4, 1837, pl. 392. (Between
Bayou Sara and Natchez, Mississippi.)

A black hawk with white rump and tail tip that differs from others
with this color pattern in the rufous markings on the back and
wings.

Characters—Length 480 to 560 mm. Adult, above fuscous-black ;
forehead and superciliary streaked with white; nape feathers white
basally; wings dull black, with outer webs of primaries and ends of
secondaries edged with grayish white; lesser and middle wing coverts
rufous; greater coverts, back, and rump feathers edged or tipped
with rufous; tail black, with base, including upper tail coverts and
tip, white; below dull black; feathers of throat and sides of head
edged with white to produce streaks ; legs and flanks rufous, mottled
indistinctly with white; under tail coverts buffy white; under wing
coverts cinnamon, mottled with white, more heavily toward outer
edge of wing; a prominent patch of white near center of underside
of primaries, extending to their bases, with indistinct light barring
toward tips.

Immature, fuscous above, with indistinct barring, edging, and
streaking of cinnamon-buff, especially on wings; lesser and middle
coverts rufous more or less variegated with black; superciliary
cinnamon-buff ; throat white, lined with fuscous; undersurface white
to cinnamon-buff, streaked and spotted heavily with dull black; legs
and flanks buffy white, barred narrowly with dull rufous; under sur-
face of tail grayish white, barred narrowly with blackish brown;
rump, upper tail coverts, and upper surface of tail as in adult, but
with a narrow margin of cinnamon-buff above the white tail tip.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt.
10, 1950, p. 371).—Males, wing 318-331 (323) ; tail 215-262 (234),
culmen from cere 24-28 (26.3), tarsus 84-90 (86.2) mm.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 227

Females, wing 325-370 (358.4), tail 213-243 (232.5), culmen from
cere 25-29 (26.7), tarsus 80-92 (87) mm.

Rare ; status not certain.

The little that is known of this interesting species, which is found
elsewhere from southern Texas south through México and Central
America to Colombia and western Ecuador, is embodied in 3 brief
records. Arcé collected one in Veraguas (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1867, p. 158), that was recorded as from Santa Fé. From the
habit of the species elsewhere it is probable that it was taken in the
open country below, toward San Francisco. Bovallius secured a male
near Pacora on March 4, 1882 (Rendahl, Ark. Zool., Bd. 12, 1919,
p. 9). Hasso von Wedel collected a female near Almirante, Bocas
del Toro, November 24, 1927 (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol.
71, 1931, p. 310). It seems probable that the species in Panama is a
wanderer from elsewhere in its extensive range.

In northeastern Columbia I have found these handsome birds in
open country where the savanna lands were interspersed with
scattered brush and low trees. The call is a harsh scream suggestive of
that of the red-tailed hawk.

BUSARELLUS NIGRICOLLIS NIGRICOLLIS (Latham): Black-collared
HAWK; Gavilan de Ciénaga

Falco nigricollis Latham, Index Orn., vol. 1, 1790, p. 35. (Cayenne.)

Adult, at rest marked by black breast band against the brown body
and white throat; in flight the blackish wings show in contrast with
the brown body, and the breast band is prominent.

Description—Length 480 to 510 mm. Adult, head, including
throat and sides, white, with the crown washed with buff to cinna-
mon-buff, and blackish shaft streaks; a black half-collar across lower
foreneck; body, above and below, russet to chestnut-brown, with
heavy shaft-lines of black on back, upper and under wing coverts,
and tertials; wings black, with faint cinnamon tips on secondaries;
tail black, barred basally with rufous, and tipped with cinnamon-buff ;
a light spot that varies from white to cinnamon-buff at base of outer-
most primaries on under side.

Immature, paler, more buffy on under surface, with indistinct
black shaft lines, and faint russet bars on the paler tibia ; upper tail co-
verts and secondaries dull russet, barred with black.

Iris reddish brown; gape, including margins of both maxilla and
mandible, the bare bases of the mandibular rami, and the base of
the gonys, neutral gray; bill and cere dull black; tarsus and toes drab
to flesh color, with a tint of gray ; claws black.

228 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Measurements (from Friedmann, U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 10,
1950, p. 412).—Males (8 specimens), wing 358-383 (378.1), tail
157-182 (171.9), culmen from cere 26-30 (27.9), tarsus 72-84 (80.1)
mm.

Females (7 specimens), wing 380-405 (392.3), tail 175-183
(180.4), culmen from cere 28-30.5 (29.3), tarsus 78-89 (85.3) mm.

Resident. Local, in small numbers, in the tropical lowlands on the
Pacific slope, from Veraguas to Darién, including northern Herrera.
The only record for the Caribbean side is of a male taken at Lion Hill,
Canal Zone, by W. W. Brown, Jr., in March, 1900 (Bangs, Proc.
New England Zodl. Club, vol. 2, 1900, p. 15).

This handsome bird is found around lowland marshes, in small
openings in swampy woodlands, and along the larger rivers. Though
it ranges widely from southern México through Central America to
eastern Bolivia and Brazil, there have been only a few records of it in
Panama. Salvin received one from Arcé, taken in Veraguas, without
definite locality (Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., vol. 3, 1900,
p. 86). On March 10, 1948, I saw one at the Ciénaga de Buho beyond
Santa Maria, Herrera, where the bird rested in the sun on an open
stub standing at the border of the marsh. On April 1, 1949, we shot
a male at the nearly dry Ciénaga Campana east of Pacora and saw
another in this same area on April 4. The only locality at which I
have seen them in any number is along the Rio La Jagua.

In Darién, Festa collected one at Laguna de Pita in August 1895
(Salvadori and Festa, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp. Torino, vol.
14, 1899, p. 10). The National Museum has a female taken by J. L.
Baer on the Rio Chucunaque near Yavisa on March 20, 1924. Far-
ther up this same river I saw one on March 27, 1959, near the mouth
of the Rio Tuquesa. The bird rested in an open tree over a pool in
swampy woodland.

The tarsus in this species is rather short, while the toes are excep-
tionally long, with long, strongly curved, sharp-pointed claws. The
pads on the underside of the toes are armed with conical, sharply
pointed papillae, and the tip of the maxilla is long, strongly curved,
and sharply pointed. The main food appears to be fish, so that it is
intriguing to find that in the strong, curved claws and spiculate toe
pads this hawk is the counterpart of the fish-feeding osprey, though
the hindtoe does not have the peculiar development found in that
species. In other characters than those mentioned the bird is similar
to related species of its subfamily, the Buteoninae. The plumage,
especially, is like that of other hawks, with none of the waterproof

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 229

qualities found in the osprey, as in its fishing it becomes water soaked
on the legs, and at times on the body.

The Penards (Vog. Guyana, vol. 1, 1908, pp. 401-402) state that
in Surinam this species breeds principally during the season of heavy
rains. The nest, of small sticks, may be located in high trees, though
near the coast it may be placed at lower elevations in mangroves. The
nest may be used for several years, when it may become very large
as the pair add more material to it annually. The eggs, one, seldom
two, in shape are bluntly oval or rounded. The ground color varies
from dull whitish or yellowish to a bluish or greenish tint, with spots
and blotches of cinnamon, reddish brown, and lilac-gray, the pattern
varying from almost plain to heavily marked. The average size is 59
by 45 mm. Kreuger (Ool. Rec., 1963, p. 6) gives a similar descrip-
tion of a set of two taken on the Demerara River, British Guiana,
April 2, 1927. These measured 58.2 X 45.2 and 56.2 x 45.2 mm.

BUTEOGALLUS URUBITINGA (Gmelin): Greater Black Hawk; Cocolino

Like the lesser black hawk in color, but base of bill and cere gray ;
larger ; legs longer.

Description—Length 510 to 590 mm. Adult, dull black throughout,
with a faint slaty cast, and indistinct dark-gray markings in the form
of shaft lines in crown, edgings on back, and broken bars on pri-
maries and secondaries; feathers of nape white basally; tibia and
edge of wing barred narrowly and irregularly with white ; underside
of wing dull black, except for faintly indicated gray bars.

Immature, brownish black above and on sides of head, with crown
and hindneck streaked and edged with cinnamon-buff, this color form-
ing an indistinct superciliary streak; back, wing coverts, and sec-
ondaries edged indistinctly with cinnamon; upper tail coverts buff;
tail brownish black, barred, narrowly and irregularly, and mottled,
with brownish gray to white, changing to cinnamon-buff on inner
webs; below cinnamon, whiter on the throat, streaked and spotted
with dull black ; tibia white, barred irregularly with black, underwing
buff to cinnamon-buff, spotted on the under coverts, and tipped on
the axillars, with dull black; primaries and secondaries tipped with
brownish black, and barred narrowly and irregularly with the same
color.

In what appears to be a second-year plumage, the buff is paler,
often white, and the black markings on the undersurface are much
more extensive ; above mainly dull black, except for white to buffy
white streaks on the head; tail tipped broadly with black, barred
narrowly, and mottled, with the same color.

230 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

I have recorded the soft parts in the race azarae of Paraguay and
northern Argentina, as follows (Wetmore, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 133,
1926, p. 110) : Iris dark brown; bill black, except for the base of the
mandible, and the space below the nostril on the maxilla, which are
light gray ; cere and gape chamois; tarsus and toes dull yellow; claws
black. The head and foot colors are definitely duller than in
Buteogallus anthracinus.

Two subspecies, similar in size but differing in color pattern in the
tail, are found in Panama.

Plumages of this species and those of Buteogallus anthracinus are
so similar, in both adult and immature, that close attention to detail
is required to separate them. This is true particularly in their
identification in life. With adult birds of the present species close at
hand, the white barring on the tibia may be visible, and in any stage
the longer legs may be noted, as well as the blacker bill, and more
slaty color of the side of the head. These colors, however, are less
strongly marked in immature individuals.

The two black hawks under discussion differ in certain structural
details which have led to allocation of the larger one in a separate
genus, Hypomorphnus of Cabanis. Amadon (Auk, 1949, p. 54)
questioned the validity of this separation, and in a later paper
(Amadon and Eckelberry, 1955, p. 68) he gave some further discus-
sion in which he listed both species under the genus Buteogallus.
The structural differences between the two may be summarized as
follows:

GREATER BiAck Hawk: Tarsus longer, more than 110 mm.;
space between the broad, undivided plates at the front of the lower
end, and those on the base of the middle toe, longer, measuring 20
mm. or more; the intermediate scutes graduated progressively from
larger to those much smaller; loral area, the anterior region of the
forehead adjacent to the cere, and the chin more heavily feathered ;
wing more rounded, the primaries less than 20 mm. longer than sec-
ondaries.

Lesser BLack Hawk: Tarsus shorter, less than 100 mm.; space
between the broad, undivided plates at the front of the lower end
and those on the base of the middle toe shorter, measuring 12 mm. or
less ; the intermediate scutes larger, with the transition from larger
to smaller abrupt, without gradual change in size; loral area, anterior
region of the forehead, and chin scantily feathered; wing more
pointed; primaries from 40 to 70 mm. longer than the secondaries.

Buteogallus aequinoctialis of eastern South America, type species
of the genus Buteogallus, agrees with the lesser black hawk in the

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 231

form of the scutes on the lower end of the tarsus and in length of
wing tip, but the loral area is more nearly bare, as it has only a line
of hairlike filaments at the anterior margin. Buteogallus gundlachiu
of Cuba, however, bridges the gap between the two groups as in its
tarsal characters the distal space at the lower end in front breaks up
into a series of small scutes, more extensive in length than in
anthracinus, but less than in urubitinga. In addition, B. gundlachn
has a longer wing tip like anthracinus, and agrees in heavier feather-
ing of the anterior part of the head with urubitinga. From this sum-
mary it is evident that separation of the four species in two genera
is not warranted.

BUTEOGALLUS URUBITINGA RIDGWAYI (Gurney)

Urubitinga ridgwayi Gurney, List Diurnal Birds Prey, 1884, pp. 77, 148. (Guate-
mala, Chiapas, and Sinaloa = Coban, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, designated by
Hellmayr and Conover, Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 4, 1949, p. 181.)

Characters.—Tail in adult white, with a broad black terminal band,
and a second narrower one of the same color above the center.

Measurements—Males (9 from Panama), wing 363-377 (369),
tail 221-250 (231.8), culmen from cere 29.0-32.6 (30.6, average of
8), tarsus 114.8-125.0 (121.3) mm.

Females (5 from Panama), wing 360-391 (371), tail 227-245 (234),
culmen from cere 32.0-34.0 (32.9), tarsus 114.7-120.0 (117.1).

Resident. Tolerably common in the tropical zone, rarer in the
lower subtropical zone in western Chiriqui. On the Caribbean coast
from the Costa Rican boundary to Bahia Caledonia, San Blas; on
the Pacific side from western Chiriqui to Darién (specimens seen from
the mouth of the Rio Canglon on the Chucunaque, and Boca de
Paya on the Tuira).

These are woodland birds of the more open areas, and in heavy
forest they are found mainly near the larger streams. Adults usually
range in pairs, which rise to soar in the manner common to many
of their family. At such times they often appear completely black
against the sky, their rounded wings and broad tails giving them a
square-cut outline. Immature individuals, in streaked dress, usually
are found alone.

Frogs form a principal source of food, and the birds in search
of them rest regularly on low perches, or on the ground, near small
pools and along stream banks, often in open pastures and fields.
Lizards also, particularly the basilisk, are eaten.

Nests that I have seen have been located in large forest trees from
12 to 20 meters from the ground, where they were inaccessible. They

232 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

were built of sticks, placed in a crotch, sometimes amid large limbs
where only the rim was visible from below. Nests containing young
were noted at the Ciénaga Macana, near Paris, Herrera, March 17,
1948, and near the Rio Pacora, above Pacora, Panama, April 21,
1949. No description of the egg of this form is known to me.

The screaming call, something like that of the red-tailed hawk, but
clearer, less harsh, and therefore more pleasing in its usual utterance,
has four notes, of which the first two are given quickly, and the last
two in slower, drawn out syllables. In imitation, the bird has the
country name of cocolino.

The race ridgwayi ranges north through Central America to north-
ern México.

BUTEOGALLUS URUBITINGA URUBITINGA (Gmelin)

Falco Urubitinga Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 1, 1788, p. 265. (Pernambuco,
fide Pinto, Cat. Aves Brasil, pt. 1, 1938, p. 76.)

Characters—Tail in adult white, with a single broad subterminal
black bar. Size as in B. u. ridgwayi.

Resident at the eastern end of the Comarca de San Blas (recorded
from specimens taken at Permé and Puerto Obaldia by Hasso von
Wedel).

This is the form of extensive range in South America that enters
the Republic from Colombia along the northeastern coast.

Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 3, 1961, p. 145) states that the
eggs in general are like those of species of the genus Buteo, with
some plain in color and others marked sparingly to heavily with
reddish brown, varied to lilac. Measurements are 57.4-61.2 x 47.0-
49.4 mm.

BUTEOGALLUS ANTHRACINUS (Deppe): Lesser Black Hawk;
Gavilan Cangrejero

Slaty black, with base of bill and loral area orange yellow.

Description—Length 430 to 510 mm. Adult, black, with more or
less of a slaty wash; upper tail coverts tipped with white; tail banded
rather broadly across center and tipped with white ; feathers of crown
white at base; upper back and hindneck white mixed with buff at
base in varying amount, in some absent; under wing with bases of
primaries mottled with white.

Immature, fuscous; cheeks, and indefinite streaks on head, hind-

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 239

neck, and upper back, white, often mixed with cinnamon-buff ; inner-
most primaries and secondaries more or less cinnamon on inner webs,
barred with black; tail barred, narrowly and irregularly, and tipped
with white; throat white, with shaft lines of fuscous; under tail
coverts and tibia white barred with fuscous; breast and abdomen
white, blotched heavily with fuscous; under wing buffy white, barred
irregularly with fuscous except for the dark tips of the primaries.
The amount of the light markings underneath varies, some having
the fuscous color restricted to heavy streaks, others appearing quite
black. Many show a rufescent phase in which the light markings are
cinnamon instead of white or buffy white.

As stated in the account of the greater black hawk, care is necessary
to separate that species and the present one unless the birds are seen
clearly. The lesser black hawk has the cere, base of the bill, and
the loral area distinctly orange-yellow, which is a definite field mark.
Though less in evidence in birds in immature dress this area still
appears more yellowish in good light. The fully adult bird lacks the
white barring on the feathered part of the leg of the larger species.
This barring however is present in the immature.

In Panama the lesser black hawk in the main is a bird of the
coastal areas, found especially in mangroves, and in the swampy
woodlands adjacent to the poorly drained lands inland that are af-
fected by tide waters. On the larger rivers they range farther into
the interior but here live along the streams. It is the most common
hawk in these areas. Crabs form a principal source of their food,
and their presence seems to govern the range of the cangrejero.

The call is a series of whistled notes, high in pitch, heard es-
pecially when nesting, quite different from the voice of the urubitinga
group. In feeding usually they perch low down where they have clear
view of the ground on which crabs may be expected. And at times I
have seen them on open sand or mud bars along the rivers. One in
such a situation suddenly ran to a nearby log and seized a crab
lurking beneath it. This agile habit is customary with them. Often I
have found the feet of those taken for specimens coated with sand
or mud.

They soar regularly and in the air present an outline of rounded
wings and rather short tail. In early morning with the sun low in
the sky the yellow cere may be seen if the birds are not too high
in the air. When the pale immature bird joins the adults as they
circle the contrasts in color and pattern are interesting. The young

234 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

bird at such times shows two rounded light patches at the center of
each of the wings.

The main nesting season appears to begin in February and seems
to be in full course in March, as adult birds then were found in pairs.
I saw them carrying sticks for building and have noted nests under
construction in the edge of mangrove swamps, usually at an eleva-
tion of about 12 meters, but I was not successful in obtaining eggs.
Paired birds are especially noisy at this time, and so their high-
pitched calls—repetitions of single notes—are heard regularly, a
pleasing sound during long afternoons in camp when I was occupied
with notes and specimens.

Usually they were tame, since, as stated above, they have few
human intruders in their swampy haunts. On occasion in a cayuco
I have passed within 10 meters of birds that were watching for food,
without disturbing them. They spend much time on low perches and
often have not been at all alarmed when I stopped nearby for a few
minutes to share their cool shade. At low tide they come out to rest
on rocks or open beaches and mud flats. Immature birds frequently
were curious, particularly when I was calling to attract small birds.
While the principal food as noted is crabs, I have had some complaint
from persons living at the borders of swamps that these hawks
sometimes took small chicks. Mangrove warblers and other swamp
inhabiting species, however, were not at all nervous when these hawks
were nearby, indicating that they are not regularly predatory on small
birds.

Individual variation in depth of color and in extent and kind of
lighter markings is so great that there has been uncertainty as to the
population groups that may be recognized. From examination of over
200 specimens I find only two that appear valid, aside from the bird
of the island of Cuba which it appears appropriate to treat as a
separate species, Buteogallus gundlachii.

The nominate race, B. a. anthracinus, marked by larger size, ranges
from southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and southern Texas
south through tropical México (except the coast of Chiapas) and
Central America to Panama (except for the lowlands along the
Pacific coast), and across northern Colombia and northern Venezuela
to northwestern British Guiana, including also the islands of St.
Vincent and Trinidad. A decidedly smaller form B. a. bangsi, is
found along the Pacific in the mangrove swamps and adjacent low-
lands from northwestern Pert to Chiapas. Both races occur in
Panama. Measurements that serve to separate them are given in the
accounts of the subspecies that follow.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 235

BUTEOGALLUS ANTHRACINUS ANTHRACINUS (Deppe)

Falco anthracinus W. Deppe, Preis—Verz. Saugeth. Vog. Amphibien, Fische u.
Krebse, Deppe u. Schiede Mexico gesammelt., 1830, p. 3. ( Veracruz.)

Urubitinga anthracina cancrivora A. H. Clark, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington,
vol. 18, Feb. 21, 1905, p. 63. (Barrouallie, St. Vincent.)

Characters.—Larger, shown mainly in length of wing.

Measurements (from the entire geographic range).—Males (33
specimens) wing 354-378 (363), tail 173-216 (200), culmen from
cere 23.5-28.8 (26.2, average of 32), tarsus 84.0-93.8 (88.4) mm.

Females (36 specimens), wing 365-398 (377), tail 190-226 (208),
culmen from cere 25.2-30.5 (27.7), tarsus 83.5-94.0 (89.3) mm.

An adult male from Mandinga, taken on January 29, 1957, had
the iris wood brown; cere orange; base of mandible and bare area
below nostril to gape light orange; rest of bill neutral gray; loral
area, and bare skin above eye, chrome yellow; lower eyelid dull
whitish ; tarsi and toes chrome yellow ; claws black.

Resident. Fairly common in the tropical lowlands, mainly near the
coast, from Bocas del Toro to eastern San Blas; in Darién along the
Chucunaque and Tuira Rivers, above the influence of tide, and in
hill country near the coast; Isla Coiba.

Three females from Isla Coiba, with the wing 364, 369, and 370
mm. respectively, belong evidently with this form, an isolated colony
on this large, remote island.

Birds from the Caribbean slope from western Colon to western
San Blas are somewhat smaller but come within the lower limit of
size given above. Birds in immature plumage throughout the range
often are smaller than adults, a fact that should be kept in mind in
identification, as some may approach or equal the size found in adults
of the smaller race. At Jaqué, in eastern Darién, the race bangsi, in
typical small form is common in the mangrove swamps at the mouth
of the Rio Jaqué, but an adult female that I shot on a high rocky
headland above a sand beach along the coast toward Colombia is
certainly the larger race.

The eggs are described by Bent (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 167, 1937,
p. 26) as dull white, spotted sparingly with various shades of brown,
with the shell finely granulated. Some have the markings much
reduced so that they appear almost plain white. The range of measure-
ments is 50-66.5 x 42.3-48.3 mm. In the northern limit of the range,
from southern Arizona to southern Texas, the birds may have from
one to three eggs in the nest, but in tropical areas a single egg is usual,
increased rarely to two.

236 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

BUTEOGALLUS ANTHRACINUS BANGSI (Swann)

Urubitinga anthracina bangst Swann, Syn. Accipitres, pt. 2, Jan. 3, 1922, p. 98.
(San Miguel = Isla del Rey, Archipiélago de las Perlas, Panama.)

Characters —Similar in color to B. a. anthracinus but definitely
smaller.

Measurements.—Males (17 specimens), wing 325-348 (337), tail
176-213 (189), culmen from cere 23.6-28.8 (26.2), tarsus 80.0-90.0
(86.6) mm.

Females (9 specimens), wing 337-363 (348), tail 186-212 (197),
culmen from cere 25.6-29.1 (27.2), tarsus 85.7-92.4 (88.1) mm.

An adult female taken at Chiman on February 16, 1950, had the
iris hazel ; cere orange; base of mandible, loral area, and eyelids orange
yellow ; base of maxilla, and center of mandible, duller yellow; rest
of bill neutral gray; tarsus and toes orange yellow; claws black.

Resident. Common in the swamps of the Pacific coast, particularly
in the mangroves, from western Chiriqui (Estero Rico below Alanje,
Las Lajas); Veraguas (Puerto Vidal, Rio San Pablo below Sona,
Paracoté) ; Los Santos (Tonosi, Punta Mala, Pedasi, Puerto Men-
sabé, La Honda) ; Herrera (Paris, lower Rio Santa Maria) ; Coclé
(Puerto Aguadulce) ; Panama (La Jagua, Chico, Chepo, Chiman,
Majé) ; and Darién (El Real, Aruza, mouth of Rio Jaqué) ; Isla
Parida; Isla Bolafios; Isla Brincanco, in the Contreras group; Isla
Canal de Afuera; Isla Cébaco; Archipiélago de las Perlas (San José,
Rey, Cafias, Bayoneta, Malaga, and Contadora islands).

Below Chepo and in the drainage of the Rio Chico these hawks
range for some distance in swampy areas inland from the coastal man-
groves. The same is true in the lowlands of Chiriqui where these
smaller birds are found back to Bugaba. Possibly occasionally, they
wander inland, as Goldman collected an immature bird of very small
size on the upper Rio Pacora in the lower levels of the Cerro Azul.

In the mangroves bordering the Estero Salado, below Aguadulce,
Coclé, I saw one at its nest on January 25, 1963, an early date. The
site was a crotch in a large dead tree 15 meters from the ground.
Seen from below, the structure was a considerable accumulation of
twigs and small branches half again taller than the bird that rested
beside it. On Isla Parida these birds were in pairs during the first
week of February.

These hawks were especially common in the swamps bordering
the Rio Pocri, at Puerto Aguadulce. Here one swooped at a floating
dowitcher that I had shot, but a heavy load at 70 meters, though it
did no harm, caused the hawk to veer away. A little later, however,

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 237

one seized another dowitcher that I had killed and escaped with it
to the shelter of the mangroves.

Clearly marked color differences that have been alleged to separate
this form from B. a. anthracinus are not verified in the considerable
series that I have had available, the only character being that of
lesser size. These smaller birds are found in Pacific coastal areas in
mangroves, and in the swampy woodlands immediately inland, from
the mouth of the Rio Tumbes in northwestern Peru, and the Gulf of
Guayaquil (Puna Island), Ecuador, north along the coast of Colombia
(Nuqui), and Central America to Chiapas. Those from Peru,
Ecuador and southwestern Colombia have the central area of the
inner primaries and the secondaries heavily marked with cinnamon-
brown (cross-banded with black) that forms a prominent patch on
the folded wing. These are the race Buteogallus a. subtilis Thayer
and Bangs, described from Gorgona Island, Colombia. Birds from
Panama and from the coast of Colombia south to Nuqui, Choco,
have the general coloration of the wing more uniform as the cin-
namon is restricted or almost absent. These may be recognized as
a slightly different subspecies, bangsi Swann. Intergradation is pre-
sumed to take place along the Colombian coast below Buenaventura.
The type of bangsi, though marked as a male, has a wing length of
363 mm. so that it must be a female.

Monroe (Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Louisiana State Univ. no. 26, 1963,
pp. 1-5) has described a northern race rhizophorae from El Salvador
and Honduras, which differs in the adult in lack of rufous or buff on
primaries and secondaries. As no intergradation in wing size between
anthracinus and the coastal population is evident he treats the smaller
birds as a distinct species under the name subtilis. The suggestion is
interesting and one that requires careful consideration in further
field studies.

Amadon (Nov. Colombianas, vol. 1, no. 1, Sept. 1, 1961=1963, p.
358) has identified specimens of subtilis from Tumbes, northwestern
Pert, which marks an extension in range southward to this point.
An early report for this locality is that of Taczanowski (Proc. Zool.
Soc. London, 1877, p. 745), who, under the name of “Urubitinga
schistacea (Sund.),” lists two males and a female from Santa Luzia,
Pert. In his Ornithologie du Pérou (vol. 1, 1884, pp. 109-110) he
describes these specimens in careful detail. Sundevall’s name properly
refers to another hawk of similar color pattern now known as
Leucopternis schistacea (Sundevall). It appears evident that
Taczanowski made his error in identification through reference to

238 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Sharpe’s account in volume 1 of the Catalogue of Birds in the
British Museum (1874, p. 216), where the genus name Urubitinga is
used for the species anthracina Lichtenstein and schistacea Sundevall.
The description given by Taczanowski is detailed and complete and
agrees fully in color and in small size with the race currently known
as subtilis. This is substantiated by his quotations from Stolzmann
and Jelski, collectors of his specimens, who describe the birds as
found in the mangroves in the delta of the Rio Tumbes, where they
fed on crabs, and were almost stupidly tame.

URUBITORNIS SOLITARIA SOLITARIA (Tschudi): Solitary Eagle;
Aguila Solitaria

Circaétus solitarius Tschudi, Arch. Naturg. vol. 10, Bd. 1, 1844, p. 264. (Rio
Chanchamayo, Pert.)

Of eagle size, dark gray, with tail banded with white.

Descripiion—Length 600 to 800 mm. Adult, dark slaty gray;
upper tail coverts tipped with white; tail black, tipped narrowly with
white, and with a broad central band of white, mixed with neutral
gray on some of the feathers; feathers of hindneck basally white ;
primaries and secondaries banded indistinctly with paler gray ; outer-
most primaries banded with grayish white, more prominently toward
base.

Immature, back and wings fuscous, edged on back with cinnamon,
and with indistinct grayish and buff mottling on the middle and
greater coverts; crown fuscous; rest of head and under surface, in-
cluding under tail coverts, buff to whitish buff, streaked with fuscous;
a fuscous-black patch on breast; tibia fuscous, barred lightly with
cinnamon; under surface of wing cream buff, with heavy fuscous
markings on the under wing coverts.

Measurements. —This species is so rare that it has been difficult to
assemble comparable measurements since most records in literature
do not indicate whether the wing size given is taken from the chord
or from the wing flattened. Some figures apparently include a mix-
ture of the two. The notes that follow I have made personally, with
the wing measured on the chord.

Males (3 specimens), wing 490-506 (496), tail 219-227 (222),
culmen from cere 38.2-41.5 (39.8), tarsus 125.1-127.5 (126.1).

Female (one specimen), wing 513, tail 255, culmen from cere 44.0,
tarsus 120.2 mm.

Four additional birds with sex not marked have the wing 492-500,
tail 254-260, culmen from cere 39.5-40.0, and tarsus 122.6-129.8 mm.

Resident. Rare, in areas of heavy forest.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 239

The species is one that is little known. The only definite records
are two birds in immature dress in the British Museum taken by
Arcé at Calobre, Veraguas, one in 1869 and the other in 1870. On
April 14, 1949, as I descended a narrow, open ridge from the higher
slopes of Cerro Carbunco, northwest of Chepo, an adult eagle that
I was certain was this species crossed directly in front of me. At
my shot it pitched down the steep slope above the Rio Tranca. We
could not see where it struck because of the trees that blocked our
view, and though we searched long and carefully we were unable to
find the bird because of the rough and broken contours of the steep
descent. From its size, relatively short tail, and color, I felt certain
of the identification.

Published accounts usually state that this eagle has a short bushy
crest, though actually the feathers on the back of the head are not
lengthened more than they are in related hawks that are regarded
as not crested. Amadon (Auk, 1949, pp. 53-56) has placed Urubi-
tornis as a synonym of Harpyhaliaetus. And Hellmayr and Conover
(Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 4, 1949, pp. 199-200) go further, as they
list solitarius as a subspecies of Harpyhaliaetus coronatus. Friedmann
(U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 10, 1950, p. 415) has called to attention
the similarity of solitaria to the greater black hawk, Buteogallus
urubitinga, and it is my own opinion that affiliations of solitaria are
closer with Buteogallus than they are with Harpyhaliaetus. It re-
sembles the greater black hawk in proportionate length of the feather-
ing on the back of the head, in rounded wing tip, in tarsal scutellation,
particularly at the lower end, and also in the reduction of feathering
on the side of the head. The much larger Harpyhaliaetus coronatus
has a distinct crest of narrow, elongated feathers, and appears com-
pletely different in other ways.

In view of these differences, I prefer to maintain Urubitornis as a
separate generic entity pending further information. The internal
structure of the two groups as yet is not known.

A larger race, Urubitornis solitaria sheffleri van Rossem, recognized
from the mountains of southeastern Sonora, with the wing in the
male 530, and in the female 552 mm., is said to have heavier tarsi
and toes, to be darker in the adult, and to have a definite subbasal
white band across the outer rectrices. This latter mark in typical
solitaria is indicated only as a grayish brown trace.

In the original description of solitaria, cited in the heading above,
Tschudi listed this species only as from Peru, which is the type
locality given in most of the current accounts. In his Fauna Peruana,
Ornithologie, 1845-1846, p. 94, he states that he had only one specimen

240 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

taken in the heavy forests of Chanchamayo, which therefore is the
definite locality. Tschudi (p. xiii) locates the Rio Chanchamayo as
a stream in northern Junin that joins the Rio Paucartambo to form
the Rio Perené.

SPIZAETUS TYRANNUS SERUS Friedmann: Black Hawk Eagle; Aguila
Crestuda Negra

Spizaetus tyrannus serus Friedmann, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 111, no. 16,
Feb. 28, 1950, p. 1. (Rio Indio, near Gatun, Canal Zone, Panamé.)

A black, crested eagle, with relatively long tail.

Description—Length, 570 to 680 mm. Head with a prominent,
rather bushy crest of numerous broad-ended feathers, without the
considerably elongated central plumes found in Spizaetus ornatus;
tarsus feathered nearly to the toes; tail three-fourths as long as wing
or more. Adult, black, with feathers of crown, crest, throat, and upper
back white basally; tail with 3 broad bars and narrow tip that are
gray above, white underneath; under tail coverts and legs barred
heavily with white, the latter to the lower end of the tarsus; sides
usually barred lightly with white; under wing coverts marked exten-
sively with white; under surface of primaries and secondaries with
wide white bars.

Immature, brownish black; crown streaked widely with white to
deep buff; lower back, rump, and upper tail coverts barred with
white ; breast brown, with black shaft streaks, the feathers edged and
tipped with white; lower breast, abdomen, sides, legs, and under
tail coverts barred with white.

Measurements.—Males (5 from Costa Rica, Panama and Colom-
bia), wing 371-383 (378.2), tail 291-312 (302.8), culmen from cere
27.3-30.2 (28.4), tarsus 78.1-86.0 (82.0) mm.

Females, (3 from Panama and Venezuela), wing 390-393 (391.2,
average of 2), tail 296-311 (303), culmen from cere 29.5-30.3 (30.0),
tarsus 84.6-92.0 (87.9) mm.

According to L. L. Jewel (Stone, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadel-
phia, 1918, p. 250) a female taken at Gatun, February 4, 1912, had
the “iris bright orange, bill blue-black, cere slaty, toes yellow.”

Resident. Uncommon, in areas of heavy forest, mainly in the
tropical zone, but recorded in western Chiriqui to 1,650 meters.

Definite records are as follows:

Currigui: Lérida, May 20, 1933 (Blake, Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p.
507).
ge. Calobre (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 215).

Bocas bvEL Toro: Changuinola, Sept. 29, 1927; Fruitdale, Nov. 18, 1928
(Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 309).

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 241

CANAL ZonE: Near Cerro Galera (K-6 Road), Oct. 26, 1953; Gamboa, 1957,
and Nov. 20, 1961 (specimens in U. S. Nat. Mus.) ; Barro Colorado Island,
sight records June 28, 1949 (Eisenmann, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 117,
no. 5, 1952, p. 16), May 5, 1953 (Wetmore); Lion Hill, March 1900
(Bangs, Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol. 2, 1900, p. 15) ; Gatun, Feb.
4, 1912 (Stone, cit. supra), Jan. 28 and Mar. 4, 1911 (E. A. Goldman).

Cot6n: Peluca Hydrographic Station, on Rio Boquerén, Feb. 27, 1961.

CoMARCA DE SAN Bras: Puerto Obaldia (Hellmayr and Conover, Cat. Birds
Amer., pt. 1, no. 4, 1949, p. 208).

Goldman secured his first specimen near Gatun as it sat in the
top of a tall tree eating an iguana. His second one circled over him
in early morning as he was ascending the Rio Indio, near Gatun. A
pair that I saw high in air above Barro Colorado Island were easily
identified by the long tail and dark color; and with binoculars I
could see the light markings on wing and tail.

The present subspecies ranges from southeastern México through
Central America to northern and western Brazil. The typical race,
Spizaetus tyrannus tyrannus (Wied), of eastern and southeastern
Brazil, according to Friedmann in his description of serus, is larger.
Another difference in the typical race is found in the lesser amount
of white on the under wing coverts, and in the narrower barring on
the legs, a character, however, that is variable, as immature individuals
of both subspecies have more white than the adults.

When I came to Isla Coiba on January 6, 1956, Capitan Juan A.
Souza, Director of the Colonia Penal, showed me the partly decom-
posed feet of a hawk, kept as curiosities from a bird killed the week
before my arrival. These had the tarsi feathered, and appeared to
be blackish in color. Because of their condition I could detect no
markings, nor was I able to preserve them. I believed that they came
from a hawk eagle, probably from Spizaetus tyrannus, but of this I
was not certain. Some of the guards and convicts seemed to know this
group of hawks but I did not succeed in finding it.

SPIZAETUS ORNATUS VICARIUS Friedmann: Barred Hawk Eagle;
Aguila de Penacho

Ficure 44

Spizaetus ornatus vicarius Friedmann, Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., vol. 25,
no. 10, Oct. 15, 1935, p. 451. (Near Manatee Lagoon, British Honduras.)

A crested eagle, with undersurface white, heavily barred.

Description.—560 to 630 mm. Tarsi feathered nearly to the toes;
head crested with the central feathers narrow and elongated. Adult,
crown, including crest, black; filamentous feathers of loral area white
at base, with elongated shafts black; sides of head and neck to sides

242 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

of upper breast rufous brown, forming a ring around the hind neck
that becomes darker until it merges with the black back ; lesser, middle,
and greater wing coverts black, tipped narrowly with white; primary

ee N Ne
RN

Fic. 44.—Barred hawk eagle, aguila de penacho, Spizaetus ornatus vicaris.

coverts mouse brown basally, tipped with black; primaries and sec-
ondaries mouse brown, banded indistinctly with dull black, with
inner primaries and outer secondaries tipped lightly with white;
upper tail coverts brownish gray, with a black terminal band, and
narrow tip of white; tail brownish gray, with 4 black cross bands,

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 243

and narrow tip of white; a black line below the brown on the side of
the head; under surface, including under wing, white; throat and
foreneck pure white, elsewhere banded heavily with black.

Immature, head and neck white, washed more or less with cin-
namon; mainly mouse gray above and white below, with black bars
restricted to sides, legs, tail, and undersurface of wing.

An adult male taken at the mouth of Rio Tuquesa, Darién, March
27, 1959, had the iris bright yellow; loral area (bare except for
bristles) bluish gray; bill black, except for neutral gray shading on
side of maxilla at base (below the level of the upper margin of the
nostril), and on side of mandible at base; toes yellow basally, shaded
distally with greenish ; claws black.

Measurements (adapted from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50,
pt. 10, p. 446).—Males, wing 338-349 (340), tail 244-268 (255.6),
culmen from cere 25.5-29 (27.1), tarsus 87-92 (89) mm.

Females, wing 353-388 (377.8), tail 266-290 (281.6), culmen from
cere 27-31.5 (30), tarsus 89.5-100 (94.1) mm.

Resident. Uncommon, in regions of heavy forest, ranging from
the lowlands to above 1,500 meters in the mountains of Chiriqui
and Darién.

Though these birds are widely distributed there are no records as
yet from the Azuero Peninsula.

I have seen this handsome hawk soaring over an opening made by
a fallen tree on Barro Colorado Island (Feb. 8, 1950), and there
is a specimen from that reserve in the University of Michigan
Museum, taken on August 17, 1927, by J. Van Tyne. One in the
U. S. National Museum from near Gamboa, C. Z., was collected
November 25, 1960, by N. Gale and C. M. Keenan. Near Chepo, on
April 26, 1949, one shot by W. M. Perrygo was lured within range
by calls to attract smaller birds. A living individual presented to the
National Zoological Park by Dr. H. M. Mitchell was captured on
the Rio Maestra, eastern Panama, in January 1961. In the woodland
along the Rio Chucunaque, near the Tuquesa, a pair ranged in one
section of forest, hunting usually through the middle branches, below
the tree crown. I shot the male here on March 27, 1959. Goldman
collected one at over 1,500 meters elevation at the head of Rio
Limon on Cerro Pirre on April 19, 1912. H. von Wedel secured
one March 4, 1938 (sex not marked), “24 miles inland’ from
Cricamola, Bocas del Toro, and a female June 15, 1932 at Puerto
Obaldia, San Blas.

The nest and eggs have not been reported in literature that I
have seen. They are said to feed on reptiles, but also take birds. On

244 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

the Rio Pucro in Darién I saw one capture a ringed kingfisher
(Megaceryle torquata).

In the original description of this race, through a typographical
error, the type, taken by Morton E. Peck, was listed as from
“Manatol” Lagoon. Stephen M. Russell informs me that Peck’s
field notes state that the bird was collected “in the pine ridge near
Manatee Lagoon.” Mr. Russell writes that tall rainforest and pine-
lands are found in this area. The former is the usual habitat of
this eagle.

The subspecies vicarius is found from southern México through
Central America and northern South America to western Ecuador. In
northern Colombia it ranges eastward across northern Antioquia to
western Guajira (to Riohacha). The typical subspecies, Spizaetus
ornatus ornatus (Daudin), which has the brown of the head and
neck brighter, more rufous, is found from eastern Colombia, east
of the eastern Andes, Venezuela, and Trinidad, south to Bolivia,
northern Argentina, and southern Brazil.

SPIZASTUR MELANOLEUCUS (Vieillot): Black-and-White Hawk Eagle;
Aguila Blanca y Negra

Buteo melanoleucus Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 4, Dec. 1816,
p. 482. (Guiana. )

Crest short and bushy, like that of Spizaetus tyrannus; tarsus
feathered nearly to the toes; readily identified by the white under
surface and black back.

Description—Length 460-580 mm. Adult, loral area, a very nar-
row line above the eye, a small spot on either side of the upper breast,
posterior half of crown, crest, back, and wings black; primaries edged,
in part, with grayish brown; tail mouse brown, with 4 black bands,
and a white tip; under surface, including under side of wing, except
as noted beyond, pure white; tips of primaries, and indistinct bands
on inner webs above end, dull black ; tips of secondaries gray.

Immature, upper surface black mixed with brownish gray; lesser
and middle wing coverts tipped with white.

An adult female taken near Chepo on April 22, 1949, had the
iris light orange-yellow; maxilla and mandible to symphysis black;
cere, base of mandible, and entire gape bright orange, shading
anteriorly to dull yellow toward the mandible; bare eyelids dull
greenish gray ; feet bright yellow ; claws black.

Measurements (adapted from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull.
50, pt. 10, 1950, p. 439). Males, wing 340-386 (364.6), tail 230-245

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 245

(238.5), culmen from cere 24.5-28.0 (25.9), tarsus 72-84 (77) mm.

Females, wing 394-423 (411.7), tail 230-253 (242), culmen from
cere 26-30 (28), tarsus 88-99 (93.4) mm.

Resident. Rare, in forested areas from the tropical lowlands to
1,650 meters elevation in the mountains of Chiriqui.

Though this handsome hawk eagle ranges from southern México
to northeastern Argentina and southern Brazil it seems uncommon
throughout this vast area, since it is known mainly through scattered
reports.

The few records for Panama are as follows:

Currigui: Above Boquete, at Lérida, June 10, 1936, and Velo, May 26, 1932,
Sept. 1, 1939 (Blake, Fieldiana ; Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p. 506).

VERAGUAS: Specimen in British Museum, without specific locality, taken in
May 1874 by Arcé.

Bocas pet Toro: Banana River, Dec. 10, 1927 (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp.
Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 309) ; Cricamola, Sept. 4, 1936, specimen at Univer-
sity of California in Los Angeles, taken by Loye Miller.

CanaL ZonE: Near Lion Hill, specimen taken by McLeannan, 1863, in
British Museum; Barro Colorado Island (Chapman, My Tropical Air
Castle, 1929, p. 401).

PANAMA Province: La Jagua, Jan. 25, 1958, F. A. Hartman (identified from
kodachrome slides; specimen not preserved) ; Chepo, April 22, 1949, fe-
male; Charco del Toro, Rio Majé, March 28, 1950 (sight record, Wet-
more).

The bird shot on April 22, 1949, was secured in the hills at
Camaron, near the Rio Mamoni above Chepo. It came with con-
siderable force through high forest to strike at Aracari toucans that
chattered and dashed about in the branches, much excited. Another
was seen the following year in heavy forest above the head of
tidewater on the Rio Majé. The contrasted black and white colors
made both of these individuals conspicuous even in the dark shadow
beneath the dense leaves of the forest canopy.

Nothing appears to be recorded regarding the nest. Schonwetter
(Handb. Ool., pt. 3, 1961, p. 170) gives the dimensions of 3 eggs
as 60.1-62.4 x 49.9-53.3 mm., but includes no details regarding color or
marking. Kreuger (Ool. Rec., 1963, p. 6) reports two sets of 2
eggs each, both collected in British Guiana on April 27, 1927, and in
March, 1928. He describes the ground color as cream-white spotted
with dark brown, gray-lilac, and light brown, varying in extent of
marking from heavily spotted to sparingly marked. Size in one
set is given as 62.4 X 47.5 mm., and 62.2 x 48 mm.

From external characters this species is separated generically from
Spizaetus by the outermost or first primary longer than the inner-

246 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

most or tenth, instead of the reverse. The whole wing appears
more pointed, the tail is relatively shorter, the cere proportionately
larger, and the bristly feathering of the lores more abundant.

MORPHNUS GUIANENSIS (Daudin): Crested Eagle; Aguila Mofiuda

Falco guianensis Daudin, Traité Elém. Compl. Orn., vol. 2, May 1800, p. 78.
(French Guiana.)

Size large; head crested; tail nearly as long as wing; body form
slender; varying from white underneath to lightly banded with cin-
namon, or in some heavily banded with black.

Description —Length 710 to 830 mm. Adult, light phase, crown,
sides of head, basal crest feathers, hindneck, and band across lower
foreneck and upper breast gray; crown feathers streaked and spotted
with dark neutral gray; elongated central crest feathers white at base,
black on tips; upper surface black, with rump and upper tail co-
verts white; wing coverts tipped and mottled with gray; primaries
and secondaries mottled obscurely with gray; tail black, with white
tip and 3 broad cross bands of gray, mottled with mouse brown;
throat white; lower surface from gray breast band to under tail
coverts white, with narrow bars of cinnamon, lined with gray; un-
der surface of wing white, becoming gray on the outer half of the
primaries, which are gray banded with black.

Immature, crown, sides of head, crest, and under surface white,
washed with pale gray on crown and upper breast; upper surface
dull black, with wing coverts freckled with white and gray, and wings
with irregular gray bars spotted with black; under surface of wings
as in adult.

Dark phase, crown and sides of head dark gray; above black,
with the wing coverts tipped lightly with white, and the wings faintly
freckled with gray; tail banded with gray, mottled with black, and
tipped with white; breast band black; rest of lower surface, including
under wing coverts white, barred heavily with black. (The dark in-
dividuals are less common.)

A male, in dark phase, taken on the Cerro Azul, had the following
colors: Iris hazel; bill dull black; cere and loral area (bare except
for scattered bristles) dark neutral gray; tarsus and toes dull yellow;
claws black.

Measurements (from specimens from Panama, Colombia, and the
upper Amazon).—Males (7 specimens), wing 425-449 (437), tail
340-380 (364, average of 5), culmen from cere 30.1-33.6 (32.6,
average of 6), tarsus 105.2-117.7 (110.9) mm.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 247

Females (5 specimens), wing 450-477 (464), tail 373-407 (381),
culmen from cere 34.7-37.7 (36.0), tarsus 108.1-116.2 (113.4) mm.

Resident. Rare, in regions of heavy forest.

The available records are as follows:

Cuirigui: Boquete, Mar. 15, 1960 (sight record, Wetmore).

Bocas DEL Toro: Changuinola, Banana River (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp.
Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 309).

CocLté: Head of Rio Guabal, Caribbean slope (sight record, Wetmore).

Cana Zone: Lion Hill (taken by McLeannan, specimen in British Mu-
seum) ; Barro Colorado Island, March 30, 1936 (specimen in American
Museum of Natural History), Feb. 8, 1950 (dark phase), and May 5, 1953
(sight records, Wetmore).

PANAMA: Quebrada Carriaso on Pacific slope of the Cerro Azul (head
waters of Rio Pacora) ; dark phase, April 25, 1949; Chepo, March 18, 1911.

DariEN: Mouth of Rio Imamado on the Rio Jaqué, April 8 and 11, 1947
(dark phase; sight records, Wetmore).

CoMARCA DE SAN Bras: Permé and Puerto Obaldia (Griscom, Bull. Mus.
Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 315) ; male and female, Puerto Obaldia, Dec.
10, 1931, and March 28, 1932 (specimens in Brandt collection, University
of Cincinnati) ; Puerto Obaldia, Feb. 17, 1963 (sight record, Wetmore).

IsLa CorBa: Jan. 15 and 22, 1956 (sight records, Wetmore).

As this is a species that lives in tall forest, it is seen mainly by
chance, and probably it is more common than the few records in-
dicate. In my own experience I have observed it at Boquete soaring
high over the valley, when the long tail and short wings served to
identify it at sight. This is the only report for Chiriqui at present.
On Isla Coiba one rested on an open perch below the top of a tall
tree, where it was seen first by the keen eye of Vicente, my com-
panion. It perched quietly, with raised crest. Others were seen here
soaring high over the forest.

On April 25, 1949, my last day afield for that season, I had gone
up the Rio Pacora into the eastern part of the Cerro Azul and had
continued higher on foot along the Quebrada Carriaso, to an ele-
vation of about 350 meters, in an area that at the time was little
troubled by human intrusion. I noted tracks of tapir, deer, and
jaguar at intervals along the stream, and smaller forest creatures
appeared in the undergrowth and in the trees. Toward noon I
found it necessary to return to meet my companions at the jeep,
left near the main river. But first, reluctant to leave, I tried calling
once more. A few small birds were attracted, then a hummingbird,
and then this beautiful eagle came swiftly into a little open space
above me, circled expertly, opening and closing the long tail, and
then smashed through slender branches to a perch only 12 meters

248 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

distant, where it turned its head quickly to search for the source
of the distress call that I was making. As I raised the gun it looked
directly at me, and a second later it was on the ground. Its motions
were rapid and certain, a true bird of prey. This was a fine example
of the dark phase.

Earlier, on April 8, 1947, on the upper Rio Jaqué, I had a clear
view of one, also in dark phase, as on set wings it crossed a small
clearing in the forest. Another was seen here in the forest a few days
later.

The dark phase of this attractive eagle in its fully colored form,
with heavy black barring across the lower surface of the body below
the black upper breast, presents a decidedly different appearance
from the paler coloration seen in most individuals. Gurney, who
received a specimen of this kind from Ecuador, believed it to repre-
sent a distinct species and described it as Morphnus taeniatus (Ibis,
1879, p. 176). For some time the few known came from South
America, where the bird ranges south to Bolivia and to Misiones
in northeastern Argentina. A specimen in the American Museum of
Natural History from Ecuador has the lower surface from the lower
breast to the under tail coverts barred somewhat sparingly with black,
and another from the same country has the axillars and flanks
heavily barred, while elsewhere on the under parts the markings
are reduced to scattered flecks of black. These appear to bridge
over to the paler, more common style.

Lehmann (Caldasia, no. 7, 1943, pp. 172-175) has described and
figured a specimen from the Rio Jurado, Choco, that is almost
entirely blackish brown beneath, with few light markings, which,
as an extreme manifestation of melanism, strengthens the supposi-
tion that the taeniatus style is merely a color variant.

The nesting of these birds is little known. The Penards (Vog.
Guyana, vol. 1, 1908, p. 409) were told that the nest was made of
sticks placed in the tallest trees. Kreuger (Ool. Rec., 1963, pp.
5-6) describes a single egg in his collection from “Polaro” (= Potaro),
British Guiana as “deep cream with large pale yellow-brown spots,
richly dispersed round the larger end of the egg, with finer small
spots spread over the rest of the surface. Additionally a few pale
lilac-gray, smaller-sized spots are visible.” The measurements are
73.7 X53.4 mm. The dguila mofiuda is said to feed on the smaller
monkeys, large birds, and iguanas. Dr. Lehmann states that the
call is somewhat similar to that of the greater black hawk.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 249

HARPIA HARPYJA (Linnaeus): Harpy Eagle; Harpifa
Vultur harpyja Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 86. (México.)

The largest and most powerful of the eagles; general form and
appearance like that of Morphnus guianensis, but much greater
in size; head with a prominent, double-pointed crest; tail long;
wings relatively short and rounded ; feet very strong and powerful.

Description—Length, 950 mm. to more than a meter. Adult,
head all around, including throat, smoke gray; bushy crest darker,
blacker, with elongated central feathers that often are erected in a
double point; upper surface black, with a wash of bluish gray;
rump and upper tail coverts narrowly tipped with white; wing
coverts and scapulars tipped with white or pale gray ; outer primaries
black; inner primaries and secondaries mottled with gray and dull
black; tail with 4 black bands, separated by 3 that are grayish white,
and tipped with white; upper breast black; rest of under surface
(except for the gray throat) white, with sides streaked, and tibia
barred, with black; under wing coverts white, with large, irregular
spots of black; bases of flight feathers pale gray; tips dull black,
barred with white; under surface of tail grayish white, barred nar-
rowly with black.

Immature, head, neck, and under surface white; crest black
mottled with gray, and tipped with white; above mottled gray and
black; tibia lightly barred. The weight of a living male in the New
York Zoological Society collection is given as 4.6 kilograms (Conway,
Auk, 1962, p. 275). A male collected March 8, 1963, near Armila,
San Blas weighed 4.53 kilos. Fowler and Cope (Auk. 1964, p. 209)
record the weight of living birds in a male as 4.8 kilos and in two
females as about 7.6 kilos.

The iris in the male last mentioned was orange; cere and bill
black; tarsus and toes yellow; claws black.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt.
10, 1950, p. 434). —Males, wing 543-580 (556.5), tail 372-412 (392),
culmen from cere 41.5-54 (48.3), tarsus 114-120 (115.8) mm.

Females, wing 583-610 (587.6), tail 417-420 (418), culmen from
cere 46-63 (53), tarsus 118-130 (123) mm.

Resident. Rare, in areas of heavy forest.

This great eagle, usually acknowledged as the most powerful
of its group in the entire world, ranges through the forested lowlands
of tropical America from southern México to northern Argentina.
A hundred years ago it was fairly common in Panama, as McLean-
nan, station master on the Panama Railroad, on the Atlantic side,

250 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

told Osbert Salvin that he saw them regularly in the forests (Sclater
and Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864, p. 368). Definite records
however are relatively few. The Museum of Comparative Zoology
received two from Almirante, Bocas del Toro, shot April 15, 1923,
and March 26, 1924, by H. S. Blair, division manager for the
Chiriqui Land Co., and one from Banana River, taken on April 21,
1928, by Wedel (Peters, Bull Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p.
309). There is a male in the Brandt Collection at the University
of Cincinnati received from Wedel, labeled Almirante Bay, March
21, 1939. Charles O. Handley, Jr., had report of one 7 kilometers
southwest of Changuinola, February 26, 1960, and received the skull
of one shot on the Rio Teribe in October 1962.

In the Canal Zone these birds have been recorded occasionally on
Barro Colorado Island, and McLeannan collected one near Lion
Hill. The newspaper Star and Herald of Panama published an
account and a photograph of one killed by a hunter in the Bohio area
on September 14, 1951, that judged from the picture was a fully
grown immature individual. It was reported to have had a wing
spread of 6 feet 5 inches (nearly 2 meters). An older bird, brought
to Dr. Alejandro Méndez P., Director of the Museo Nacional in
Panama, was killed on November 11, 1951, by Adolfo Arias Espinosa
on the farm of Dr. Adolfo Arias near the Rio Pacora, beyond
Pacora. A sight record is of one flushed from a low perch in
dense brush near the Rio Camarén, west of La Campana, Panama,
March 9, 1951. Apparently it was hunting the marmosets that were
numerous in the area. H. von Wedel secured a male at Miel, on
the boundary at Puerto Obaldia, San Blas, June 15, 1934 (in the
Brandt Collection at the University of Cincinnati).

The harpy is reported to prey on the smaller monkeys and sloths,
to attack smaller deer, and also to capture macaws and other large
birds. The one taken near Armila, San Blas, shot by a hunter em-
ployed by C. O. Handley, Jr., had fur and claws of a young two-toed
sloth in its stomach. While the flight appears rather slow and heavy,
this perhaps is misleading, because of its large size and heavy body.
The feet and legs are muscular and heavy, far more so than in any
other of the eagles.

Joseph Parker Norris, Jr. (Ool. Rec., vol. 7, 1927, pp. 25-26),
has published an account of two eggs in his collection obtained by
Rodolphe M. de Schauensee and James Bond at “Costanhal, near
the Rio Apehu” in Brazil in 1926. De Schauensee informs me that
the locality is near the Belém-Braganga Railroad, about 85 kilometers
east of Belém. The nest was placed on the bottom limb next to

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 251

the trunk of a huge tree about 35 meters (111 feet) from the ground.
It was made of large sticks and was lined with the hair of sloths.
A fresh egg taken here on April 27, white without markings, al-
though badly nest stained, measured “2.80 2.35 inches, or 71.12x
69.9 mm.” (The final figure should be corrected to 59.69, which is the
equivalent of 2.35 inches.) On a second visit, on May 9, another
egg, with incubation begun, was secured that measured “76.71 x
57.15 mm.” This also was stained, but Norris believed that it was
marked also with blotches of light brown. Fowler and Cope (l.c.,
pp. 260, 262) describe two nests examined in British Guiana built in
forks in tall silk-cotton trees. They were bulky structures from 1.2 to
1.3 meters in diameter placed at about 40 meters from the ground,
above the level of the surrounding forest canopy.

Five eggs in the U. S. National Museum were laid by a captive
bird at the National Zoological Park between 1946 and 1951, 4
in the month of July and 1 in August. These are white, somewhat
nest-stained (but without markings) with a finely granulated shell.
They are short subelliptical to nearly elliptical in shape and measure
as follows: 73.4x60.5, 774x622, 738.0X62.1, 78.0X62.3, and
78.1 x 60.2 mm.

This species is often called aguilucho.

CIRCUS CYANEUS EUDSONIUS (Linnaeus): Marsh Hawk;
Gavilan Sabanero

Ficure 45
Falco hudsonius Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 128. (Hudson Bay.)

Marsh hawks, in any plumage, are distinguished from all others
of the family by the small but distinct semicircular ruff of feathers
with decurved tips that extends from the sides of the base of
the head forward and around across the lower throat; and by the
white patch on the lower rump and upper tail coverts, prominent
when the birds are in flight.

Description.—Length, 450 to 530 mm. Adult male, upper surface,
throat, and upper breast pale gray, washed above more or less with
brown to produce indefinite streaks on crown and hindneck; rest of
under surface white, barred indefinitely with gray on upper breast,
and barred and spotted lightly with cinnamon elsewhere; tips of
flight feathers black; rest of under wing surface white, barred and
spotted lightly with gray; rump and upper tail coverts white; tail
gray, barred rather indefinitely with grayish brown.

Adult female, fuscous-brown above, with feathers of crown, hind-
neck, back, and wing coverts edged with buffy brown to cinnamon;

252 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

below cinnamon-buff, except for foreneck and extreme upper breast
which are fuscous-brown; sides streaked with dark brown to rufous;
under wing surface strongly barred with grayish brown.

Immature, like female but browner.

Migrant from the north. Tolerably common; found on open
lands from sea level to the slopes of the higher mountains.

ae Cz
OPEN
Lee Wp i
WSS GEEZ
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Fic. 45.—Marsh hawk, gavilan sabanero, Circus cyaneus hudsontus.

Present from late October to April. Early dates of arrival: Oc-
tober 16, 1929, Permé, San Blas (Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool.,
vol. 72, 1932, p. 316); October 21, 1935, Puerto Obaldia, San
Blas (specimen in Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan,
taken by Wedel) ; October 20, 1961, near Penonomé, Coclé (Loftin,
Carib. Journ. Sci. 1963, p. 64) ; October 26, 1927, Cocoplum, Bocas
del Toro (Chapman, Auk, 1931, p. 120). Late dates of departure:
April 4, 1948, near Chico, Panama; Balboa, C. Z., April 10, 1942
(T. Imhof, field notes) ; Canal Zone, April 18, 1911 (Jewel, Auk,
1913, p. 426) ; April 27, 1949, Pacora, Panama.

There is record of one banded as a nestling in Kansas on June
15, 1951, that was taken in southern Los Santos, near Tonosi, on
December 3, 1953.

Usually the marsh hawk is seen in graceful flight low over open
fields or grassy marshes, where it quarters the ground in search of
the mice, small birds, and lizards on which it feeds. At any move-

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 253

ment in the grass it pounces quickly, with long legs and sharply
armed toes fully extended to reach through the open grass cover.
It may rise with its prey in its feet, but then drops back to the
ground in some open area where it has clear view around while it
eats.

During March those that have wintered farther south are in
passage northward, and then the birds are more common. Those
noted in this movement travel in the great flocks of Swainson’s and
broad-winged hawks. As the majority pass before the end of the
month, only a few are seen during April.

ISCHNOSCELES CAERULESCENS (Vieillot): Crane Hawk; Guiiio

Sparvius caerulescens Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 10, June
1817, p. 318. (Cayenne.)

Size medium; slate to grayish black; tail long, black, with two
broad white or buff bands; legs long and slender; feet small, with
outer toe decidedly shorter than inner one; tibiotarsal joint flexible
both forward and backward.

Description—Length 430 to 500 mm. Adult, slate gray to blackish
slate; primaries and secondaries dark neutral gray; tail black, be-
coming gray at the end, tipped with white, with two broad bands of
buff or white, often variegated with gray; under tail coverts banded
with white, or buff; legs and abdomen plain or banded narrowly
with white; under wing slaty black, banded narrowly with white
on under wing coverts, and with a prominent white band across the
outer primaries.

Immature, upper throat, forehead, superciliary line, and streaks
on side of head and crown white; a brownish wash over the blackish
upper surface; upper tail coverts banded with white; abdomen and
legs banded with buff. The eye in the immature is reddish brown to
orange (Dickey and van Rossem, Birds El Salvador, 1938, p. 130).

Hellmayr and Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 4, 1949,
p. 227) point out that Geranospiza Kaup, 1847, in current use for
this group of birds, is antedated by Ischnosceles Strickland, Ann.
Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 1, vol. 13, no. 86, June 1844, p. 409, type,
Falco gracilis Temminck. Under the rules of nomenclature Strick-
land’s name is not invalidated by Ischnoscelis Burmeister, 1842, for
a genus of Coleoptera.

Two subspecies (J. c. niger and I. c. balzarensis) are found in
the Republic, one in the west and the other in the east.

These are hawks of slender form that range along the borders
of streams, usually in more open woodland. The exceptionally long

254 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

legs are most noticeable when they are seen on the ground, as then
they stand very erect, almost as though on stilts. In the hand, the
broad scutes on the front and back of the tarsus are smooth, and
in part may appear fused in one long plate. The outer toe, definitely
shorter than the inner one, is also slightly shorter than the hind toe.

The flight is direct and rather slow, performed by a succession of
rapid wing-beats, followed by a short sail with the wings held fully
extended. At La Jagua, toward evening, one came occasionally
to rest on an open branch, where, in the steady trade wind, it bent
forward until the body was nearly horizontal. The food appears to
be mainly frogs, lizards, and small snakes for which it may search
on the ground at the open borders of streams. They also clamber
about rather awkwardly in open trees, bending far over to examine
the under side of the limbs. I have observed small flycatchers pur-
suing them, but the hawks have paid no attention to these attacks.

The nesting of these birds in Panama has not been reported but
should not differ from that of related subspecies. Two eggs of
I. c. livens (Bangs and Penard), a form of northwestern México,
in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, taken at Alamos, Sonora,
on February 9, 1888, by M. A. Frazer are chalky white, without
gloss, with a very faint bluish tinge. They are oval in form and
measure 50.0X 39.6, and 51.0X39.2 mm. The collector described
the nest as about 10 meters from the ground, placed insecurely on
a tangle of small thorny branches growing from two larger limbs.
It was built of small sticks, lined with others still smaller, and was
so flimsy that the eggs were visible through the bottom. The tree
stood in a small grove in the bottom of an arroyo. Two other sets
of two, and one with a single egg, in the W. J. Sheffler collection,
taken near the Hacienda Guiracoba, in southeastern Sonora, were
in nests built of small sticks, vine stalks and weed stems, lined with
finer materials including twigs with green leaves, located high in
trees growing along nearly dry washes. The eggs, described as
plain white, have the following range in measurement: 50-53 x
38-43 mm. (Sutton, Wilson Bull., 1954, pp. 241-242).

Hewitt (Ool. Rec., vol. 17, 1937, p. 12) records a single egg of
the typical race J. c. caerulescens from southern Venezuela also
as white, without gloss, with measurements of 47.5 38.5 mm. The
nest, of small sticks lined with “dry leaves and a few feathers from
the breast of the bird,” was an open cup about 25 centimeters across
located near the end of a branch 25 meters from the ground.

FAMILY ACCIPITRIDAE 255

ISCHNOSCELES CAERULESCENS NIGER Du Bus

Ischnosceles niger Du Bus, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Lett. Beaux Arts Belgique,
vol. 14, pt. 2 (for August) 1847, p. 102. (México.)

Adult, blackish slate; tail bands white, occasionally with the upper
one faintly tinged with buff; slightly larger. Wing, male 290-305,
female 310-332 mm.

Iris “bright red; the cere, eyelids, and mouth corners dull gray;
the bill black with bluish cast; the tarsi and toes orange or red-
orange ; the claws black” (Sutton, Wilson Bull., 1954, p. 237).

Measurements.—Males (5 from México, Guatemala, and western
Panama), wing 290-305 (299.8), tail 215-240 (230.2), culmen from
cere 18.6-19.9 (19.3), tarsus 81.0-90.0 (84.2) mm.

Females (4 from México and western Panama), wing 310-332
(316.3), tail 233-247 (237.6), culmen from cere 20.0-21.5 (20.5),
tarsus 88.0-93.4 (90.1) mm.

This subspecies is found from north-central México through the
tropical lowlands of Central America to central Panama.

Resident. Tolerably common; found locally, in western Panama,
east to the Canal Zone.

Records for this race follow:

Cuirigui: Divala, Nov. 24, 1900 (Bangs, Auk, 1901, p. 358).
Veracuas: Mina de Chorcha (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 216).
HeErrERA: E] Rincon; Santa Maria.

Cana Zone: Atlantic slope, near the railroad (Lawrence, Ann. Lyc. Nat.
Hist. New York, vol. 7, 1861, p. 289) ; Barro Colorado Island.

Birds from the Canal Zone and Herrera show intergradation to-
ward the next race.

ISCHNOSCELES CAERULESCENS BALZARENSIS (W. L. Sclater)

Geranospiza caerulescens balsarensis W. L. Sclater, Bull. Brit. Orn, Club, vol.
38, March 4, 1918, p. 45. (Balzar, Provincia de Guayas, Ecuador.)

Adult like Ischnosceles caerulescens niger but grayer; pale bars
on tail tinged with buff; size somewhat smaller.

Measurements—Male (1 from northwestern Colombia), wing
279, tail 217, culmen from cere 18.2, tarsus 73.0 mm.

Females (8 from Panama and Colombia), wing 288-298 (290),
tail 218-237 (229), culmen from cere 19.2-20.4 (20.1), tarsus 81.7-
87.0 (83.3) mm.

Resident. Found locally from the eastern sector of the Province
of Panama eastward.

256 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Records are as follows:

PanaMA: Rio La Jagua, Chico.

Darién: Rio Tuira (Chapman, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 55, 1926,
p. 223).

San Bras: Permé (Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 316) ;
Puerto Obaldia, July 18, 1933 (Specimen in the Brandt collection at the
University of Cincinnati).

Family PANDIONIDAE: Ospreys; Aguilas Pescadoras

The ospreys, specialized for capturing their food of fish, are
widespread through the great continents of the world and as marginal
populations range in the Bahamas in the West Indian area and to
distant islands of the Pacific, in addition to an extensive distribution
through the East Indies. The single species is divided into 5 geographic
races, distinguished by differences in size and in extent of dark
markings, but all unmistakably ospreys wherever they are found.

PANDION HALIAETUS CAROLINENSIS (Gmelin): Osprey; Aguila
Pescadora

Ficure 46

Falco Haliaétos carolinensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. vol. 1, pt. 1, 1788, p. 263.
(South Carolina.)

Size large, wings long and pointed; under surface and side of head
white, with a prominent dark streak through the eye. Found over
or near water.

Description—Length, 510 to 610 mm. Adult, forecrown, hindneck,
streak through eye, and rest of upper surface deep brownish black;
rest of crown and under surface white, with a band of rufous-brown
spots across the upper breast.

Immature, crown streaked with brownish black; feathers of dorsal
surface tipped conspicuously with white.

Outer toe reversible so that it may be directed forward or back;
undersurface of toes with sharp spicules; undersurface of claws
rounded, instead of grooved as in other hawks; tarsus strong; leg
with short compact feathers. In the hand ospreys have a strong, oily,
fishy odor.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 11,
1950, p. 529).—Males (15 specimens), wing 462-498 (477.4), tail
199-220 (208.8), culmen from cere 31-34 (32), tarsus 58-63 (60)
mm.

Females, wing 488-512 (503.7), tail 212-240 (225.4), culmen
from cere 32-36 (35), tarsus 58-68 (63.3) mm.

FAMILY PANDIONIDAE 257

Migrant. Tolerably common along the coasts and on larger bodies
of water.

Ospreys arrive from the north in October and November and leave
in March and April. A few remain in Panama through the period
of northern summer but do not nest.

The osprey is found along the coasts, about the mouths of rivers,
and inland regularly along their lower courses to the head of tide-
water. On the larger streams where there are wide stretches of open
water favorable for fishing it goes farther. I have recorded it on

Fic. 46.—Foot of osprey, aguila pescadora, Pandion haliaetus carolinensis.

the Tuira to the mouth of the Rio Paya, on the Chucunaque to
the Rio Canglon, and far inland on the Rio Boquerdon, the Rio
Pequeni and the Rio Pucro. It comes also to the lakes near El
Volcan, and is seen regularly on Madden and Gatun Lakes. They
are recorded also at Isla Coiba, and Isla Coibita; Isla Taboga, and
Isla Taboguilla; and in the Archipiélago de las Perlas at Isla San
José, Isla del Rey, Isleta Malaga, and Isla Saboga. On October 11,
1940, I saw one at sea 60 kilometers north of Cristobal in flight to
the south out of sight of land.

The osprey feeds on fishes, captured near the surface of the water.
It flies slowly about at a moderate elevation, occasionally pausing to
hover, until prey is sighted, when it drops swiftly with long legs

258 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

extended. The grasp of the long, sharp claws is aided in holding
the slippery prey by the horny spicules on the underside of the toes.
If the bird has been successful in capture it rises and flies to an
open perch in a tree, carrying the fish head forward, grasped with its
feet one behind the other. As it comes to the perch one foot is re-
leased to grasp the limb. In feeding on the larger fish flesh is
stripped and the head, bones, and body are discarded. As the bird
comes regularly to favored resting places these discards accumulate
on the ground below when not carried away by scavengers. The
birds feed as indicated on both salt and fresh water, and may go
some distance from land as around the off-shore islands of Isla Villa
on the coast of Los Santos, and Farrallon del Chiru, near La Venta,
Coclé. On the Rio Chiman near the mouth of the Curuti I saw
one carrying a bird the size of a small pigeon in its feet, a highly
unusual occurrence and one seldom recorded.

Occasionally ospreys rest on a gravel bar, usually so that they may
bathe. Near Fort Amador one came at low tide to a small islet ex-
posed by the falling water, walked with short mincing steps for a little
distance, and then began to splash its breast and wings in the wash
of small waves.

The call, that I have heard only occasionally in Panama, is a high-
pitched, whistled note, repeated several times, that carries for some
distance.

Migrants are seen occasionally in company with the great flights
of Swainson’s hawks. At such times the osprey may stop to rest
in open country at a distance from water. I have observed one,
for example, perched briefly in a huge dead tree in an inland area
near FE] Uracillo on the Atlantic side of Coclé, and another in a
similar situation on one of the ridges at the base of the Cerro Azul.

There are 3 records at present of ospreys banded in the north as
nestlings, one from New York State recovered near Jaqué when 2
years old, one from New Jersey marked in July and killed at La
Jagua the following December, and one from Maryland with the date
of June 23, found near Tonosi on October 4 of the same year.

Near Jaqué on March 20, 1946, one showed heavy molt in the
flight feathers of both wings. One taken here a week later appeared
about to begin migration as it was extremely fat. Some of the birds
that I have seen in summer were in very worn plumage, suggesting
that they had not returned north because of an abnormal physiological
state.

This species, in addition to the usual name is known locally as the
gavilan de playa and the dguila de mar.

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 259

Family FALCONIDAE: Falcons, Forest-Falcons, and Caracaras ;
Halcones, Halcones del Monte, y Caranchos

Members of this family are found throughout the world with
the exception of the Antarctic Continent, as residents, or on oceanic
islands as birds of passage during migration. The true falcons
take living prey regardless of the rapidity through which bird
or mammal may attempt escape, and because of their skill the larger
species have been trained by man as hunters for hundreds of years.
Other kinds, more secretive, but skilled in their hunting, are in-
habitants of the forest, where they watch from lookout stations
and kill when hungry; or skulk low in undergrowth, with equal
success in the capture of living prey. A few descend to any flesh
living or dead, and so are scavengers; fewer still are insect eaters.

Representatives of all these types are found among the 12 species
recorded from the Republic of Panama, one of the hunters being
especially active in the capture of snakes.

KEY TO SPECIES OF FALCONIDAE

1. Edge of maxilla straight or slightly sinuated, never with a sharp projecting

angle or toothlike: process... (las ceaictraevdee acne tilde dbldaaeoeia Sue 2
Maxilla with a distinct sharp, toothlike process near tip; mandible notched

to receive;this Grenusy Paleo). ssi iacs ie e'eisicic esiectoeioiaiesd 6)s10 6 aie lare¥e oe 8

Be EVGAG: Wath 2 CISENCE CEESE: 4 5, 0:6,5,0ie%c rd tie wioisieeoieeelcielee tee + pice viaje eieierwes 3
Plead TOE CEESEEG I's « s:0:s Ss. cre cieieta ale Tete Ue « Calne os ccqaaeisrevereanesiewe's ¢ 4

3. Breast and tibia white or buffy white; crest short and bushy.
Laughing falcon, Herpetotheres cachinnans, p. 260
Breast and tibia black, or dark brown more or less streaked.
Caracara, Caracara plancus, p. 271
4. Wing tip longer; longest primaries more than 70 mm. longer than
BECOMUATISS) 8, gin12)'5 00 0y0"siaai lias <\shc. si ataieid’ gr d/suqgel gel lis jetaiats lekeumibl ete ceneretadete lets 5
Wing tip rounded; longest primaries exceeding secondaries by less than
A40i nim, (genus! MscraStar)” . cl SST OI, «Sota es ob td earstintlans ate date 6
5. Head fully feathered except on lores and eyelids; lower surface mainly
Duce cos Yellow-headed caracara, Milvago chimachima cordatus, p. 274
Throat and sides of head with feathering scanty or absent; bare skin red
in life ; plumage black, with white abdomen.
Red-throated caracara, Daptrius americanus americanus, p. 276
6. Smaller; wing not more than 180 mm.
Barred forest-falcon, Micrastur ruficollis tnterstes, p. 268
Largersswingsmore:than 200 0mm. }. ais.5. fo. ssaclage Bolte Raabe votes ¢ stele 7
7. Wing less than 240 mm. ; tail definitely shorter than wing.
Slaty-backed forest-falcon, Micrastur mirandollei, p. 264
Wing more than 250 mm.; tail equal to wing, or longer ..................
Collared forest-falcon, Micrastur semitorquatus naso, p. 266

260 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

8. Back and tail bright cinnamon-brown, barred, more or less, with black.
Sparrow hawk, Falco sparverius sparverius, p. 291
Back and tail gray, dark brown, or nearly black .............ccceeee 9
9. Larger; wing more than 300 mm.

Peregrine falcon, Falco peregrinus anatum, p. 280
Smaller; wing less than 290 mm., usually much less ...........-..000: 10

10. Breast white, or buffy white, streaked with black, or brownish black.
Pigeon hawk, Falco columbarius, p. 288
Breast black, usually banded with white ..............0ccccccceevecs 11
11. Side of head black, but with a distinct white, or buffy white superciliary.
Aplomado falcon, Falco femoralis femoralis, p. 287
Side of head black with no light colored superciliary stripe............ 12
12. Larger; wing more than 240 mm.; feet stronger, middle toe without claw
as long as tarsus........ Orange-breasted falcon, Falco deiroleucus, p. 281
Smaller; wing less than 225 mm.; feet weaker, middle toe without claw
shorter than tarsus......... Bat falcon, Falco rufigularts petoensis, p. 283

HERPETOTHERES CACHINNANS CACHINNANS (Linnaeus): Laughing
Falcon; Vaquero
Ficure 47

Falco cachinnans Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 90. (Surinam.)

A falcon with bushy crest, long tail, and short rounded wings,
that in life appears black on the side of the head and back, white
on the crest and lower surface.

Description —Length, 430-470 mm. Adult (sexes alike), sides of
head, back, wings, and tail fuscous-black; the tail with 4 or 5 bands
of white, that in some individuals are only spots; rest of head and
under surface white, the bushy crest, streaked narrowly, more or less,
with fuscous-black; under surface of wings light buff, with dusky
spots on the under wing coverts, and indistinct bars on the primaries
and secondaries. In some the white of head and lower surface is
washed more or less with buff.

Immature, feathers of back and wings, including wing coverts,
edged narrowly with buffy brown; some individuals with sides,
tibia, and under tail coverts streaked and spotted lightly with cin-
namon-buff and fuscous.

Iris dark brown; cere and gape yellow; rest of bill black; tarsus
and toes deep olive-buff ; claws black.

Measurements (birds from Costa Rica, Panama, and Colom-
bia).—Males (12 specimens), wing 252-276 (265), tail 186-216
(200), culmen from cere 21.2-26.1 (22.4), tarsus 59.8-63.8 (61.3)
mm.
Females (12 specimens), wing 255-268 (260), tail 185-207 (194),
culmen from cere 22.5-26.1 (23.5), tarsus 59.8-63.5 (61.2) mm.

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 261

Resident. Throughout the tropical zone, locally common, but
in recent years rare or absent from the more heavily settled regions
(including the Canal Zone); ranging to 1280 meters in the lower
subtropical zone (Palo Santo, El Volcan) on the Pacific slope in
Chiriqui.

The strange calls of this interesting species of the falcon family
are the usual indication of its presence, as the birds themselves may
be seen infrequently, especially in heavily forested areas. Though

rth ut
ii

ily ce Us

Br a

Fic. 47.—Laughing falcon, vaquero, Herpetotheres cachinnans cachinnans.

they are not particularly wary, it is usual for them to rest on
high, open perches that many times are concealed from observation
by leafy cover below. At rest they stand erect, the bushy crest
causing the head to appear large. During flight the short, rounded
wings, which beat rapidly, and the long tail present an unusual
silhouette. The loud calls, heard most often in morning and eve-
ning, as well as through the night, in still air carry distances of
more than a kilometer. They begin with a single note, repeated
rather slowly, increase in tempo, and change to a loud gua kow,
uttered more and more rapidly. Presently a companion may join
when the two may call, sometimes alternately, sometimes in unison,
for 10 minutes or more, a strange, weird concert, startling to one

262 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

who hears it for the first time without knowing its author. Some
complain of its loudness but to me it has always been one of the
more pleasing among the stranger tropical sounds. Near at hand
paired birds utter lower cackling or chuckling calls that often are
quite amusing to the human ear.

Snakes form the principal food of this species, and in their capture
they are most adept. I recall particularly a pair near our little house
above Concepcion, in western Chiriqui, that once or twice daily flew
past with the limp form of a snake dangling from the feet. One
came regularly with its prey into the dead top of a tree on the slope
immediately below us, where it called until another, that I believed
to be a grown young one, came scrambling up to seize the food
and carry it down into the leafy cover below. The parent then usually
stood erect with flaring crest, while it called vociferously for several
minutes. Often one or both carrying prey flew past uttering guttural,
chattering notes that we found entertaining through their resemblance
to low-voiced human laughter. On several occasions I saw a chi-
mango hawk following as the laughing falcon passed with its dangling
prey, and once one came tailed by a group of half a dozen parakeets,
all chattering excitedly. These sights were of daily occurrence, but in
over two weeks during which I covered miles of the surrounding ter-
rain, I myself did not see a single serpent. In the stomach of one that
I collected near Alanje, Chiriqui I found the end of the tail of a
coral snake that Dr. Doris Cochran identified as Erythrolamprus
aesculapit.

Those who have seen this hawk hunting have told me in detail of
how it alights on the ground and spreads one wing whose stiff feathers
fend off the strikes of an aggressive snake until the falcon can seize
it in one foot near the head and so hold it until it is killed.

Though this falcon is one of wide distribution, there is little in-
formation as to its nesting habits. In southeastern Sonora W. J.
Sheffler found it using cavities in cliffs and from one nest collected
a young bird several days old. This was covered with light brownish-
buff down, paler on the chin and throat, and darker on the upper
surface, with a “black facial mask and collar around the nape” like
the similar markings of the adult plumage (Sheffler and van Rossem,
Auk, 1944, pp. 141-142). The first authentic egg, sent to Col. L. R.
Wolfe (Ool. Rec., vol. 18, 1938, p. 77) from Horqueta, Paraguay,
was “clear white, fairly well marked around the large end with flakes
and splashes of rich reddish-chestnut and a few flecks of light red
scattered over the remainder. Size 56.5x45.6 mm.” Later, in
Tamaulipas, Wolfe (Condor, 1954, p. 161) flushed a laughing falcon

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 263

from a cavity in a large tree and saw another broken stub where the
birds were said to nest. In the same account he describes an egg taken
in San Luis Potosi from a natural cavity where it lay without lining
other than the debris usual in such openings. This egg, subelliptical
as shown in an accompanying illustration, had the ground color
entirely concealed by a “wash of dark chocolate brown and a few
splashes of burnt umber, but there are a few streaks of lighter
yellowish brown where the pigment is thinner.” It measured 58.0 x
44.6 mm.

There is an egg in the U. S. National Museum collections, long
attributed to the collared forest-falcon (Micrastur semitorquatus)
that was collected by John Xantus on the “Nishpa Rio” in Michoacan
in April 1863. This is between subelliptical and oval and between
cinnamon-buff and clay color in ground color, irregularly washed and
blotched with chestnut-brown, thickened in occasional irregular spots
until it appears almost black. It measures 59.2 x 43.3 mm. Under date
of April 19, 1863, Xantus wrote to Prof. S. F. Baird from the
mountains of southern Michoacan that he had collected an egg of the
“vaco” from “the hollow top, about 5 feet in the trunk” of a large
wild fig tree. He attributed the nest to the collared forest-falcon
which he had collected at or near this point, but in evident error.
Though the nest and eggs of the latter are unknown, in the numerous
specimens of this species that I have handled there has been no
evidence whatever of feather wear that is inevitable in any hole-
nesting bird with such a long tail. The site, the common name, the
form, and color of the egg are those of the laughing falcon.

There has been uncertainty as to the geographic variation found
in these birds, so that the number of subspecies recognized by different
authors has varied from two to six. The main difficulty has come
from lack of understanding of the considerable amount of individual
variation both in color and size. After examination of more than 125
specimens [ still find it reasonable to recognize the three races that I
outlined in a study of more than 20 years ago (Wetmore, Proc. U. S.
Nat. Mus., vol. 95, 1944, pp. 35-38). These are Herpetotheres
cachinnans chapmani Bangs and Penard, which is more grayish brown
above, with the edgings of the dorsal feathering of the immature
lighter, brighter brown, found from México to northern Honduras
and El Salvador; H. c. cachinnans (Linnaeus), darker, blacker
above, with the edgings in the immature darker, more chestnut brown,
that ranges from Honduras to Pert and central Brazil; and H. c.
queribundus Bangs and Penard, which is lighter, more grayish brown
above than chapmani, with the edgings in the immature paler and

264 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

grayer than in either of the other two races. This extends from
eastern Bolivia and eastern Brazil south to Chaco and Misiones in
northern Argentina.

Size as a distinction between subspecies is not reliable. And the
presence of a wash of buff over the white of the head and lower
surface that some students have used to separate one supposed race
has no value, as this color appears in some specimens in all the
groups outlined above. It is found more frequently in wet areas so
that the color may be intensified through stain from damp vegeta-
tion.

MICRASTUR MIRANDOLLEI (Schlegel): Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon;
Halcoén Gateador

Astur mirandollei Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Astures, 1862 (after Sept.), p. 27.
(Surinam. )

Micrastur mirandollei extimus Griscom and Greenway, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl.,
vol. 81, May 1937, p. 418. (Permé, San Blas, Panama.)

In form the adult suggests the similar stage of the collared forest-
falcon, but is smaller, with a shorter tail, dark gray back, and no
light band across the hindneck. The immature is marbled with gray
and buffy white on the lower surface.

Description—Length, 400-450 mm. Adult, dark slate gray above,
and on the side of the head ; tail blacker, with tip and 3 narrow bands,
sometimes indistinct, of white or buffy white; below white or buffy,
in some lined narrowly with black; under side of wing white or buffy
white, barred with dark gray.

Immature, similar, but with breast and foreneck mottled and lined
with dark gray. In some heavily marked individuals a dark gray
band crosses the breast.

An adult male, from Armila, San Blas, shot on March 7, 1963, had
the iris verona brown; bare skin on side of head, cere, and base of
the bill forward to a point in front of the nostril yellow; anterior
half of bill black ; tarsus and toes yellow ; claws black.

An immature male, taken at Juan Mina on January 11, 1961, had
the iris wood brown; base of maxilla along cutting edge to level of
anterior end of nostril neutral gray; rest dark neutral gray, except
the lower half forward of the nostril, and the hooked tip, which, with
the lower mandible and gape, were bright yellow; line on side of
mandibular rami neutral gray; free edge of eyelids bright yellow;
rest of bare skin on side of head, including the lores, neutral gray;
tarsus and toes bright yellow ; claws black.

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 265

Measurements.—Males (1 from Costa Rica, 8 from Panama), wing
218-231 (224), tail 175-199 (188), culmen from cere 20.0-23.0
(21.1), tarsus 75.7-80.5 (78.3) mm.

Females (3 from Panama), wing 224-229 (227), tail 189-196
(191), culmen from cere 21.3-21.9 (21.5), tarsus 74.5-79.9 (77.0)
mm.

Resident. Rare, in the tropical zone in regions of heavy forest.

The few records based on specimens are as follows:

CocLeé: El Uracillo.

CANAL ZonE: Caribbean slope along the railroad (McLeannan) ; Gamboa,
Apr. 4, 1962 (Hayward), Juan Mina, Jan. 11, 1961 (Wetmore)

PanaMA: Puerto San Antonio, on the lower Rio Bayano; Charco del Toro,
on the Rio Majé.

Darién: Jaqué.

San Bras: Permé, Obaldia.

There is one in the British Museum marked “Panama” that is said
to have been collected by Arcé.

The bird is little known. In my own experience, in which I have
come across it on six different occasions, I have found it always on
low perches in forest, with one exception only, at La Jagua, when,
during a lull in a rainstorm, one rested briefly in an open tree top.
Those I have taken, attracted by my bird calls, have dashed in to
perch very near at hand. One was so intent on prospective prey that
it followed my companion as he moved away to a proper distance for
a shot. Those taken had eaten birds except for one which had the
‘crop filled with remains of a green snake. Near Jaqué I saw one
carrying a lizard. This locality, in Darién, is the only place where
my Panamanian helpers have known the bird. They called it halcén
(or gavilan) gateador, and I was told that sometimes it hunted on
foot on the forest floor, where, on occasion, it could run more rapidly
than a dog. This is verified by the one taken at Armila, San Blas,
which was on the ground.

The body, on the open areas between the feather tracts, including
the underside of the fleshy part of the wings and the wing membranes,
is covered heavily with white down, as is common in many forest-
inhabiting hawks. Nothing is recorded of the breeding of this species,
except the usual statement of Indians in South America that it nests
in tall trees.

The characters ascribed to a supposed race extimus from Panama
prove to be those of individual variation.

266 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

MICRASTUR SEMITORQUATUS NASO (Lesson): Collared Forest-Falcon;
Halcén del Monte Collarejo

Carnifex naso Lesson, Echo du Monde Savant, vol. 6, ser. 2, no. 46, Dec. 15,
1842, col. 1085. (Realejo, Nicaragua.)

A large, long-tailed hunting falcon, inhabitant of dense jungle, with
plain (adult) or widely barred (immature) breast.

Description.—Length, 460-560 mm. Adult (sexes alike), upper sur-
face brownish black to black, with a line of the same color on the side
of the head, and down the base of the foreneck ; upper tail coverts and
long tail barred and tipped rather narrowly with white; under sur-
face, cheeks, and a narrow collar across the hindneck, either white
or cinnamon-buff, the latter varying from pale to dark; under sur-
face of wings barred with white and dark brownish gray.

Immature, crown, side of head, hindneck, and side of neck blackish
brown ; rest of upper surface very dark dull brown, with the feathers,
including the wing coverts, tipped or barred brokenly with dull buff;
tail and upper tail coverts black, barred and tipped with white as in
the adult; under surface white, or occasionally buffy, barred broadly
with brownish black; under surface of wing as in the adult. In an
older stage the upper surface is as in the adult, with the breast and
sides white or buff lightly streaked with brownish black.

Dark phase (rare): In the full stage the entire plumage is dark
brownish slate, with narrow, sometimes partly indistinct, bars above
and below on the posterior half of the body; varying from this to
brownish black above and on foreneck and breast, with dark bars
predominating on the rest of lower surface. In these unusual melan-
istic plumages the tail has the usual light bars, but with the white
obscured, so that they may appear gray.

An adult male, taken on the Rio Pequeni, had the iris light wood
brown; bare skin around eye, over loral area, and back of cere, dull
green; mandibular rami, and base of maxilla below nostril, also dull
green, with a spot of dull honey yellow in the center of the base of
the rami; bare skin across base of gonys, and in center of chin area,
also dull honey yellow; rest of bill black; tarsus and toes bright
yellow ; claws black.

Measurements (birds from México, Guatemala, Honduras, and
Panama).—Males (7 specimens), wing 251-263 (260), tail 247-275
(261.7) ; culmen from cere 19.7-23.2 (21.4), tarsus 85.3-97.4 (88.6)
mm.

Females (4 specimens), wing 270-279 (274), tail 270-288 (281),
culmen from cere 23.6-24.1 (23.8), tarsus 86.5-95.0 (90.1) mm.

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 267

Many museum specimens have the sex wrongly marked, so that the
differences in size that exist between male and female are obscured.

Resident. Not common, in forested areas of the tropical zone;
found less often to 1600 meters in subtropical woodlands in Chiriqui
(Quiel, Finca Lérida). Not recorded to date, though probably present,
in Coclé, Los Santos, and Colon.

This is a hunting falcon of the forests, where it lives under cover and
is little seen. My main observations of it have been when calling to
attract small birds, as occasionally a forest-falcon has come swiftly
through the undergrowth to alight near at hand. Their savage hunt-
ing spirit was illustrated especially by one on the Rio Tuira that was
carrying a bird and that flew ahead of me several times, until finally
I lost it in dense undergrowth. A short time later as I called to attract
hummingbirds the hawk came dashing in to perch a few feet distant
where a charge of shot soon put it in my hand. I was interested to
find the crop crammed with bits of bird flesh to the amount of a good-
sized cupful, but still it had come precipitately at the prospect of an-
other kill.

The principal food appears to be lizards and birds. The hawk
seems usually to tear off the flesh, as I have found only flesh and
internal organs without bones or feathers in the crop and stomach of
the dozen or so that I have handled in the field. Once, at La Jagua,
in late afternoon, one rested for some time on a stub at the border
of forest, my only observation of this falcon in the open. A pair of
Wagler’s woodpeckers that had a nest hole on the underside of a
slanting limb lower down were much excited but took care to remain on
perches where, though near, they were safe. Occasionally I have seen
one of these hawks in swift pursuit of small parrots or other birds
in the forest, or engaged in hunting faisanas (chachalacas) through
the tree tops in early morning. The latter bird is recognized as a
favored quarry throughout the range of the falcon, an indication of
its fierce strength, as such prey is as large and heavy as the hawk
itself. On one occasion in northern Herrera while stalking faisanas
that were moving rapidly through the branches I made right and
left kills with a double-barreled gun, to find that one bird was a
chachalaca and the other a forest-falcon that also was hunting the
other species.

Van Rossem (Dickey and van Rossem, Birds El Salvador, 1938,
pp. 133-134) describes the voice as a series of loud calls, hah hah hah,
uttered deliberately, in tone like the laughing falcon but without the
change to rapid tempo common with that species. I have heard this
in Panama, but have not actually seen the bird calling.

268 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

There appears to be no definite report of their breeding. Indians in
Surinam told the Penards that these hawks made large nests of
sticks, twigs, and similar materials in trees during the little dry
season. On Barro Colorado Island F. W. Loetscher, Jr., recorded
two grown young resting in a tree on July 20, 1949.

While there is much individual variation in color in this species,
differences that may be correlated with geographic range are slight.
Birds from México south through Central America to Darién,
recognized as the race naso, average blacker above, and in the im-
mature stage usually have the dark barring on the under surface
somewhat heavier. The population of Panama is especially black.
This subspecies extends into northwestern Colombia, and according to
Hellmayr and Conover, (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 4, 1949, p.
244) ranges south to western Ecuador. Typical M. semitorquatus
semitorquatus of Vieillot, with type locality in Paraguay, in the
adult is more brownish black above, especially on the head. Immature
birds are slightly lighter colored above, and usually are less heavily
barred below. This race extends from northern Antioquia (Taraza)
and Bolivar (probably also from Cordoba) in northwestern Colombia
east through Venezuela, and south to northern Argentina and south-
ern Brazil.

Many persons do not distinguish between the adults of this species
and the laughing falcon because of their similarity in color and in
color pattern.

MICRASTUR RUFICOLLIS INTERSTES Bangs: Barred Forest-falcon;
Halcon del Monte Rayado

Micrastur interstes Bangs, Auk, vol. 24, no. 3, July 1907, p. 289. (La Estrella,
Cartago, Costa Rica).

A small forest-falcon with rounded wings and long tail, dark gray
above and narrowly barred black and white below; immature a
miniature of the collared forest-falcon.

Description—Length 320-350 mm. Adult, grayish black above;
tail black, with 2 or 3 narrow bars and tip white ; wings like back, or in
some brownish black; chin white; side of head and foreneck dark
gray ; rest of under surface and under wing coverts barred narrowly
with grayish black and white; under surface of flight feathers dark
gray, banded narrowly and irregularly with white.

Immature, brownish black above, with head, hindneck, and tail,
blacker, the latter with 5 narrow bars and tip white; a narrow white
collar around base of hindneck; underneath white or buffy white,
with a narrow line of grayish black or gray down the sides of the

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 269

base of the neck, a band that in some is united across the center ; rest
of under surface barred sparsely and irregularly with grayish black ;
wing coverts white or buffy white; under surface of flight feathers
as in adult.

An adult female taken, on February 28, 1964, at 1,350 meters on
Cerro Tacarcuna, Darién, had the iris dull orange; bare skin on side
of head and the gape bright yellow; cere dull greenish brown clouded
with fuscous; maxilla black except cutting edge back of nostril,
which is bright yellow changing to dull neutral gray on the project-
ing tooth; tip of mandible dull neutral gray; rest dull yellow; tarsus
and toes bright yellow ; claws black.

Measurements—Males (8 from Panama), wing 158-167 (165),
tail 142-159 (151), culmen from cere 13.7-15.6 (13.9), tarsus 58.1-
64.8 (61.9) mm.

Females (6 from Panama), wing 170-175 (172), tail 147-164
(155), culmen from cere 14.1-16.3 (15.6), tarsus 61.0-65.3 (63.1)
mm.

Resident. Locally fairly common, in tropical and lower subtropical
zone forests, to 1,350 meters in the mountains; not recorded from
the eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula.

This interesting member of its genus is fairly common in forested
areas, mainly along the Pacific slope, though its presence is detected
usually through its calls, as the bird is shy and is seldom seen. It
ranges to some extent in the lowlands but is more frequent in hill
country, probably because it is in such areas that suitable forest cover
still remains. I have found it especially over the lower mountains in
Chiriqui to 1,500 meters, and there are similar records for it in
Veraguas at Calobre and Calovévora (Salvin and Godman, Biol.
Centr.-Amer., vol. 3, 1901, p. 111). Formerly, when the lowlands in
these provinces were heavily forested, it ranged lower, as there is
one record for Divala (Bangs, Auk. 1901, p. 358), but suitable cover
in those areas has long been gone. I have recorded it on Cerro Cam-
pana and have found it regularly from the Cerro Azul to Darién.
Formerly it ranged through the Chagres Valley on the Caribbean
slope, where it was taken by McLeannan at Lion Hill a hundred
years ago and by Jewel at Agua Clara and Gatun in 1911 and 1912.
It was found on Barro Colorado Island in the period of Chapman’s
studies but does not appear to have been recorded there since. The
only other report for it on the Caribbean side is of two taken by
Wedel near the Colombian boundary at Permé.

270 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

These hawks frequent low perches in the undergrowth, where they
remain concealed and usually slip away unseen at any approach. As
stated above, their presence is known mainly through their call, a
querulous, single note, sometimes a low keh-h-h and at others a
louder keow, repeated at short intervals, most commonly in early
morning at sunrise or soon after. I have found it useless to attempt
to stalk them as they fly so noiselessly and low that they may not
be seen. When I have been calling small birds one of these falcons
has come frequently to perch near at hand, though they remain shy
and fly into cover at any sudden movement. It appears that they hunt
to some extent on the forest floor as occasionally I have seen them
fly up from such situations. Immature birds are seen sometimes
on open perches where they afford a clear view. In such circum-
stances their color and color pattern invariably suggest the much
larger collared forest-falcon.

They appear to feed mainly on small birds and to some degree on
lizards. Worth (Auk, 1939, p. 310) saw one take a nestling blue-
black grosbeak from the nest. Jewel (Stone, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Philadelphia, 1918, pp. 248-249) found remains of slugs, batrachians,
and small lizards in the stomach of one taken near Gatun.

The variations in this species from the gray-backed populations of
the north to the brown birds of the south are highly interesting. With
considerable more material than was available to Hellmayr and
Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 4, 1949, pp. 249-252) it appears
to me to be appropriate to recognize two races in the area from
México to northern Colombia. While there is some variation, adult
birds from southern México to Nicaragua have the dark barring
spaced more widely on the posterior lower surface, so that they appear
whiter, and also usually have more or less of a cinnamon wash on
the foreneck and upper breast. These are Micrastur ruficollis guerilla
Cassin. Adults from Costa Rica and Panama through western Colom-
bia to western Ecuador, the race interstes, have the black barring un-
derneath more evenly spaced throughout, average darker above, and in
only an occasional individual is there a cinnamon wash on the fore-
neck.

A few individuals throughout the entire northern area of the
range, that includes both these races, display a faint brownish tinge on
the head and back, a hint of the fully brown coloration in these areas
that prevails through the main part of the South American range.

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 271

CARACARA PLANCUS (Miller): Caracara; Carancho

Falco Plancus J. F. Miller, Var. Subj. Nat. Hist., pt. 3, 1777, pl. 17. (Tierra
del Fuego.)

A long-legged, strong-bodied hawk, with black crest and red bare
side of head, that in flight appears dark underneath, with prominent
white patches on throat, base of tail, and near the tips of the wings.

Description—Length, 490 to 520 mm. Adult, crown, with slightly
elongated crest, black; a dull white band across upper hind neck that
merges below on upper back with an area of fuscous-black barred with
white ; wings, lower back, rump, breast, upper abdomen, tibia, sides,
under wing coverts, and end of tail brownish black to black; a
prominent white patch, somewhat broken by grayish brown bars and
edgings, across the middle of the flight feathers; foreneck white;
upper breast buffy white, barred and spotted with brownish black;
lower abdomen and under and upper tail coverts white; basal three-
fourths of tail white, with many narrow grayish brown bars.

Immature, lower foreneck, and upper breast buff, lined with buffy
brown; breast and upper abdomen dark brown, streaked indistinctly
with buffy white; upper back brown tipped and streaked with dull
white, with narrow shaft lines of fuscous brown.

Iris dull orange; cere and bare skin on side of head dull red; line
of culmen, cutting edge, distal third of maxilla, and tip of mandible
dull white; base of both mandibles bluish gray; tarsus and toes
yellow ; claws black.

The carancho is a forceful bird, alert, with direct, strong flight
performed with steadily beating wings. It is both a scavenger and
a predator, seen often in pairs, frequently alone, always using care to
avoid too close human approach, whether at rest on some tree that
gives it outlook, walking on open ground, or in flight toward some
distant point.

Dead fish in a drying pool, an injured bird unable to escape, the
bodies of lizards and rats killed by autos along a highway, small
chickens and ducks that stray too far afield, turtles, rabbits, other
small mammals, all are food to this aberrant falcon. It also comes to
larger carrion and about slaughterhouses for waste, but usually it is
wary. Farmers are inclined to shoot the carancho on sight, par-
ticularly where sheep are herded, as the birds are relentless in their
attacks on newborn lambs.

The bulky open nest, made of sticks, weed stems, dried rushes,
and like materials, is placed in a tree in some secluded area. The two

272 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

or three eggs have the white ground color nearly or wholly con-
cealed by a wash of warm brown, mingled with blotches, irregular
spots, and lines of chestnut and darker shades of brown. There is
much variation in marking, and occasionally eggs are merely lightly
spotted, or, rarely, nearly plain. At first view of a series the
variation is so great as to give the impression that several species
must be represented. Bent (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 170, 1938, p.
130) gives the average size as 59.4X46.5 mm. (taken principally
from eggs collected in Texas and Florida).

The rattling, clattering call of these birds, almost mechanical in
its sound, is heard mainly in the nesting season.

Near Pacora, caranchos are called guaraguo, a name that applies
properly to the red-tailed hawk.

Caracaras are found from Baja California, southern Arizona, New
Mexico, Texas, Florida, and Cuba, south throughout the Americas
to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. South to northern
Brazil the back and rump are plain blackish brown to black, and the
upper tail coverts also are plain or lightly barred at the side. From
south of the Amazon River southward the back, rump, and upper
tail coverts are barred with grayish white. The difference described
is definite but is one of degree, and the birds throughout agree in
form, habits, and voice. Though the two styles have long been re-
garded as separate species, the present-day tendency to unite them as
one is here accepted. The two intergrade in Brazil in the area im-
mediately south of the Amazon River.

Two subspecies, slightly different in depth of color, are found in
Panama.

The generic name Caracara used here follows acceptance of this
name in the last edition of the A.O.U. Check-list of North American
Birds (1957, p. 116). Polyborus proposed in 1816 by Vieillot (Anal.
Nouv. Orn. Elém., p. 22) with “Caracara, Buff.,” which is Falco
brasiliensis Gmelin, as its only species and therefore its type, was long
the accepted genus for the caracaras. Buffon’s name ‘“Caracara’”’ is
based on a bird described by Marcgrave in his Histéria Natural do
Brasil published in 1648, with an illustration in the stilted form com-
mon in works on natural history of that period. In a study of the
original paintings from which the figure was reproduced Adolf
Schneider (Journ. Orn., 1938, pp. 93-94, fig. 3) found that the
Caracara of Marcgrave actually is the harrier known currently as
Circus buffoni (Gmelin). The generic name Polyborus, 1816, thus
becomes a synonym of Circus Lacépéde, 1799. The next available
name for the group formerly called Polyborus is Caracara Merrem (in

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 273

Ersch u. Gruber, Allg. Encycl. Wiss. Kiinste, vol. 15, 1826, p. 159).
Amadon (Auk, 1954, pp. 203-204) has cited a personal communica-
tion from Stresemann who “would prefer to declare the drawing as
unidentifiable” in order to avoid this change. But examination of the
figure reproduced by Schneider shows definitely that it is a harrier.
While the drawing, like most of its day, is crude, the evident ruff
on the side of the small head clearly indicates a harrier, and the
barring on the under tail coverts is characteristic of Circus buffont.
This species ranges widely in northern and eastern South America
from Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad to central Chile, Argentina,
and much of Brazil. Specimens are recorded from Para and from
Espiritu Santo to the north and south of the area where Marcgrave
traveled, a point that Stresemann seems to have overlooked in his
comment that no harrier had been recorded from the region con-
cerned. There seems to be no reason to reject the identification.

CARACARA PLANCUS AUDUBONII (Cassin)

Polyborus Audubonti Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 17, no. 1,
Jan.-Mar. (Aug. 7) 1865, p. 2. (Florida.)

Characters—Dark markings browner; back, wings, breast, sides,
and tibia, brown to dark fuscous.

Measurements—Males (4 from México and western Panama),
wing 355-403 (388), tail 201-233 (216), culmen from cere 31.5-32.6
(32.1), tarsus 86.4-94.1 (91.0) mm.

Females (6 from México and western Panama), wing 374-401
(387), tail 201-228 (215), culmen from cere 31.0-33.3 (32.3), tarsus
88.2-95.6 (91.4) mm.

Resident. Pacific slope, in the tropical lowlands, from western
Chiriqui (Alanje, Bugaba) east to near the western boundary of the
Canal Zone ; Isla Taboga.

In the range outlined caracaras appear to be most common on the
drier, eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula, where they range to the
southern end near Punta Mala. The record for Taboga, of one seen
on a high grass-grown ridge, may have been a straggler from the
mainland.

CARACARA PLANCUS CHERIWAY (Jacquin)

Falco cheriway Jacquin, Beytr. Gesch. Vogel, 1784, p. 17, pl. 4. (Aruba, Nether-
lands Antilles).

Characters —Dark markings blacker; back, wings, breast, sides,
and tibia fuscous-black to black.

274 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Measurements—Males (5 from Panama and Colombia), wing
352-385 (366), tail 170-205 (191), culmen from cere 29.8-31.7 (30.5),
tarsus 87.5-92.8 (90.2) mm.

Females (4 from Colombia and Venezuela) wing 355-388 (376),
tail 180-210 (198), culmen from cere 30.1-33.7 (31.8), tarsus 88.3-
95.5 (91.2) mm.

Resident. On the Pacific slope, in the tropical lowlands, from
Tocumen east to Chiman and the Rio Majé; Archipiélago de las
Perlas (Isla Pacheca).

While “Darién” is usually cited as a northern locality in the range
of this race, I have no record in Panama to the east and south of the
mouth of the Rio Majé, though it is probable that these birds range
to the Golfo de San Miguel. I have not found caracaras above the
gulf along the Rio Tuira, nor did I encounter them along the coast
to the south at Jaqué. The only record for the Pearl Islands is of
2 taken on Pacheca by W. W. Brown, Jr., on April 14, 1904.

This race of the carancho is common in the savanna country east
of Panama City, particularly between Pacora and Chepo where they
may be recorded during most days afield. The nesting period begins
toward the close of the dry season, as the birds pair at the beginning
of March.

Near the mouth of the Rio Chico I saw one make passes at a
cormorant resting on a mud bar, until finally the latter scrambled into
the water. At La Jagua turtles lay their eggs in holes dug in the
slopes above the marsh. Caracaras search out these nests, scrape them
open with their feet, break the eggs and eat the contents. The
wrinkled, parchment-like shells beside the hole where they were laid
are a common sight.

MILVAGO CHIMACHIMA CORDATUS Bangs and Penard: Yellow-headed
Caracara; Chimango

Milvago chimachima cordata Bangs and Penard, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol.
62, Apr. 1918, p. 35. (Isla del Rey, Archipiélago de las Perlas, Panama.)

A small hawk with buffy-white head and undersurface (streaked
below in the immature) and barred tail, found in open country,
regularly about cattle. In flight the markings of the underside of the
wing often show as a light bar.

Description.—Length, 400 to 430 mm. Adult, head, hindneck, and
undersurface, including the under wing coverts, warm buff to buffy
white; slender filaments fringing eyelids, and a narrow streak on the
side of the head behind the eye, brownish black, wings and back
fuscous-black, the back, scapulars, and inner wing coverts margined

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 275

indistinctly with grayish white; lower rump mixed buffy white and
fuscous-black, with a few irregular spots of the latter color on the
central feathers of the buffy upper tail coverts; tail barred with buff
and brownish gray to black, the dark bands equal in width to the
pale ones, with a broad subterminal band of fuscous-black, and a
narrow tip of white; under surface of wing buffy white, barred nar-
rowly, and tipped broadly with brownish black.

Immature, with head, neck all around, breast, and sides streaked
with fuscous; under wing coverts barred with the same color; tip of
tail banded like the central portion.

Measurements——Males (8 from Panama), wing 265-287 (278),
tail 177-201 (188), culmen from cere 21.5-23.5 (22.6), tarsus 50.4-
54.2 (51.8) mm.

Females (4 from Panama), wing 272-288 (282), tail 183-198
(189), culmen from cere 21.7-24.1 (22.7, average of 3), tarsus
51.0-52.2 (51.3) mm.

Resident. Fairly common in the tropical lowlands of the Pacific
slope, from western Chiriqui (Alanje) east to the lower Rio Bayano
(El Llano), including the Azuero Peninsula, and the Archipiélago de
las Perlas (reported from Pacheca, Saboga, Rey, Cafias, Viveros, La
Vivienda, Pedro Gonzalez, Trapiche, and San José islands) ; ranging
upward to 600 meters in western Chiriqui (Buena Vista above
Concepcion).

These are birds of savanna lands bordered by trees and open
scrub, that are not found in the more humid Caribbean lowlands
or in Darién. As the forests are cleared they spread to some degree
through country formerly not suited to them. In January 1961 I
saw one at Gatuncillo on the Rio Chagres between Juan Mina and
the dam. They are found constantly feeding on the ground around
cattle and often fly up to perch on the backs of grazing or resting
beasts, where ordinarily their great companions pay no attention to
them. On occasion I have seen one fluffing and arranging its feathers
as it sat on the hip bone of a cow at rest on the ground. At La
Jagua one early morning one alighted on the back of a resting bull
where it moved along to its head in search of ticks, particularly
around its ears. Later other bulls were less complaisant, for when
two birds came they switched their tails and moved their heads to
drive the hawks away.

The flight is direct but not swift, divided between flapping and
sailing, and seems rather weak for a bird of this family. They are
scavengers to some degree, and in addition eat such small animal
prey as is available—large insects, small birds (including young),

276 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

lizards, and small mammals. Though they are not regularly aggres-
sive I saw one stoop at a groove-billed ani which hid on the ground
at the base of a low stub, on which the hawk perched to look for its
prey. Immediately it was attacked so fiercely by a fork-tailed fly-
catcher that the hawk ducked and turned about repeatedly in such
confusion that the ani escaped unnoticed. Country people complain
that caracaras take young chickens. I have noticed them lingering about
more powerful hawks that were carrying prey or feeding, and have
seen them eating bits of flesh that I have discarded in the preparation
of specimens. In the Pearl Islands it is common to see them along
the beaches, half running, half flying in pursuit of the abundant crabs.
Their notes are harsh, including some high pitched, and some that are
squalling sounds.

The nest, of good size, built of sticks is placed in trees. Two eggs
constitute the usual set. Col. L. R. Wolfe (Ool. Rec., vol. 18, 1938, p.
37) describes eggs of the typical race from Brazil and Paraguay as
varying “from deep red, red smeared with dark mahogany, and
brown to light yellowish-brown.” Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 3,
1961, p. 186) gives the measurements of 5 eggs of the race cordatus
as 41.2-46.0 x 33.3-38.2 mm.

In the Pearl Islands these birds are known as the aguwirre, in the
southern Azuero Peninsula they were called guaracho, and in Coclé
province I heard them called gavilan garrapatero.

This northern race of the species, found from Panama through
Colombia and Venezuela to northern Brazil, differs in the adult from
Milvago chimachima chimachima (Vieillot) of the region south of
the Amazon River in the marking of the tail in which the dark bars are
definitely wider and heavier, with the white marks equal to the dark
ones or narrower. In M. c. cordatus the dark tail bars are appreciably
narrower. Also, cordatus averages slightly darker buff on the head
and underparts, a character, however, that is not completely definitive
since this color may fade as the feathering becomes worn. The im-
mature cordatus has the markings on the lower surface browner.

DAPTRIUS AMERICANUS AMERICANUS (Boddaert): Red-throated
Caracara; Cacao

Ficure 48
Falco americanus Boddaert, Table Planch. Enl., 1783, p. 25. (Cayenne.)
Easily identified by the bare bright red or orange-red skin on the
throat and side of the head and the black-and-white plumage.
Description.—Length 490 to 560 mm. Adult (sexes alike), throat,
upper foreneck, and side of head, around and directly behind the

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 277

eye, bare except for scattered, slender, filamentous feathers, which
are arranged in a line from the bill down the center of the upper
neck, are scattered over the lores, and across the lower eyelid, and
form a stronger fringe along the free border of the upper eyelid;
lower border of breast, abdomen, flanks, tibia, and under tail coverts

Fic. 48.—Red-throated caracara, cacao, Daptrius americanus americanus.

white; auricular region, and side of upper neck behind it, with the
feathers white basally, producing faint light lines (absent in some
specimens) ; elsewhere black, and a faint sheen of dull green.
Immature birds are said to lack the light lines on the sides of the
head, but this is not certain.
A male, taken at El Uracillo, Coclé, February 28, 1952, had the
iris deep red; bill honey yellow; cere, gape, and base of mandible

278 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

dark neutral gray, extending forward irregularly into the brighter
color of the tip; bare skin of throat and side of head deep red; an
area of marguerite yellow on lower eyelid, concealed when the eye
is open ; tarsus and toes coral red ; claws black.

Another male, from Armila, San Blas, March 2, 1963, had the iris
reddish orange; cere, gape, and mandibular rami light blue; rest of
bill bright yellow ; bare skin of throat and side of head orange-red ;
tarsus and toes bright reddish orange ; claws black.

A female from the mouth of the Rio Tuquesa, Darién, March 22,
1959, otherwise similar, had the tarsus and toes orange red.

Measurements——Males (10 from Panama), wing 340-355 (346),
tail 229-248 (239), culmen from cere 24.0-26.7 (25.6, average of 8),
tarsus 52.0-57.5 (54.1) mm.

Females (7 from Panama), wing 331-362 (344), tail 227-258
(243), culmen from cere 22.9-27.9 (25.5, average of 6), tarsus 53.4-
60.0 (56.2) mm.

Resident. Locally fairly common in forested areas in the tropical
zone. Found to 600 meters on Cerro Pirre, at 1000 meters and more
rarely to 1500 meters on Cerro Mali, the highest elevations on the
isthmus at which it has been reported. Not recorded from the
Pacific slope in Coclé, Herrera, or Los Santos.

A first acquaintance with this interesting forest species of the
falcon family is certain to come through its loud, raucous calls of
cao ca cao, ca ca cao, kee yow-w-w, with other variations. The birds
frequently range in groups of half a dozen but are found in pairs
toward the end of the dry season. At a distance their cawing, croak-
ing calls in their harsh, explosive tones sometimes suggest the notes
of macaws, but near at hand they are like nothing else heard in
the forest. Only in amount of noise produced do they suggest those
of the laughing falcon, whose calls have a certain musical intona-
tion entirely lacking in the present species. At times when a pair
of red-throated caracaras has lingered in the trees near my forest
camps their harsh, continued racket has passed the amusing stage to
become a bit annoying.

These birds range through the tree crown, flying rather heavily
with quickly flapping wings, which then are set to sail for short
distances when they have sufficient momentum. In places remote
from settlement, where ammunition is too valuable to use except to
kill game, the cacao is often tame and so curious that it may fly down
within a few meters to watch any human intruder, always with a
steady repetition of its calls. The bird is one that is widely known
through its noisy habits, and its notes are the base of several names.

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 279

The common one of cacao in imitation of its calls is usual from
Costa Rica south through northern South America. Another ap-
pellation from the same source is deslenguado, often abbreviated to
‘lenguado, explained as given because of resemblance to the uncouth
sounds made by persons who have lost their tongues, a name that
may date back to the early period when this was a punishment for
certain crimes. Another term, heard in Bocas del Toro, is hablador,
whose derivation is readily understood. The Cuna Indians at Armila
called it pai kad kd, apparently in imitation of its uncouth calls. The
cacao also is one of the birds of ill omen called pajaro brujo—wizard
or sorcerer bird—which superstition says, may bring misfortune if
killed.

The food of the cacao is mainly the larvae of wasps and bees, and
apparently includes also quantities of the adults of the abundant
little black stingless bees, obtained by tearing open the nests of these
species. Some of my specimens have had the crop and stomach
crammed with these insects, and often when I have handled them
when freshly killed I have noted the sweetish odor common to many
kinds in these groups of Hymenoptera. That they are also fruit
eaters is indicated by one that had the stomach filled with seeds and
other remains of small drupes.

The breeding habits are unknown. The badly worn wing and tail
tips on some of the specimens I have examined may be indication
that they place their eggs in holes, though related species in southern
South America build nests. One female that I collected on the Rio
Chucunaque in Darién, on March 21 held an egg nearly ready for
the shell.

Daptrius americanus as a species ranges from Chiapas in southern
México south through Central America and South America to Bolivia
and southern Brazil. Two races have been recognized that currently
have been treated as meeting in central Panama. The only distinc-
tion is in size, the more northern group being larger. The specimens
that I have been able to examine indicate that while two forms may
be accepted the ranges assigned need adjustment northward. There
is no appreciable difference in size between male and female, and so
the two sexes may be considered together. Birds from Guatemala
and Costa Rica (11 specimens) with the wing from 360 to 375 mm.
are Daptrius americanus guatemalensis (Swann), a form that ranges
from the Pacific slope in Chiapas and Guatemala to southern Costa
Rica, where there is intergradation with typical americanus. The
link between the two is not a continuing cline, as some have sup-
posed, since from Panama southward the wing of Daptrius amert-

280 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

canus americanus, while smaller, varies from 325 to 360 mm. regard-
less of location in the vast region that it inhabits. Occasional in-
dividuals in this population range slightly larger to 363 mm. though
these larger specimens are uncommon,

FALCO PEREGRINUS ANATUM Bonaparte: Peregrine Falcon; Halcén
Peregrino

Falco Anatum Bonaparte, Geogr. and Comp. List, 1838, p. 4. (Egg Harbor, New
Jersey.)

A large hawk (largest of the falcons found in Panama), with long
pointed wings ; a broad black stripe on the side of the head below and
behind the eye.

Description—Length, male 390 to 430 mm., female 440 to 500 mm.
Adult, head, including cheeks, and hindneck black, the crown washed
with gray; back, wing coverts, and secondaries, light gray, with
faint, irregular crossbars of darker gray and fuscous, and shaft lines
of black; primaries black, washed lightly with gray, with a white
line around tip; under surface white to buffy white, with throat, fore-
neck, and upper breast immaculate, or with a few dark lines; else-
where, including tibia and under wing, barred narrowly with fuscous-
black; under side of primaries barred with dark gray and white.

Immature, brownish black above, with the feathers edged very
narowly with brownish white; tail with indistinct broken crossbars of
dull buffy white ; primaries black; side of head and throat white, with
a bold band of black on the cheeks ; underneath white to buff, streaked
heavily with dull brown to fuscous-black; under wing buffy white,
with irregular blotches and cross bars of fuscous; under surface of
primaries dark gray, with narrow bands of dull buffy white.

The tarsus is short and the foot large, the middle toe being as long
as the tarsus.

Measurements (from Friedmann, U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 11,
1950, p. 652).—Males, wing 301-327 (314.2), tail 138-154 (145.1),
culmen from cere 18-21 (19.6), tarsus 46-54 (50.6) mm.

Females, wing 340-376 (356.3), tail 167-192 (178.9), culmen from
cere 20-25 (23.4), tarsus 50-57 (54.4) mm.

Migrant and winter visitor from the north. Fairly common; mainly
in the lowlands; Isla Coiba; Isla Taboga; Archipiélago de las Perlas
(San José, Contadora).

Peregrines arrive in October (Oct. 14 earliest date), and remain
through April, occasionally later (May 3, Changuinola ; May 5, Barro
Colorado Island).

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 281

Single birds are seen regularly during the periods of migration,
moving southward in October and November, and toward the north
in March and April. A fair number remain through the months of
northern winter, when they may be found frequently around the
Bay of Panama. Their migrations appear to follow the main line of
movement of other hawks, viz., along the Carribbean coast to the
Canal Zone, and the Pacific littoral from there southward. On March
1, 1950, at Chiman I recorded 4 in a great migration flight of thou-
sands of turkey vultures and Swainson’s hawks. While it is cer-
tain that the halcén peregrino visits all the political divisions, it has
not been formally reported from the San Blas, or from Chiriqui, un-
doubtedly owing to the absence of interested observers in coastal areas
at the proper seasons.

The duck hawk universally is one of the most spirited hunters of
its family, feeding on birds, mainly of aquatic species that it captures
at rest or in flight with ease. Often they stoop at birds in play, and
rarely may become excited enough to kill when they are not hungry.
On Isla Coiba I saw one drop on a laughing gull, cripple it, and then
leave it. At La Jagua on one occasion a large female swung past the
head of one of my helpers as he waded a muddy lagoon to retrieve
an ibis, coming so close as to make him throw up an arm; but each
time the falcon turned without actually striking him, to stoop at a
blue-winged teal or at one of the numerous jacanas nearby. Obviously
it was intent on my specimen, so finally I decoyed it by imitating its
cackle and waving a red handkerchief, and added it to my bag for the
day. On another day at the mouth of the Rio Chico a duck hawk
carried off a willet that I had shot before we could get to it. On other
occasions I have seen two heckling a pair of black crab hawks, and
others swooping at soaring turkey vultures which swerved and turned
to avoid them.

FALCO DEIROLEUCUS Temminck: Orange-breasted Falcon; Halcén
Pechicastafio

Falco deiroleucus Temminck, Nouv. Rec. Planch. Col., livr. 59, June 25, 1825,
pl. 348. (Ilha de Sao Francisco, Santa Catharina, Brazil.)

Color and color pattern that of the bat falcon, but bird larger,
more robust.

Description—Length, 300-350 mm. Adults, entire upper surface
and side of head dull black, with back, wing coverts, rump, and upper
tail coverts margined with dark gray; tail with tip and narrow cross
bands white; foreneck white, bordered on either side by an irregular

282 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

line of cinnamon; upper breast, abdomen, tibia, and under tail co-
verts cinnamon-brown; middle and lower breast and sides black,
barred with white and buff; under wing coverts black with irregular
spots of white and buff; under surface of wing dark gray, barred
with white.

Immature, similar, but upper surface with narrow edgings of buffy
brown, except that secondaries and scapulars are tipped with white;
foreneck buffy white; breast, tibia, and under tail coverts barred
heavily with buff; under wing coverts heavily spotted with buff.

Measurements.—Males (3 from México, Costa Rica, and Peru),
wing 244-249 (247), tail 115-130 (120.4), culmen from cere 18.1-
19.2 (18.6), tarsus 39.6-41.2 (40.2) mm.

Females (3 from Brazil, Perl, and Paraguay) wing 265-284
(277.6), tail 133.5-145.7 (138.3), culmen from cere 21.6-23.0 (22.2),
tarsus 44.6-47.8 (46.2) mm.

Resident. In the tropical zone, very rare.

The present specimen records for Panama known to me are of
a male, now in the British Museum, collected at Bugaba, Chiriqui, in
1869 by Enrique Arcé; and another skin labeled Chiriqui in the
Rothschild Collection.

Little known. The species has been reported at scattered points
from Veracruz south through Central and South America to Para-
guay and northern Argentina.

Griscom’s inclusion of Veraguas in his check-list (Bull Mus. Comp.
Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 302) apparently was based on sight records
that he made during his travels through that area. In an earlier
account on the birds of Guatemala (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.,
vol. 64, 1932, p. 164) under this species he wrote that in “western
Panama the bird nests in church towers and belfries in the hearts
of towns and cities.” Later he informed Eugene Eisenmann that
his observations were made in Santiago and Las Palmas. The
records seem so unusual that they require confirmation, especially
since the bat falcon, so similar in markings, is the species found
frequently in the plazas of such towns.

On March 29, 1957, along the highway 18 kilometers west of
Penonomé, as I drove slowly one of these falcons crossed close
in front of my jeep and swung into the shelter of a grove along
a small stream. When it swerved from side to side I had a clear
view of the back, and saw the under surface less plainly. My
impression was of a beautifully marked and graceful bird, similar
to a bat falcon but of larger size.

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 283

The close superficial resemblances of this species to the bat falcon
have led to some uncertainties as to its classification. The proportions
of the foot, where the middle toe with its claw is definitely longer than
the tarsus, place it near the duck hawk. The form of the tail also
agrees with that of Falco peregrinus as the central feathers are very
slightly longer than the outer ones so that the form is slightly tapered
when folded. However, the supposition that deiroleucus is merely
a tropical form of Falco peregrinus is not to be accepted.

Coltart (Ool. Rec., vol. 26, 1951, p. 43) has described two nests,
one with 2 eggs and one with 3, from Trinidad, “collected by G. D.
Smooker on 21st April, 1930, and 28th March 1937. One nest was
30 feet up in a knot hole in a ceiba tree, whilst the other was in the
hollow at the base of a palm branch about 40 feet up. The eggs have
a whitish or yellowish ground, more or less obscured by smears and
blotches of browny-red and dark-red with a few darker superim-
posed blotches.” They measure 43.0 x 35.0; 42.2 x 34.7, and 40.5
34:5: 41.7 5673513 39% X345 mm:

FALCO RUFIGULARIS PETOENSIS Chubb: Bat Falcon; Halcon
Cazamurciélagos

Ficure 49

Falco rufigularis petoensis Chubb, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 39, Nov. 30, 1918,
p. 22. (Peto, Yucatan.)

A small, heavy-bodied falcon that in life appears black, with
white or buff throat, cinnamon abdomen and tibia, (some with a
cinnamon band on upper chest); breast and sides barred narrowly
with white and buffy white.

Description.—Length, 230 to 270 mm. Adult (sexes alike), head,
including cheeks, and hindneck black; back, wing coverts, tertials,
rump, and upper tail coverts black basally, tipped and washed with
dark gray; primaries and secondaries black, the inner primaries and
secondaries in fresh plumage edged narrowly at the tip with white;
tail black, tipped narrowly with white; throat and foreneck white or
buff, often cinnamon-buff at sides and across chest; breast and sides
black, barred narrowly with white to cinnamon-buff ; abdomen, tibia,
and under tail coverts dark cinnamon; under wing coverts black,
spotted and barred with white and buff; undersurface of primaries,
secondaries, and tail barred very narrowly with white.

Immature, like adult but blacker above, and with under tail coverts
barred broadly with cinnamon-buff.

284 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Iris dark brown; cere greenish yellow; bare orbital region brighter
yellow ; base of mandible neutral gray; rest of bill black; tarsus and
toes yellow ; claws black.

Fic. 49.—Bat falcon, halcén cazamurciélagos, Falco rufigularis petoensis.

Measurements—Males (9 from Panama), wing 180-191 (185.2),
tail 86.8-96.2 (90.4), culmen from cere 10.8-12.1 (11.5), tarsus
31.6-33.8 (32.7), middle toe with claw 35.5-37.8 (36.4) mm.

Females (4 from Panama), wing 209-221 (214.7), tail 97.8-
106.5 (103.0), culmen from cere 13.8-14.6 (14.2), tarsus 34.6-
39.0 (37.0), middle toe with claw 38.4-42.0 (40.8) mm.

Resident. Locally fairly common, throughout the Tropical Zone.
Recorded in Chiriqui in the uplands to Boquete and the Cordillera

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 285

de Tolé, and in Veraguas near Santa Fé, but found mainly below 800
meters elevation; Isla Coiba; Isla Taboga; Isla San José.

This handsome falcon is the species of its genus most frequently
seen on the isthmus, as, in addition to its usual resting places on stubs
projecting above the forest canopy, it comes regularly to the dead
trees that stand in pastures and other clearings.

Rarely I have seen one soaring in favorable thermals in company
with turkey vultures. In Sona, in May and June 1953, I recorded
one or two daily, toward sunset, when they came to hawk over the
plaza for flying beetles and other large insects, and a little later as
darkness approached to capture some of the numerous bats. They
are so amazingly quick in the air that few are the flying creatures
that may elude them. On the coast of Darién I saw them pursuing
dragonflies and verified the capture of these insects when I found one
in the stomach of a falcon that I had shot. Cicadas also are taken.
On Barro Colorado Island Chapman (My Tropical Air Castle, 1929,
pp. 240-241) recorded them feeding on moths. The small birds
around them, myriad in number, are a principal item in their food,
particularly when they are feeding young. William Beebe (Zool.,
vol. 35, 1950, pp. 69-86) has published a graphic account of obser-
vations made at Rancho Grande in the coast range of northern
Venezuela of a pair that he watched for over five months, while they
mated and reared two young. As the birds lived within a hundred
meters of his laboratory windows he was able to identify many items
of their food. These included 33 mammals of 5 species, 163 birds of
56 species, 19 insects of 14 species, a lizard, a snake, and a frog. Most
of the insects were butterflies, among them a morpho and a swallow-
tail. The mammals, aside from one mouse, were bats. The hunting
skills of these swift-flying falcons are illustrated well in the kinds of
birds taken, which in addition to wood warblers, tanagers, and finches
included 17 swallows of 5 kinds, 34 hummingbirds, ranging from
tiny emerald hummers to large hermits, and 26 swifts of 8 species.
This last amazing item included 3 collared swifts, large, heavybodied
birds, capable of great speed in flight, with wings nearly as long as
those of the falcon which captured them. The male falcon regularly
brought food for his mate and later for her to feed to the young.
Birds usually were prepared for eating by careful plucking, with
feathers discarded, except casually for some of the more firmly
attached wing quills.

I have noted that bat falcons protest disturbance of their nesting
areas frequently with cackling notes ke ke ke ke, which suggest those

286 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

of the duck hawk in tone. And males harass passing large birds, es-
pecially the larger hawks, darting at them angrily.

The bat falcon nests in hollows in trees, where the eggs are placed
on whatever material has been deposited by chance—usually decayed
wood fragments, perhaps with a few wind drifted leaves or twigs.
At Barro Colorado Island on March 23, 1955, a falcon of this species
of good size that I supposed was a female rested beside a hole near
the top of a tall stub that stood in the water 50 meters from shore.
I assumed it to be a nest cavity, for the bird turned to peer into it at
intervals, and she spread wings and tail in threat when a pair of red-
fronted parrots circled to alight. A Wagler’s woodpecker, marooned
in a hollow branch 10 meters above, protested his immolation from
time to time but did not dare move except to thrust out his head to
call for a few seconds. A nest, with two small young, found by
J. P. E. Morrison on Isla San José on May 12, 1944, was in a hollow
12 meters from the ground. The nest described by Beebe was at an
elevation of approximately 15 meters, perhaps a little more. The
eggs in a set of 3 in the U.S. National Museum, collected near Vic-
toria, Tamaulipas, México, on April 11, 1908, by F. B. Armstrong,
are short-subelliptical, with a pinkish white ground color almost
completely covered by a blotchy wash of clay color that changes in
some areas around the larger end to deeper brown. They measure
39.0 X 31.3, 40.3 x 32, and 40.8x 32.1 mm. They were taken from
a hole in a tree about 10 meters from the ground.

A juvenile only a few days old, from the nest on Isla San José,
is completely covered with white down except for the loral area and
the space around the eyes. Beebe describes the three in the nest that
he had under study as creamy white when about a week old.

Disagreement as to the recognition of a northern subspecies of
the bat falcon has resulted from misunderstanding of variation due to
age. Immature individuals are blacker than full adults, the difference
in the two age groups being most pronounced in the area from north-
ern Colombia north through Central America. When adult specimens
are compared it is found that birds from this northern region are
lighter, grayer above, in particular on the head than those from Vene-
zuela and northern Brazil. The northern population may be separated
from typical F. r. rufigularis as the race petoensis. The nominate race
is found from the base of the eastern Andes of Colombia east through
Venezuela to Trinidad, and south to northern Bolivia, and northern
Brazil.

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 287

FALCO FEMORALIS FEMORALIS Temminck: Aplomado Falcon; Halcén
Azulado

Falco femoralis Temminck, Planch. Col., livr. 21, April 1822, pl. 121. (Brazil)

Of medium size, with light throat and upper breast ; a heavy black
patch on lower breast and sides, in some partly divided by pale mark-
ings at center.

Description—Length, 315 to 360 mm. Adult (sexes alike), upper
surface very dark gray, in some with faint shaft lines of black, with
a light wash of brown; rump, and upper tail coverts paler, barred
with white; primaries black, edged lightly with white; secondaries
tipped prominently with white; tail black, barred and tipped narrowly
with white ; forehead, a narrow broken line over the eye, that broadens
behind and joins with the companion line of the opposite side as a
narrow band across the hindneck, white or buff; a broad band through
eye to side of neck, and moustachial stripe black; cheeks, throat,
foreneck, and upper breast white or pale cinnamon-buff; sides and
lower breast black, barred narrowly with white; abdomen, tibia, and
upper tail coverts cinnamon, with this color mingled with the black
in the central line of the lower breast; under wing coverts buff to
pale cinnamon, streaked and barred with black; under surface of
remiges dark neutral gray, barred broadly with white.

Occasional birds have the lighter markings cinnamon throughout.

Immature, blacker above, with a wash and edgings of brown;
rump, and upper tail coverts like back; upper breast streaked heavily
with black.

Iris brown; cere and bare space around eyes yellow; base of
mandible and sides of maxilla yellowish; rest of bill slate, becoming
black at the tip, and along the culmen; tarsus and toes yellow; claws
black.

Measurements (specimens from Colombia, Venezuela, and north-
ern Brazil) —Males (12 specimens), wing 226-240 (233), tail 142-
159 (149), culmen from cere 14.0-15.9 (15.0), tarsus 40.6-43.2
(41.9) mm.

Females (15 specimens), wing 245-273 (258), tail 155-186 (167),
culmen from cere 16.9-18.9 (17.9), tarsus 41.3-48.8 (45.2) mm.

Resident. Rare, in the lowland savannas: Recorded from Coclé
(near Aguadulce), Veraguas, Herrera (Paris, Potuga), and the
Canal Zone (Barro Colorado Island).

This is a falcon little known in Panama that lives in savanna
country bordered by groves. It was first recorded for the Republic
by Griscom (Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 280, 1927, p. 1) from one taken

288 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

by Benson near Aguadulce. Hellmayr and Conover (Cat. Birds
Amer. pt. 1, no. 4, 1949, p. 316) in a table of measurements list a
male and a female from Veraguas, without indication of specific
locality. (Their statement in the range should read western, instead of
eastern, Panama.) In Herrera on March 2, 1948, I saw three in an
open pasture near Potuga, two of them in mating play. One stooped
gracefully at a plumbeous kite. Two days later I recorded another
near Paris. On March 10, 1957, I saw a falcon along the beach dunes
near Pedasi, Los Santos, that I believed to be this species, but I was
not wholly certain of the identification. On February 19, 1954, I
watched one that circled over the shore of Barro Colorado Island, at
Salud Point.

The typical form of this species is found in open savanna or semi-
arid plains regions from Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad
south through eastern South America to Tierra del Fuego. A
northern form Falco femoralis septentrionalis, distinguished by
lighter-gray upper surface, with the breast solid black, and some-
what larger size, breeds from southern Arizona, southwestern New
Mexico, and southern Texas south through México and ranges
casually to Guatemala. While there is little definite information on
the nesting of the bird of Panama, that of the northern subspecies
just mentioned is known. According to Bent (U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull.
170, 1938, pp. 96-97) the nest is a platform of twigs lined with grass,
placed in a low tree. Some pairs in southern Arizona are said to
have used old nests of the white-necked raven, which are of similar
form to those made by the falcons. The eggs, usually 3, are oval,
“white, creamy white, or pinkish white. This is usually nearly, or
quite, covered with small spots or minute dots of russet, cinnamon-
rufous, or other bright browns.” Some are less heavily marked, so
that they show the ground color. The average is 44.5 x 34.5 mm.

Aplomado falcons are bird hunters, doves and quail being common
food. They also take lizards and mice.

FALCO COLUMBARIUS Linnaeus: Pigeon Hawk; Halcodn de Paso

Size that of the bat falcon; streaked underneath and on head;
upper surface gray in adult, brownish gray to sooty gray in imma-
ture.

Description—Length, 275 in male, to 340 mm. in female. Male,
gray above, streaked with dull black on crown and hindneck, with
heavy shaft streaks of black on wing coverts, back, and upper tail
coverts; wings black, with secondaries and inner primaries tipped
lightly with white ; tail black, barred widely with light gray, and tipped

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 289

with white; undersurface white to buffy white, with sides of head,
breast, sides, abdomen, tibia, and under tail coverts streaked heavily
with black to brownish black ; under wing coverts white to buffy white,
streaked and spotted with dull black; undersurface of primaries and
secondaries dark neutral gray, barred broadly with white.

Female, similar to male but much browner above, except on the
rump and upper tail coverts ; light markings on under side of wings
more buffy ; under parts washed with buff.

Immature, similar to the female but browner above, with feathers
of back edged with rusty.

While these falcons, American representatives of the Old World
merlin, spread widely in migration from their nesting grounds, which
extend from the limit of tree growth in the far north south to the
more northern United States, comparatively few reach the Isthmus
and northern South America. They are true falcons that feed mainly
on birds, regularly killing doves that are their equal in size.

The few records for Panama are divided between two subspecies
that differ in color, but are similar in size.

FALCO COLUMBARIUS COLUMBARIUS Linnaeus

Falco columbarius Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 90. (South
Carolina. )

Characters.—Darker above.

Measurements—Males (10 specimens), wing 182-194 (187.6),
tail 114-125 (121.1), culmen from cere 12-13 (12.6), tarsus 36-41
(37.7) mm.

Females (10 specimens), wing 206-215 (209.7), tail 130-140
(135.8), culmen from cere 13.5-15.0 (14.2), tarsus 38-42 (40.2) mm.

Winter visitor from the north. Rare; recorded from Chiriqui,
Veraguas, the Canal Zone, and eastern San Blas; Isla San José.

The specimens listed by Salvin and Godman (Biol. Centr.-Amer.,
vol. 3, 1901, p. 120) from Chiriqui, and Calobre, Veraguas, taken by
Arcé, and from Lion Hill, Canal Zone, collected by McLeannan, now
in the British Museum, I have identified as the typical subspecies in ac-
cordance with treatment by Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78,
1935, p. 303). H. von Wedel sent a female to Herbert Brandt, taken
at Puerto Obaldia, San Blas, November 3, 1931. This bird is now
in the U. S. National Museum.

On February 9, 1944, in forest on Isla San José a pigeon hawk
struck a pale-vented pigeon in flight and knocked it down almost at
my feet. At the same instant it saw me and rose to perch on a branch
where I shot it. The pigeon, actually larger in body than the falcon,

290 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

lay bleeding under one wing, with most of its tail feathers torn out
while I retrieved the hawk, and then, as I returned, recovered suf-
ficiently to fly away. The falcon is an adult female of the eastern
subspecies, marked by its darker color.

I recorded a pigeon hawk on the Rio Escota, near Santa Maria,
Herrera, on March 8, 1948, and one at Panama Viejo, Panama,
February 2, 1952. The records are listed here, though the subspecies
is uncertain.

FALCO COLUMBARIUS BENDIREI Swann

Falco columbarius bendirei Swann, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 42, no. 265, Feb.

2, 1922, p. 66. (Fort Walla Walla, Washington.)

Characters.—Lighter, grayer above.

Measurements—Males (10 specimens), wing 186-198 (192.6),
tail 124-129 (125.2), culmen from cere 12-13 (12.1), tarsus 36.5-40.0
(39.1) mm.

Females (10 specimens), wing 206-215 (210.2), tail 135-142
(139.6), culmen from cere 14-15 (14.2), tarsus 39-42 (40.7) mm.

Winter visitor from the north. Rare.

The three records for this western subspecies are as follows: A
female came at sunset on April 15, 1946, to rest in the top of a
tall tree standing beside our quarters near the air strip at Jaqué,
Darién. We had been occupied through the day in packing in readi-
ness for a plane to call for us early the following morning so that
guns and ammunition were not available. As Perrygo and I watched
the bird with longing eyes, and the wish that we had it, Tom Watson,
Air Force sergeant, an expert marksman, brought it down with his
service rifle from a distance of 90 meters. I expected to retrieve
broken bits of skin and feathers, but instead I found that with careful
aim he had creased the falcon across the back of the neck and the
head so that it was only slightly marked. Two additional specimens
in the Brandt Collection at the University of Cincinnati were taken
by H. von Wedel—a female at Bocas del Toro, September 29, 1938,
and another (from its size, probably a male) secured at Puerto
Obaldia, San Blas, October 16, 1934.

This western form, the breeding race from Alaska across to
northern Saskatchewan, and south to Oregon and Idaho, has been
reported previously in migration only to southern México. It is
slightly paler in color in adult and immature than the eastern race,
with the paler markings in the female and immature more buff. The
specimen from Jaqué is a female of the previous season. It is probable
that the race equals the typical one in its southward limits, as there is

FAMILY FALCONIDAE 291

another in the U. S. National Museum taken by M. A. Carriker, Jr.,
on the high paramo of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern
Colombia.

FALCO SPARVERIUS SPARVERIUS Linnaeus: Sparrow Hawk; Cernicalo

Falco sparverius Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 90. (South
Carolina.)

A small falcon, reddish brown on back and tail, with a spot of
the same color on the center of the crown.

Description—Length, 245 to 270 mm. Male, top of head and
hindneck dark gray, with a patch of chestnut brown in the center
of the crown; back, rump, and tail cinnamon-brown, the back barred
with black; primaries and secondaries black, the latter tipped with
gray; wing coverts gray spotted with black, very heavily at the bend
of the wing; tail cinnamon brown, with a broad subterminal band
and a few lateral spots of black; outer web of outer rectrix, and
terminal half white, barred broadly with black; tip of tail white or
buffy white; side of head white, with a black vertical band below
the eye, and another over the auricular region; breast and sides
cinnamon to buffy white, spotted more or less with black; throat,
abdomen, and under tail coverts white to buffy white; under wing
coverts white, spotted with black; under surface of flight feathers
dull gray barred boldly with white.

Female, similar, but with wing coverts cinnamon-brown like the
back; entire upper surface from the upper back to the end of the
tail barred heavily with black; breast and sides streaked broadly with
buffy brown to brownish gray.

Measurements—Males (10 specimens), wing 178-187 (182.2),
tail 120-130 (125.8), culmen from cere 12.0-12.5 (12.1), tarsus 38-40
(38.5) mm.

Females, wing 187-195 (191.9), tail 125-136 (131.4), culmen from
cere 12-13 (12.7), tarsus 37-40 (38.5) mm.

Winter visitor throughout the isthmus. Locally fairly common.
Arrives about the middle of October (Oct. 11, 1936, above Boquete ;
Oct. 14, 1953, Pacora; Oct. 16, 1929, Permé), and remains until
the latter part of March or early April (Apr. 8, 1949, Chepo; Apr. 1,
1954, Aguadulce; Mar. 30, 1955, Chico) ; Isla Coiba; Isla San José.

As the sparrow hawk ranges in open country it is most common
in the savannas of the Pacific slope from southern Chiriqui to Chepo,
including the eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula. Although heavily
forested areas do not afford it suitable habitat, its annual travels soon

292 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

bring it to any extensive clearings, and so it may be found in any
part of the Republic. In 1952 I saw none in the recently made farms
along the Rio Indio in western Colén, from its mouth to the foothills
in the Caribbean corner of northern Coclé. But in the older plantation
areas in Bocas del Toro, between Almirante and the Costa Rican
border, the bird has been common during the period of northern
winter for many years. As it is a species adapted to northern
climates its zonal range is broad, particularly on the more open
Pacific side of the mountains. In Chiriqui I have found sparrow
hawks from the coastal area near San Félix and Las Lajas to near
2,000 meters elevation above Cerro Punta; in other words, from
the tropical to the temperate zones. Occasionally I have recorded one
in park areas in Panama City, Balboa, and Ancon.

The birds are solitary and select what commanding perches may
be available on dead trees, shrubs, or failing such higher points, on
boulders, or termite hills, as stations from which to watch for food.
Telephone poles along the highways and fence posts in cultivated
lands are favored stations.

Their food is largely the grasshoppers (Acrididae) common in
their haunts, varied with small lizards, and an occasional mouse,
rarely a bird. Though they stoop frequently at flying swallows or at
other small species at rest in open tree tops, and also at larger hawks
this is in play. They often hover with rapidly moving wings a few
meters above the earth in their watch for food.

The call, heard rather seldom from these migrants, is a rapidly
uttered killy killy killy.

In March when the annual burnings—the candelas—clear pastures
and areas where the trees have been felled for cultivation sparrow
hawks become much stained from feeding over the blackened
ground. I recall in particular one that I stalked for half an hour in
careful approach on the supposition that it was some strange, dark-
plumaged species with which I was not familiar.

While the sparrow hawk is not known to winter farther south
than eastern Panama the number that reach this distant section is
larger than has been understood, since in March as they start the
return northward there is definite increase in the number found on
the eastern savannas near Pacora and La Jagua. Once, on March
20, 1949, while night-hunting in a jeep in this area I flushed a
sparrow hawk from a sleeping place on the ground on the open
plain. It is probable that some cross into Colombia in northern
Chocé, as the birds have been found in some numbers at Permé and
Obaldia in the Comarca de San Blas near the boundary.

FAMILY CRACIDAE 293

Order GALLIFORMES
Family CRACIDAE, Curassows and Guans; Pavones y Faisanas

These are birds of the warmer climatic areas of the Western
Hemisphere, found mainly in the tropical zone, but there are a few
kinds of limited distribution that are adapted to life in colder sub-
tropical and even temperate zone areas. All have a fowl-like form,
with heavy body, small head, long neck, and rounded wings, and in
most the tail is elongated. While they live in part on the ground,
they are mainly arboreal, with a foot adapted for perching, since the
somewhat elongated hind toe is on the level of the three in front.
The nearly 50 species now recognized are divided among 11 genera,
of which 4, each with a single species, are found in Panama. All
are held in high regard as food and game birds.

One member of the genus Ortalis ranges north to southern Texas,
while to the south several are found as far as the northern prov-
inces of Argentina. Fossil species of Tertiary age are known
from the north-central United States in Nebraska and South Dakota
and also from Florida. The greatest variety among living species is
found in northern South America.

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF CRACIDAE

1. A prominent crest, in which the ends of the feathers curl forward;
SIZE MAGRE n cerattiseclesarn ere Central American curassow, Crax rubra, p. 293
Crestishort, with feathers) straichteusizersmaller secede: = coe oe ole 2
2. Breast prominently streaked with white.
Crested guan, Penelope purpurascens, p. 298
Breast: without prominent, strealeswaeme ce vce cen cieseinesess oo oeledio wees 3
3. Color, including wings, mainly black.
Black guan, Chamaepetes unicolor, p. 303
Color brown and gray; primaries chestnut.
Gray-headed chachalaca, Ortalis cineretceps, p. 305

CRAX RUBRA RUBRA Linnaeus: Central American Curassow; Pavoén
Ficure 50
Crax rubra Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 157. (Western Ecuador.)

Size of a turkey, with heavy body, and long narrow crest in which
the feathers are recurved at the tip; male, body black; female body
cinnamon-brown.

Description.—Length, male 870 to 920 mm; female 780 to 840 mm.
Male, black, with a very faint greenish sheen, except on abdomen,
flanks, and under tail coverts, which are white; tail in some tipped
narrowly with white, in others plain.

2904 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Female, brown phase, feathers of head, including the crest, throat,
and neck (front and back), white in center, tipped with black;
back, wings, rump, and upper tail coverts deep cinnamon, the wings
barred narrowly and indefinitely with black; tail with alternate bars

Fic. 50.—Head of male Central American curassow, pavon, Crax rubra rubra.

of buff and black, mixed with cinnamon-brown, tipped with buff;
upper breast deep cinnamon-brown; lower breast cinnamon; abdo-
men, flanks, and under tail coverts cinnamon-buff; under surface of
wing cinnamon-brown barred narrowly with black.

Female, dark phase, lower neck, above and below, and upper back
black to brownish black; tail black, or black mottled with deep
cinnamon; inner primaries and secondaries like tail, but barred
narrowly with white or buff.

FAMILY CRACIDAE 295

Male, iris dark brown; bare areas on side of head dull black;
lower eyelid dull yellow; cere, tubercle, and base of maxilla light
yellow ; base of mandible dull yellow; rest of bill neutral gray, shad-
ing to black at tip; tarsus and toes neutral gray; claws brownish
white.

Female, like male, except the cere, which is dark neutral gray;
and the bill, which is neutral gray at base, shading to black at outer
end.

Measurements——Males (6 from Panama), wing 360-411 (377),
tail 309-340 (326), culmen from cere 27.2-33.4 (30.9), tarsus 121.2-
131.8 (124.7) mm.

Females (7 from Panama), wing 333-370 (354), tail 304-338
(322), culmen from cere 24.8-30.8 (28.2), tarsus 107.1-121 (114.6)
mm.

Resident, in the tropical and lower subtropical zones, in regions of
heavy forest; found only in unsettled sections. As of 1960, distrib-
uted in the more remote areas of the Caribbean slope from Costa
Rica to Colombia. On the Pacific slope in southeastern Veraguas,
south of Sona; in the forests of the western side and interior hills
of the Azuero Peninsula; and locally from the Cerro Azul through
Darién to the Colombian boundary; recorded to 1,900 meters on
Volcan Bart, Chiriqui; and to 1,450 meters in the mountains of
Darién (Cerro Mali, Cerro Tacarcuna).

The great pavon is one of the prized game birds of the Panamanian
forests, formerly widely distributed, but a species that soon disap-
pears as settlement increases and its haunts become accessible. It
remains now only in remote areas.

In the western part of the republic the species is distributed
through the lowland forests of the Caribbean slope, though it has
disappeared in the cultivated regions. Hasso von Wedel sent a female
to the Museum of Comparative Zoology taken near Almirante on
February 16, 1929 (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p.
297), but in 1958 I heard of it only in distant inland sections in that
region. To the eastward, in 1952, there were still a few along the
Rio Indio in Colon and northern Coclé from Chilar inland to the
Rio Uracillo, but here they ranged only at a distance from the
scattered fincas.

Salvin and Godman (Biol. Centr.-Amer., vol. 3, 1902, p. 273)
write that the curassow was noticed by Mr. Champion ‘“‘on the
Pacific slope of the Volcan de Chiriqui, but specimens were not pre-
served,” a report that is indefinite at best. The female collected by
W. W. Brown, Jr. (Bangs, Proc. New England Zodl. Club, vol. 3,

296 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

1902, p. 21), on April 20, 1901, labeled “Boquete, 5000 feet,” probably
was taken on the Caribbean slope to the north and at a lower eleva-
tion. In Chiriqui a few range the slopes of Volcan Bart back of
E] Volcan.

Karl Curtis told me that years ago he shot them in the wooded
country then found in western Veraguas between the Rio Vira and
the Rio Tabasara. In June 1953 I recorded a few near the Rio San
Pablo at Guarumal and La Isleta in southern Veraguas. Aldrich
(Scient. Publ. Cleveland Mus., vol. 7, 1937, pp. 51-53) shot a pair
at about 600 meters elevation on Cerro Viejo, on the western side
of the Azuero Peninsula, but saw no others. These are the only
records for Veraguas, and are the only definite reports of the bird for
the Pacific slope west of the Canal Zone.

Farther east the curassow in early days was widespread, and in
uninhabited regions it still is fairly common. A hundred and more
years ago McLeannan sent specimens taken near the railroad on the
Atlantic side to the Smithsonian and to Salvin. The last recorded
in the Canal Zone area were on Barro Colorado Island in 1926.
Chapman (Life in an Air Castle, 1938, p. 224) wrote of them
regretfully “rare; I have seen only a feather.” In eastern Colén
Goldman collected one on Cerro Bruja back of Portobelo, June 6,
1911.

In the Comarca de San Blas (as of 1957) curassows ranged
from Mandinga eastward. And during my work near Chepo in 1949
they were still present in the lower forests near the Rio Mamoni and
on Cerro Carbunco. In 1950 they were fairly common along the Rio
Chiman and were common in the great forests of the southern
slopes of the Serrania de Majé. Through Darién they have disap-
peared near the settlements, and where Indians live along the rivers,
but persist in wilder lands where there are no inhabitants. Festa
in 1895 (Salvadori and Festa, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp. Univ.
Torino, vol. 14, no. 339, 1899, pp. 9-10; and 1909, p. 22) found
them near the Rio Lara and the Rio Cianati, above the Gulf of San
Miguel, but Barbour in 1922 (Bangs and Barbour, Bull. Mus. Comp.
Zool., vol. 65, 1922, p. 195) noted them as very rare in the Sambi
region. He prepared one specimen at Jesucito. In 1959 they were
still common on the middle Tuira and near the Chucunaque, and I
saw them in 1961 on the slopes of Cerro Pirre. In 1963 they were
common inland from Armila in the eastern San Blas. Obviously
the species is one that is steadily on the road to disappearance.

Usually curassows range in pairs that, following the nesting season,
may be accompanied by grown young for a brief period. While

FAMILY CRACIDAE 207

they are tree inhabitants that range into the high leaf crown, they
descend to the ground to feed, and, at the borders of streams, to
drink. Males call regularly, a curious sound, subdued in tone, but
with fair carrying power, that may be imitated by the syllable
oom-m-m-m, uttered with closed lips, and prolonged. The note is
ventriloquial, therefore difficult of orientation, in particular to know
whether the bird is on the forest floor or in trees. If on the ground
it often moves ahead under cover of the undergrowth until it may
slip aside and hide. I have also heard a low, excited quit quit from
them, apparently the note of the female. When startled they rise
heavily but rapidly so that they are killed only by a quick shot. In
taking off from high trees they gain swift speed immediately, al-
ternately flapping and then sailing with set wings. Though they may
not fly far, usually they hide so that they are not seen again.

The nesting season in eastern Panama must come in the rainy
season, as in February and March near Chiman, and in the area to
the eastward, I noted numerous immature birds that were fully
grown. And from February to April the males were calling regularly.
Little is known in detail of their nesting except that they build a
flimsy structure of sticks, lined with green leaves, in trees 6 to 30
meters from the ground, in which 2 eggs are laid. Two single eggs
are in U. S. National Museum, collected by José Zeledon in Costa
Rica, one at Pirris, April 10, 1883, and one near San José in 1887.
Both are subelliptical and creamy-white, with roughened, pitted
shells. They measure 91.0 72.4 and 90.6X64.5 mm. A third col-
lected by Charles Sheldon on April 22, 1904, in northern Veracruz,
75 miles south of Tampico, measures 95.2x64.7 mm., and is
similar to the others. A notation on the label with this specimen indi-
cates a “spoiled egg left in nest.” The structure is not described. In
the Museum of Comparative Zoology there are two, presented by Karl
Curtis, laid in confinement in the Canal Zone, that measure 88.7 x 64
and 95.3 x 62.6 mm.

When the eggs hatch, the down-covered chicks are said to tumble
out of the nest to the ground and to grow under the care of both
parents. The wings develop rapidly, and when still quite small the
young birds fly readily to escape danger. Curassows feed on drupes
borne by trees and shrubs, often descending to pick up those that have
fallen to the ground. Females sometimes are called pava rubia from
their color.

A male and a female taken back of Armila on March 13, 1963, each
weighed 3.8 kilograms (84 Ibs). It is widespread belief that while the
flesh is excellent the bones must not be given to dogs, as they may

298 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

cause the animals to go mad. Apparently this notion has come down
from early contact with Indians, since Wafer (Isthmus Amer., 1699,
p. 116) writes that the “Indians either throw the Bones of the
Corrosou into the River, or make a Hole and bury them, to Keep
them from their Dogs, being thought unwholesome for the Dogs to
eat ; and the Indians say they will make the Dogs run mad.”

The Cuna Indians at Armila called this species sihgi (pronounced
with the g hard).

Crax rubra rubra ranges from northern México south through
Central America to the Atrato Basin, the Baudéd Mountains of
northwestern Colombia, and western Ecuador. A subspecies, C. 1.
griscomi, distinguished by smaller size, with the wing in the male
325 to 355 and in the female 320 to 330 mm., is restricted to Isla
Cozumel off the coast of Quintana Roo.

PENELOPE PURPURASCENS AEQUATORIALIS Salvadori and Festa:
Crested Guan; Pava Cimba
Ficure 51

Penelope aequatorialis Salvadori and Festa, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp. Torino,
vol. 15, no. 368, Feb. 19, 1900, p. 38. (Rio Peripa, western Ecuador.)

Form slender, pheasantlike, with long, thin neck, bare reddish-
colored throat, small bushy crest, and long tail; size of a small hen
turkey.

Description —Length, 720-800 mm. Adult (sexes alike), crown,
sides of head, and hindneck dark clove brown, with a slight bronzy
sheen; upper back, wings, and outer tail feathers blackish brown,
with a distinct sheen of dark green; middle of back to upper tail
coverts dark russet; lower foreneck, breast, and sides like back, but
feathers edged broadly with black; abdomen, flanks, tibia, and under
tail coverts dull chestnut ; under wing coverts like back.

Immature, like adult, but with wing and tail feathers washed with
rufous-brown, and mottled with blackish brown.

A young chick in the Museum of Zoology at the University of
Michigan, found on Barro Colorado Island by J. Van Tyne on April
19, 1926, with wings large enough to permit flight, and developing
tail, but otherwise in down, is colored as follows: Forehead, line
over eye, crop region, foreneck, rump, and area of lesser wing
coverts sayal brown; line on either side of crown, extending down
either side of hindneck, pale olive-gray; rest of crown black; hind-
neck blackish brown; upper back basally pale neutral gray, tipped
lightly with sayal brown; greater wing coverts mouse brown, tipped
with black, with sayal brown down filaments still adhering to the

FAMILY CRACIDAE 2909

tips; wing quills chaetura drab; throat whitish, with the feathers
tipped indistinctly with pale neutral gray, producing a faintly
mottled appearance ; breast and abdomen dull white ; sides, flanks, and
tibia dull sayal brown, with the down mottled somewhat with neutral
gray at the base; tail feathers chaetura drab, tipped with sayal brown,
barred indistinctly with black.

Fic. 51.—Crested guan, pava cimba, Penelope purpurascens aequatorialis.

Adult, iris dark red; cere, bare skin of side of head, and chin
slaty black; bare throat somewhat dull light red; bill black; front of
tarsus, and top of toes dull dark red; back of tarsus, and claws black.

Measurements——Males (5 from Panama), wing 350-368 (356),
tail 320-365 (344), culmen from cere 33.5-35.5 (34.8), tarsus 87.0-
91.0 (89.0) mm.

Females (5 from Panama), wing 333-349 (342), tail 330-348
(341), culmen from cere 32.0-36.5 (33.9), tarsus 84.0-90.8 (85.7)
mm.

Resident in forested areas in the tropical and lower subtropical
zones ; absent only from the open savannas of the Pacific slope, and

300 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

from the lowlands of the eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula.
Fairly common where hunting pressure is not too great. Though
sought for food and for sport, for reasons not clear this species
often remains in suitable country after the larger curassow has dis-
appeared.

The only positive records for Chiriqui are of specimens collected
by W. W. Brown, Jr., one taken at Divala, December 8, 1900 (Bangs,
Auk, 1901, p. 356), and 5 from “Boquete and Caribbean slope 4000
to 7000 feet” in April and June 1901 (Bangs, Proc. New England
Zool. Club, vol. 3, 1902, p. 21). Those listed from the Caribbean
slope are to be allocated to Bocas del Toro, leaving some uncertainty
as to actual occurrence in the Boquete area. The birds must have
been rare in this western sector, as the species was not included in
the Monniche collection from the Boquete region. It may be noted
also that Arcé secured no specimens in his work in Veraguas and
Chiriqui, though Karl Curtis informs me that about 1912 he found
these birds plentiful in the area where Puerto Armuelles now is
located. On the Pacific slope of Veraguas I found a few in 1953 in
lowland forests along the Rio San Pablo at Congal and Guarumal
near Sona, and Aldrich (Scient. Publ. Cleveland Mus., vol. 7, 1937,
p. 53), in 1932, recorded them as not uncommon away from planta-
tions on the western side of the Golfo de Montijo. Handley found
them abundant in 1962 on Cerro Hoya to an elevation of 1,000 meters.
None are known from the eastern lowlands of the Azuero Peninsula
or from the region through the Pacific slope of Coclé and the western
sector of the Province of Panama. Karl Curtis informs me that in
his early years he found them on Ancon Hill, back of the Gorgas
Hospital, and that they were common also years ago in timbered
areas above the Rio La Jagua. In my work since 1946 along the
Cerro Azul and from there eastward through Darién I have found
them common in wilder areas, except that I did not record them any-
where on the lower Rio Jaqué. It is probable that hunting by the
Chocd Indians and other residents along that stream has killed
them. They are common in the mountains of Darién to 1000 meters
elevation, and in lesser numbers range to 1450 meters (Cerro Mali,
Cerro Tacarcuna).

In the Caribbean forests these birds are found throughout the
Republic from the Costa Rican boundary to Colombia in sections
where they have been free from overhunting. From Bocas del Toro,
there are specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zoology from
the Boquete Trail and from Guabo. A female in the U. S. National

FAMILY CRACIDAE 301

Museum was taken on the Rio Changena. McLeannan collected them
a hundred years ago along the railroad near Lion Hill, but since
his day the only reports for the Canal Zone come from Barro
Colorado Island where a few remain. While the crested guan ranges
in forested level lands, it is most frequent in hill country where it
ascends regularly to 1,000 meters, though more common lower down.

They are more active than the bigger curassows and are less timid.
Their food in large part is such forest drupes as wild figs and
mangabé berries, which they seek in the high trees and for which
also they descend to the ground when there are many fallen, dropped
from their own feeding, and from that of parrots, toucans, and
other birds. Guans range regularly at times on the forest floor,
often making considerable scratchings to uncover food.

They are seen in pairs, or, where common, as many as 6 or 8 may
be found together. When disturbed on the ground they mount im-
mediately into the trees, flying with noisy wings, and then run
actively along the larger branches, taking flight again through and
over the tree crown. In the air they move with neck outstretched,
alternately sailing with wings stiffly spread, and flapping quickly
after a short distance to maintain momentum. It is common in such
movements to see them sail off from some high point to cross a wooded
valley, and in regions where the trees are tall birds moving through
the tree crown often fly across clearings 75 meters or more above
the ground. When not frightened they walk gracefully along the
inclined branches, but at an alarm they may freeze motionless among
the leaves, standing erect, or crouched on a branch with neck ex-
tended, when it is most difficult to make them out in spite of their
size and their long bodies. In the more open gallery forests when
wind is not blowing I have found it profitable at such times to watch
the leaf shadows on the ground as it possible to detect slight head
movements of hidden birds that otherwise would remain unnoted.
In our field work we often use whistles that produce a variety of
sounds, some shrill and penetrating, others gabbling or moaning to
attract such species as forest hawks and high-canopy hummingbirds.
The pava cimba finds these sounds disturbing, and frequently
betrays its presence by calling in reply. Occasionally, particularly with
shrill eagle calls, they may become much excited, when I have had
them run out on open limbs, or even descend to the ground to strut
about with spread wings within a few meters of my feet.

Their usual note is a yelping call that is repeated excitedly, often
for several minutes. Another louder sound with a strange resonant

302 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

quality may be heard especially toward sunset from birds resting
on open perches high above the ground. An approaching storm, with
the mutter of thunder, may excite them to this response. Where
two or three join they produce a ringing jungle melody most pleasing
to the ear.

Their meat has been frequent camp fare in remote areas, partic-
ularly when supplies were low. It is rather dark, and tough unless
cooked for some time, and is best when broiled, or cut up and cooked
again with rice. Fully grown, these birds are heavy-bodied and of
good flavor.

In spite of their extensive range little is known of their breeding.
In mating males display among open branches where they fly slowly,
but with rapidly beating wings that produce a loud rattling, drum-
ming sound. They are said to build platforms of sticks in trees well
above the ground as is usual among their relatives. The only egg
that I have seen is one from the closely related northern race, taken
by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman from the oviduct of a female
shot on Cerro Tancitaro, Michoacan, on March 2, 1903. This is
fully formed and has the dull white to faintly creamy white color
and the roughened, finely pitted shell common in species of its
family. It is between subelliptical and oval and measures 77.0 x 56.0
mm. Leopold (Wildlife of Mexico, 1959, p. 208), in his account of
this northern subspecies, gives Helmuth Wagner as authority for the
statement that 2 eggs constitute the normal set and that “these are
dull white and measure approximately 75 by 51 mm.” Schonwetter
(Handb. Ool., pt. 4, 1961, p. 204) gives the measurements of 3 eggs
of the race aequatorialis as 70-72 x 48.3-50 mm. The nesting season
of the race found in Panama seems to be similar to that of the pavén,
as I have taken nearly grown immature birds in February and
March.

The present subspecies, marked by chestnut-brown rump, upper
and under tail coverts, and lower abdomen, ranges from Nicaragua
and Costa Rica through Panama and western Colombia to western
Ecuador. An allied race, P. p. brunnescens, which is more brownish
on the back and wings, with a less greenish sheen on the crown and
upper back, is found from the Santa Marta region in Colombia to
the Maracaibo Basin in Venezuela. In the typical race, Penelope p.
purpurascens, distributed from southern México to Honduras, the
rump, upper and under tail coverts, and lower abdomen are dull
dark brown, much darker and blacker than in the subspecies found
in Panama.

FAMILY CRACIDAE 303

CHAMAEPETES UNICOLOR Salvin: Black Guan; Pava Negra
Ficure 52

Chamaepetes unicolor Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, June 1867, p. 159.
(Calovévora, Veraguas, Panama.)

Breast and abdomen brownish black ; elsewhere black.

Description—Length 620 to 690 mm. Adult (sexes alike), three
outermost primaries narrowed at the tip, the third from the outside
less so than the outer two; breast, abdomen, and sides fuscous-
black, with the feathers edged faintly with olive; elsewhere black
with a sheen of greenish olive.

Immature, outermost primary falcate at tip, second and third from
outside narrowed and slightly sinuate at tip; otherwise like adult.

Male, iris red to reddish brown; bill black, with a black ring sur-
rounding the nostril; a dark neutral gray line along the center of the
cere from the base of the horny maxilla to the feathers; cere else-
where light blue, shading into dark violet-blue on the bare lores
and side of the face, including the basal half of the mandibular
ramus; bare area around eye dusky neutral gray; tarsus and toes
light brick red; claws black.

Female, like male.

Measurements.—Males (3 from Chiriqui), wing 276-303 (292.3),
tail 244-277 (263.6), culmen from cere 18.5-19.6 (19.0), tarsus
70.7-74.5 (73.0) mm.

Females (5 from Chiriqui), wing 275-294 (284), tail 250-260
(254), culmen from cere 18.0-19.0 (18.4), tarsus 70.9-73.7 (71.8)
mm.
Resident. Uncommon, in the subtropical and upper tropical zones
of the mountains of Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro, ranging from 1,500
to 2,500 meters, except on the Boquete Trail in Bocas del Toro where
it is reported down to 450 meters.

This interesting species was found first by Arcé at Calovévora,
on the Caribbean slope of Veraguas beyond Santa Fé, and later in
eastern Chiriqui in the Cordillera de Tolé. Brown collected males
above Boquete in March 1901, and in 1926 Kennard secured several
in Bocas del Toro on the trail leading to Boquete from Chiriquicito.
Later it was found to be fairly common on slopes above Boquete,
where Mrs. Davidson secured males on January 27, 1933, at Quiel,
and on Horqueta on February 12, 1934. The Monniche collection
included a series taken at Bajo Mono, Lérida, and on the Rio
Caldera, and several collected in this same region by Rex Benson in
1931 are now in the U. S. National Museum.

304 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The pava negra in the main is a bird of the higher mountains,
but it ranges in lesser numbers in the upper tropical zone forests.
I have seen it in life only on the slopes of Cerro Picacho, where it
still remains in small numbers. Above Cerro Punta in March 1955 I
noted feathers where one had been killed by hunters.

While heavy bodied the birds move and fly easily through the
trees much in the manner of the faisana (Ortalis cinereiceps). In
February I noted them in pairs, some of them accompanied by

Fic. 52.—Right wing of the black guan, pava negra, Chamaepetes unicolor, with
incised tips of outer primaries.

grown young. In my limited observation they have been always in
trees, never on the ground. The call of the male is a single note that
suggests that of the pavdn but without the resonant tone usual in the
latter bird. They are reported to be one of the best of their family
for the table, and therefore are sought by hunters.

The trachea in both male and female is straight and enters the
thoracic cavity without convolutions. The tube in the male is
slightly wider than in the female. Nothing is known of the nest and
eggs.

This species is found only in the mountains of Costa Rica and of
western Panama.

FAMILY CRACIDAE 305

ORTALIS CINEREICEPS (Gray): Gray-headed Chachalaca; Faisana

Pheasantlike with long neck, small head, and long tail; head gray ;
primary feathers chestnut.

Description.—Length 480 to 580 mm. Adults (sexes alike), head
and upper neck gray; lower hindneck, wing coverts, back, rump, and
upper tail coverts grayish brown; tail grayish to greenish brown,
tipped with dull white or buffy white; primaries cinnamon; second-
aries like back, but with inner webs cinnamon; lower foreneck and
upper breast grayish brown; lower breast, sides, and flanks grayer;
center of abdomen white to grayish white; under tail coverts grayish
brown; under wing coverts cinnamon to grayish brown.

The fatsana is the only species in its family that is able to adapt
to the changed conditions brought by human settlement, since it is
not dependent on primitive forest cover for habitat as are its rela-
tives. It is found throughout the tropical lowlands of the Isthmus
wherever there are groves or tracts of rastrojo that offer cover. When
these are cleared the birds retreat but spread again wherever thickets
begin to cover abandoned fields. In heavy forest the faisana ranges
along the more open borders of streams, or over the high tree crown,
as it seeks the sun rather than the deep shadows favored by many
forest species. They are interesting birds, graceful in movement as
they walk along sloping branches, and equally attractive when rest-
ing quietly, either standing, or with the legs bent so that the body
rests on some perch grasped firmly in the feet. They feed on small
fruits borne on the higher tree branches, and also range constantly
on the ground, where their presence may be indicated by scratchings
that often are as extensive as those made by domestic fowls.

Faisanas are most active in early morning and late afternoon.
Toward the middle of the day they walk or fly back into some cover
where people do not regularly penetrate, and to which they return
quickly at any disturbance. The flight, with neck outstretched and
tail partly open, begins with quickly beating wings to gain momentum,
then a sail, the two methods alternating until they are safe behind
tree cover. On the ground they run rapidly with head erect and
partly spread tail.

On the Pacific side they are found regularly in tracts of low, dense
monte where the trees may not be more than 6 to 10 meters tall.
Elsewhere, in better watered sections, with tall trees, they rest
in early morning in the high, open branches of guarumos in the
warmth of the rising sun. Where they are not hunted they become

306 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

quite tame. It is usual to find several in company, and where they
are common a flock may contain ten or a dozen birds.

The notes of this bird are a series of whistling, squeaking calls
interspersed with harsher chattering sounds, usually uttered rapidly
as though the bird was much excited. These notes have limited
carrying power, and in this, as well as in sound, they are quite
different from the loud calls of the related species Ortalis vetula to
the north and O. ruficrissa in Colombia, which may be heard easily
at a distance of a kilometer. The account by Beebe (Book of Bays,
1942, p. 268) of a bird call heard on board a yacht anchored in
Bahia Honda that he attributed to the faisana must refer to some
other kind.

The species of this genus, as a group, build flimsy nests of twigs,
grass, and weed stems, usually with a lining of a few green leaves,
in low trees. The usual set of eggs is three. They are dull white,
with a distinctly roughened shell that often shows many pits. Measure-
ments for a series of 10 by Skutch (Wilson Bull., 1963, p. 265)
show the following range: 55.6-61.9 x 38.1-42.5 mm. (As the locality
for Skutch’s observations is stated to be the Térraba valley in south-
western Costa Rica it is presumed that these are of the subspecies
Ortalis c. cinereiceps.)

The trachea in the male has the form usual in the genus, in which
it passes down the front of the neck to the furculum, makes a loop
down the right side of the body between the skin and the pectoral
muscles, and then returns to enter the thorax, where it divides in
the usual manner in two bronchi that lead to the lungs. In an
immature male, barely grown, taken at Almirante on January 20,
1958, the loop had formed only far enough to fill the fork of the
furculum. In another older bird, taken at Mandinga on February
5, 1957, the loop extended halfway down the length of the pectoral
muscle, and in a bird that appeared to be fully adult, from near the
mouth of the Rio Pacora April 3, 1949, the trachea reached to the
point of the keel on the sternum.

While this species has been treated regularly as conspecific with
Ortalis garrula, a bird with chestnut head and upper neck, found in
northern Colombia from near the Rio Sint east to the western base
of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta information now available
indicates that it is distinct. De Schauensee in connection with his
description of the race chocoensis (Not. Nat. no. 221, 1950, pp. 2-3)
listed two females from Tierra Alta, Cordoba, one with the rufous
head of typical garrula, and the other with the gray head of the race
mira, which he interpreted as evidence of intergradation at that

FAMILY CRACIDAE 307

point. In our collections also there is one from Tierra Alta, and
another from Nazaret to the west of the Sinu, both of which in head
color are typical garrula. All specimens in the considerable series that
I have seen are clearly gray or brown on the head and neck with no
appearance of intergradation. The single gray-headed specimen re-
corded from Tierra Alta may indicate that the two are found together.
After a review of the information available it seems desirable to
regard the complex as a superspecies, with two closely allied species.
The northern one found in Panama will be called Ortalis cinereiceps.

Four slightly differentiated races may be recognized in cinereiceps
of which three are found in Panama. The distinctions are in varia-
tion in depth of color. Size seems variable regardless of area, the
individual differences in dimension commonly noted apparently being
due to age. The three forms of the Isthmus are treated in detail
beyond. The fourth, Ortalis cinereiceps chocoensis described by de
Schauensee (cit supr., p. 2), from the Rio Jurad6, Chocé, in extreme
northwestern Colombia, is a very dark race, that resembles franten
of the Caribbean slope of southern Central America, but has the
foreneck grayer, less olive-brown, and the gray of the head paler and
not extended as far down on the hindneck. The tail tip also is
paler. It is probable that this form will be found in southeastern
Darién as it is known in Colombia near the boundary, on the Rio
Jurado, and at Unguia.

ORTALIS CINEREICEPS CINEREICEPS Gray

Ortalida cinereiceps G. R. Gray, List Spec. Birds Coll. Brit. Mus., pt. 5,
Gallinae, 1867, p. 12. (Isla del Rey, Archipiélago de las Perlas, Panama.)
Ortalis struthopus Bangs, Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol. 2, 1901, p. 61.

(Isla del Rey, Archipiélago de las Perlas, Panama.)
Ortalis garrula olivacea Aldrich, Sci. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 7,
Aug. 31, 1937, p. 53. (Paracoté, Veraguas, Panama.)

Characters.—Palest in general color of the 3 forms found on the
Isthmus; compared to the race mira grayer, less brownish, on the
lower surface, with the center of the abdomen nearly white; light
tips on tail nearly white ; head, on the average paler gray.

A female taken at Juan Mina January 18, 1961, had the iris wood
brown; bill fuscous-brown, shading to neutral gray at tip; tarsus
and toes plumbeous ; claws fuscous.

Measurements.—Males (6 specimens from Panama), wing 205-
212 (206), tail 221-242 (231), culmen from base 24.2-29.0 (26.7),
tarsus 63-74.1 (68.7) mm.

308 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Females (4 specimens from Panama), wing 198-206 (203), tail
226-256 (236), culmen from base 23.4-26.4 (25.4), tarsus 61.7-64.0
(62.9) mm.

Resident. Fairly common in the tropical lowlands of the Pacific
slope from the Costa Rican boundary through Chiriqui and Veraguas,
including both sides of the Azuero Peninsula; east locally to the
lowlands beyond Pacora, La Jagua, and the mouth of the Rio Chico;
found on the Pacific side of the Canal Zone (Farfan), and also in
the middle Chagres drainage between Madden Dam and Juan Mina;
Isla del Rey, in the Archipiélago de las Perlas; formerly on Isla
Pedro Gonzalez.

This race ranges north on the Pacific slope in southwestern Costa
Rica.

The type of cinereiceps, which I have examined in the British
Museum, received from the Herald expedition in a collection made
by Kellett and Wood, is marked, owing to some confusion, as from
the ‘north-west coast of America.” Aldrich (Scient. Publ. Cleveland
Mus., vol. 7, 1937, p. 55) appropriately has designated Isla del Rey
as the type locality. The bird formerly was common there, but in
January, 1960, when I collected one near Ensenada, I was told that
now few were found. W. W. Brown, Jr., in 1900 secured one from
a native that had been taken on Isla Pedro Gonzalez. In 1944 I
failed to find them there, and have assumed that all have been killed
on that relatively small island. Though these birds have been known
long from the Archipiélago de las Perlas it is possible that the
faisana may have been introduced there from the mainland, perhaps
by Indians.

ORTALIS CINEREICEPS FRANTZII Cabanis

Ortalida Frantzii Cabanis, Journ fiir Orn., vol. 17, May 1869, p. 211. (Eastern
Costa Rica.)

Characters—Head dark gray; undersurface including the center
of the abdomen washed heavily with brown; decidedly dark above ;
light tips on end of tail cinnamon-buff ; decidedly darker throughout
than the other races found in Panama.

A chick of this race from Costa Rica (U.S.N.M. 64989), apparently
less than a week old, has the crown, side of the head, lower back,
and rump sooty brown; upper back dull chocolate-brown ; hindneck
and bend of wing cinnamon-buff ; wing dusky gray with the outer edge
and tips of the growing remiges cinnamon, and the downy coverts
tipped with cinnamon-buff ; throat, lower breast, and abdomen white ;

FAMILY CRACIDAE 309

upper breast cinnamon; lower breast and sides cinnamon buff; legs
and under tail coverts with the down dusky basally.

Measurements—Males (8 specimens from Costa Rica and
Panama), wing 199-208 (203), tail 208-227 (218), culmen from
base 24.3-26.8 (26.2), tarsus 62.3-68.3 (66.5) mm.

Females (3 specimens from Costa Rica), wing 190-194 (192), tail
205-214 (210), culmen from base 23.2-26.8 (24.5), tarsus 61.0-65.3
(63.1) mm.

Resident. Fairly common in the tropical lowlands of western
Bocas del Toro from the Costa Rican boundary to the valley of the
Rio Changuinola. Birds from the western side of Bahia Almirante
(Water Valley, Isla Cristobal) east along the Laguna de Chiriqui
(Cricamola, Guabo) show intergradation with O. c. mira.

To the north this race extends through the Caribbean lowlands of
Costa Rica to northeastern Nicaragua.

The only definite record of the breeding of this form is that of
Huber (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 84, 1932, p. 207),
who found a nest near the Eden Mine in northeastern Nicaragua on
May 27, 1922. The 3 eggs were placed on a small structure of decay-
ing vegetation on the top of a stump hidden in a clump of bushes in
an open pasture. The eggs, with the roughened, pitted surface usual
in this genus, were creamy white, much stained from the damp nest
material. They measured 50.4 x 36.8, 51.5 x 36.6, and 52.0 x 37.7 mm.
A chick in the Chicago Natural History Museum a little over 2 weeks
old, collected by von Wedel at Cricamola, July 1, 1937, also indicates
a nesting season in May.

In 1958 I found small flocks of these birds in Water Valley in the
edge of mangroves and along the border of the woodland behind,
and also noted them near Punta Rodriguez on Isla Cristobal.

ORTALIS CINEREICEPS MIRA Griscom

Ortalis garrula mira Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. 72, no. 9, Jan. 1932,
p. 318. (Ranchon, San Blas, Panama.)

Characters.—Similar to O. c. frantzti in brownish wash on breast
and foreneck, but definitely paler, with the head somewhat lighter
gray ; above paler brown; tail tipped with buffy white.

An adult male taken near El Llano on the lower Rio Bayano,
February 5, 1962, had the iris warm brown; eyelids and bare skin
on side of head dusky neutral gray; bare area on sides of throat rosy
red ; bill neutral gray ; tarsus and toes neutral gray ; claws black.

310 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Measurements.—Males (9, including one from Acandi, Choco),
wing 198-225 (213), tail 221-253 (241), culmen from base 25.6-29.8
(27.8), tarsus 64.9-74.5 (70.1, average of 8) mm.

Females (7, including one from Acandi, Chocéd), wing 193-207
(201), tail 217-244 (226), culmen from base 23.1-28.6 (26.2), tarsus
64.4-68.2 (65.6) mm.

Resident. Fairly common in the tropical lowlands of the Caribbean
slope, from near central Bocas del Toro through western Colén (Rio
Indio), and the lowlands of extreme northern Coclé (El Uracillo) to
the Colombian boundary. At the Cerro Azul this race ranges across to
the Pacific slope in the lowlands near Chepo, and continues eastward
to the Rio Majé, formerly at least along the Rio Chucunaque (mouth
of Rio Tuquesa, specimen 1924), and the Golfo San Miguel (Laguna
de Pita, specimen 1895).

Possibly hunting by Indians has reduced or eliminated the faisana
in parts of Darién, as I did not find it on the Chucunaque-Tuira
drainage in 1959. There were none in the region of the Rio Jaqué in
1946 and 1947, and none have been reported from the Cerro Pirre
area.

In the Canal Zone faisanas are fairly common on Barro Colorado
Island, mainly near the lake shore, and are found in sheltered localities
elsewhere from the lower Chagres Valley to the headwaters of that
stream. At Juan Mina, where the divide is low, the population seems
nearer cinereiceps. At Mandinga in the San Blas I found them com-
mon through tracts of rastrojo.

A female taken on the Rio Chiman on February 20, 1950, was
nearly ready to lay.

Family PHASIANIDAE: Quails, Pheasants, and Peacocks ;
Codornices, Faisanes, y Pavos Reales

This family of many species, found under natural conditions
throughout temperate and tropical regions, is best known through the
domestic fowl, the most valuable bird in a commercial sense in the
world. In Panama the Phasianidae are represented by five handsome
species of the group of quails, four of these, the wood quails, forest
inhabitants, and the fifth found in low coverts near the savanna
lands of the Pacific slope in the western part of the Republic. Only
three are sufficiently common to be considered game birds, and these
are present in limited numbers that cannot survive any extensive
hunting.

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 3II

KEY TO SPECIES OF THE PHASIANIDAE

1. Size small, wing less than 105 mm.; undersurface strongly spotted and
barred with buff, brown, and black.
Crested bobwhite, Colinus cristatus, p. 311
Larger, wing more than 110 mm.; undersurface plain, or with less conspicuous
pattern; if barred, these markings not present on lower foreneck and upper
PDREASER etre ect tersr erect oce este g eo ora eee crore eroleretaiel ated sTepeloka creoretarceleteerettetarsiererete 2
2. Smaller, wing less than 120 mm.; head without a distinct crest; 10 rectrices.
Banded wood quail, Rhynchortyx cinctus, p. 330
Larger, wing more than 120 mm.; head with a distinct bushy crest; 12
mectrices: | COGOntO PHOT) oo Wcite cateialelaierale.sicl si = 8s ciererely adore neers 3
3. Breast, sides, and crest plain cinnamon-brown.
Rufous-breasted wood quail, Odontophorus erythrops melanotis, p. 325
iBreastrandy crest more) Orslessuvalle sated eesti sorters) elelolelelersielaisteatelelefotere 4
4. Throat black, streaked with white; rest of lower surface distinctly spotted
with white or buff...... Spotted wood quail, Odontophorus guttatus, p. 322
Not as in 4. 5
5. Breast black, in some mixed with brown barred with white; throat white,
or white mixed with black.
Black-breasted wood quail, Odontophorus leucolaemus, p. 328
Breast grayish brown, finely barred, spotted, or marbled with dull black,
buffy Ores Srayishawhites sep recite trecr eyeraietetercieretercieloiona eve ieleleiasrecever 6
6. Foreneck and throat gray to grayish brown, with many fine cross bars of
white to grayish white.
Marbled wood quail, Odontophorus gujanensis, p. 316
Foreneck white with a broad central band of black mixed with rufous brown.
Tacarcuna wood quail, Odontophorus dialeucos, p. 327

COLINUS CRISTATUS (Linnaeus): Crested Bobwhite; Codorniz
Ficure 53

Tetrao cristatus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 277. (Curagao.)

A small quail, with form rounded and compact, short tail, and
head with pointed crest.

Description—Length 190 to 200 mm. Male, crown white or buff
shading to gray on the crest and back, bordered posteriorly by brown
more or less lined with black; sides and back of neck black, spotted
with white; rest of upper surface finely mottled with gray, brown,
and black; tertials spotted with black, with the inner borders black;
foreneck in some white, in others chestnut; under surface buff to
chestnut, spotted with white and barred with black ; ear coverts white
or buffy white.

Female, similar, but crown black in front, brown behind, including
the crest, with sides buff lined narrowly with black; throat buff to
white with the feathers bordered and tipped narrowly with black.

312 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Crested bobwhites are found in small coveys in thickets and along
the edge of woodlands bordering fields and savannas in the western
part of the Pacific slope. They are shy birds that often run, rather
than fly, and remain so well hidden that few persons become familiar
with them in the wild. Occasionally on less frequented country roads
a little flock may scurry quickly across in front of a car, but ordinarily
it is useless to try to follow them as they move rapidly and hide even
where there seems to be scanty cover. My best views of them have
been in early morning when they have come out from their usual

Fic. 53.—Crested bobwhite, codorniz, Colinus cristatus, male.

cover. On many occasions on open trails I have stopped my jeep and
have remained without moving, while a dozen or so came fearlessly
about. Then they walked or ran, often crouching, with a continuous
murmur of soft quail notes like those of bobwhites of related species
found through the extensive range of the genus from Canada to
northern South America. In feeding they peck strongly and rapidly
to expose whatever might be concealed in the ground, be it soft or
hard.

When startled they may fly, but seldom more than 10 meters, to
the nearest cover, where they drop instantly out of sight, and then
usually disappear so that they may not be seen again. These short
flights though rapid are not strong. Once I saw a three-quarter-

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 313

grown bird that could not rise over a 6-meter bank, at the abrupt
angle necessary from its point of take-off. Bobwhites usually are
more common than the small numbers ordinarily seen may indicate,
as may be learned following heavy rains that soak the vegetation, as
then they tend to feed more in the open.

Males begin to call toward the end of January, a 3-noted whistle,
ah-bob-white, in a tone familiar to those who know the quail in the
eastern half of the United States, but uttered much more rapidly. I
have assumed that like the northern species males of those found
in Panama whistle until they have found a mate and then cease,
since I have heard them rather infrequently in relation to the amount
of time that I have traveled in their haunts. The mating season may
vary locally, as I have recorded males calling as early as January 29
(near Bejuco) and as late as June 20 (near Penonomé).

In addition to this whistle of the males, both sexes have a
variety of soft calls that serve to hold together the individuals that
compose the little flocks. A louder sound, high-pitched and rather
querulous, resembles the syllables ka kwee, ka kwee, heard often
when a covey has become scattered.

They appear to nest at the beginning of the rainy season, as I
saw young nearly grown near Sona at the end of May.

Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 4, 1961, p. 223) says that eggs
of Colinus cristatus, as represented by the typical race C. c. cristatus,
and the subspecies leucotis and sonnini,all of northern South America,
are cream-colored, spotted and blotched, often very heavily, with
shades of brown. While those of the Panamanian race are not at
present known, it seems probable that they are similar.

As a species Colinus cristatus has an isolated colony with two sub-
species in the western half of the Pacific slope in Panama and then
appears again in northwestern Colombia to range through Venezuela,
and south to northern Brazil, including the islands of Aruba, Curacao,
and Margarita. Two subspecies are found in Panama, and in the
South American range 7 additional races are recognized. All agree in
form of the crest and general size but differ in details of depth and
extent of the color found in their plumage. All live in open regions
of scrub and savanna with limited rainfall. The populations of
western Panama thus are isolated from the range of their close
relatives by the great forests of Darién and the Atrato basin. It
seems curious that these quail are not known in the savanna country
between the city of Panama and the lower Rio Bayano.

An allied species, Colinus leucopogon, found from Guanacaste in
western Costa Rica northward through western Nicaragua, western

314 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Honduras, and El Salvador to western Guatemala, is generally
similar in form but has a much shorter crest, a completely white
superciliary stripe, and much darker cheeks, while in the male the
throat is mainly black, instead of bright brown. It is said also to lay
white eggs like those of most other species of Colinus.

In Panama these birds are known usually as perdiz, since most
persons do not distinguish them as of a different family from the
small tinamou. The correct name is codorniz.

COLINUS CRISTATUS PANAMENSIS Dickey and van Rossem

Colinus leucotis panamensis Dickey and van Rossem, Condor, vol. 32, no. 1,
Jan. 20, 1930, p. 73. (Aguadulce, Coclé, Panam#.)

Characters—Black markings restricted so that the dorsal surface
is grayish brown, and the breast bright brown, rather than black.
Compared to Colinus c. mariae the coloration throughout is decidedly
brown.

A male taken at El Potrero, Coclé, March 7, 1962, had the iris
brown ; bill black ; tarsus and toes light brownish gray; with the claws
slightly darker.

Measurements—Males (12 specimens), wing 92.3-97.3 (94.1),
tail 50.0-54.5 (52.1), culmen from cere 12.7-14.0 (13.2), tarsus 27.6-
31.6 (29.4) mm.

Females (9 specimens), wing 91.0-100.5 (95.8), tail 47.0-54.8
(51.4), culmen from cere 13.0-14.0 (13.5), tarsus 28.3-31.4 (30.2)
mm.

Resident. Lowlands of the Pacific slope in western Veraguas
from 10 kilometers west of Sona eastward (Santiago, near Santa Fé)
through Coclé (El Valle, El Copé, El Potrero, Aguadulce, Penonomé,
Rio Hato) and the adjacent area of the western sector of the
Province of Panama (El Espino, San Carlos, Bejuco) to the valley
of the Rio de la Mona at the south base of Cerro Campana; south
on the eastern side of the Azuero Peninsula through Herrera (Santa
Maria, Potuga, El Barrero, Paris, Parita, Monagrillo, Chitré) and
Los Santos, (Los Santos, Mensabé) to Pedasi, Los Asientos, and the
lower Tonosi Valley.

I have found this race most common in Herrera. In 1948 dozens
trapped for the market were sold for 10 cents each. It was common
in Parita to see them alive in small cages that were suspended near
the household kitchens to protect them from dogs and other marauders
until they were wanted for the table.

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 315

(Two specimens from the H. Bryant collection in the American
Museum of Natural History labeled as from the Panama Railroad
Line collected by “Jas McLellan” undoubtedly have erroneous data,
as the quail has not been known to range so far to the eastward.)

COLINUS CRISTATUS MARIAE Wetmore

Colinus cristatus mariae Wetmore, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 145, no. 1, June
26, 1962, p. 5. (7 kilometers south of Alanje, Province of Chiriqui, Panama.)

Characters—Definitely darker throughout; blacker on the back
and wings; black markings on the lower surface more extensive,
particularly on the upper breast and the lower foreneck.

Measurements.—Males (6 specimens), wing 92.6-95.3 (93.7), tail
46.3-52.3 (49.2), culmen from cere 12.7-13.9 (13.2), tarsus 27.9-
29.1 (28.5) mm.

Females (3 specimens), wing 92.0-96.1 (94.0), tail 45.7-50.0
(48.4), culmen from cere 12.4-13.4 (12.8), tarsus 27.2-29.4 (28.5)
mm.

Resident. Western Chiriqui from the southern slopes of the
Volcan de Chiriqui near Boquete (EI Salto, 1,350 meters elevation),
and El Francés (1,000 to 1,100 meters near El Banco) down to the
coastal plain near the sea below Alanje (Martina, Paja Blanca).

On my first brief views of these birds on the sandy plain below
Alanje the much darker color, compared to the quail of Veraguas
and Coclé, was immediately evident, though it was several days before
I was successful in shooting a pair for specimens. The birds ranged,
as usual with this species, in small coveys in open lands where thickets
offered cover, but nowhere did they seem abundant. When I en-
countered them, usually in driving a jeep along roads deep in sand,
they flew a few feet or ran among low bushes where they disappeared
instantly and seldom were seen again, even where the cover was of
limited extent. Later I found one covey in the sloping fields at El
Salto above Boquete, where the birds flew a short distance and hid
in low bushes where we tramped about for some time without success
in seeing them again. These observations were made in the first
half of March when the bands included young birds from half to
three-quarters grown.

This western population of the crested bobwhite has a decidedly
restricted distribution, as it was not found by the early collectors in
Chiriqui. The oldest specimens that I have seen, sent to Rothschild
by H. J. Watson, were taken at El Francés below Boquete in 1895.
Apparently they were not common here, for Watson’s further

316 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

collections do not seem to have included others. The only pub-
lished record of specimens of the race mariae seems to be that of
Hellmayr and Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 1, 1942, p. 252),
who in their account of the subspecies panamensis, of Veraguas and
Coclé, listed two of Watson’s skins from El Francés.

My two from near Alanje are definitely blacker than those from
the higher elevations. It appears that the maximum depth of pig-
mentation in this race is found in the coastal lowlands.

I have named this subspecies for Mrs. Robert A. Terry who, as
Mary E. McLellan Davidson, through her early field work added
much to our knowledge of the birds of Chiriqui.

[COLINUS VIRGINIANUS Linnaeus: Bobwhite; Codorniz Nortefia

Members of the Rio Hato Rod and Gun Club are reported to
have imported a number of bobwhite quail from the United States
for release in the savanna country near the Rio Hato military base.
At present there is no information as to the success of this experiment.

This species in general body form is like the native quail but is
larger and does not have the prominent crest of the codorniz (Colinus
cristatus). The throat in the adult male is white, and in the female
plain buffy brown without dark spots or streaks. The wing in males
measures from 106 to 119 mm., in females from 103 to 118 mm.]

ODONTOPHORUS GUJANENSIS (Gmelin): Marbled Wood Quail; Gallito del
Monte Jaspeado

Ficure 54
Tetrao gujanensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 767. (Cayenne.)

A forest quail with undersurface brown, mottled and barred lightly
with black, buff, and dull white.

Description—Length, 230 to 285 mm. Adult, crown crested,
brown; neck all around and upper back brown or gray, finely barred
with black; wings, wing coverts, and scapulars brown, barred with
buff, buffy white, and black, with heavy blotches of black, the con-
cealed web of the scapulars lined with gray; lower back and rump
brown, barred brokenly with brown and buff; tail similar but darker ;
side of head and chin chestnut; flight feathers fuscous, with broken
bars of buffy brown on outer webs; throat gray, barred with dull
white; lower surface brown to grayish brown, barred brokenly and
spotted with black, buff, and buffy white, more prominently on the
under tail coverts; under wing covers gray mottled with white.

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 317

There is much individual variation in depth of color and in amount
of barring.

These elusive birds, inhabitants of forests, are found in areas of
irregular terrain, especially in hill country where they live on the
ground in the cover of undergrowth. Usually they range in small
flocks of 6 or 8 individuals, rarely more, as the bands have the
appearance of family groups. These shelter often about a fallen
tree, or a steep broken slope may be attractive where they walk about
quietly, often to the accompaniment of low calls that barely are
heard by the human ear. At an alarm they crouch and hide, and I

Fic. 54.—Marbled wood quail, gallito del monte jaspeado, Odontophorus gu-
janensts.

am sure that often I have passed near such little bands without
being aware of their presence. If I chance directly upon them there
is immediate alarm, in which one or two may fly suddenly, with a
startling roar of wings, and dart away low for 60 or 80 meters, and
then alight to run, while others dash off under cover on foot. In
such manner the entire flock scatters and disappears in a flurry of
excited chirping calls to hide so effectively that it is seldom that one
is seen again. In dense cover they crouch with head forward as they
run, but when the forest floor is fairly open they scurry off with
head and neck erect and feathers compressed, making them appear
so slender that it is somewhat of a surprise to note their heavy
bodies when a shot brings one to hand. When all is quiet the birds

318 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

call softly until they are assembled again. In uninhabited areas, where
they are more common, and may be tame, a male sometimes steps
out with crest raised, head erect, and feathers fluffed to bow quickly
with extended neck.

Sometimes I have found them feeding beneath berry-bearing trees
on the drupes dropped or knocked down by other birds or by
monkeys. It is common to observe their scratchings on the forest
floor, often over considerable areas. Rarely in early morning I have
seen them venture out on an open sand bank to the edge of a river
to drink.

Their presence and abundance are known mainly from their loud,
rapid calls heard most often at dusk or at dawn, occasionally on
moonlight nights, and less often in the earlier hours of the forenoon.
The notes may be written perro-mulato, perro-mulato, repeated with-
out a break, sometimes for several minutes for a total of several
hundred times. These notes, audible for half a kilometer or more,
give them their common country name of perro mulato—mulatto dog
—throughout the whole of eastern Panama. Others, mainly those
living along the Caribbean, have likened the notes to corcoro-vado,
and from this call them corcorovado. In 1963 in the eastern San
Blas, where I heard them frequently, the call there seemed nearer
to this rendition than to the other with which I had been long familiar
at numerous localities on the Pacific slope. In addition they are
known everywhere by the common appellation of gallito monte. The
Cuna Indians call them dciiri.

Chapman (My Tropical Air Castle, 1929, pp. 275-276) found
from observations of two captive birds, presumed to be a pair, that
the call heard so commonly is a duet, in which the two alternate in
perfect time. In Chapman’s rendition of the call as corcoro vado
the second bird was responsible for the last two syllables. Some
observations of my own verify this, as at Boca de Paya in Darién one
evening I heard one wood quail start with a loud Mu-u-u-latto
repeated several times until suddenly the call changed to the usual
perro mu-u-latto, undoubtedly when a companion joined. In 1963,
near Armila, San Blas, when the female of a pair was taken for a
specimen, the remaining bird called corcoro—for several evenings,
until in a week or so this changed again to the full corcoro-vado so that
we believed that another mate had been obtained.

The species has a wide distribution from southwestern Costa Rica
through Panama to northern Colombia and Venezuela, and south, east
of the Andes, through Ecuador and Pert to eastern Bolivia and
Brazil. Two geographic races are found in Panama.

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 319

ODONTOPHORUS GUJANENSIS MARMORATUS (Gould)
Ortyx (Odontophorus) marmoratus Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 11,
no. 124, Dec. 1843, p. 107. (“Santa Fe de Bogota,” Colombia.)
Odontophorus guianensis panamensis Chapman, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol.

34, May 27, 1915, p. 363. (Line of Panama Railroad.)

Odontophorus guianensis panamensis Chubb, Ibis, ser. 11, vol. 1, no. 1, Jan. 8,

1919, p. 26. (Lion Hill, Canal Zone.)

Odontophorus guianensis chapmani Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. 69, no.

8, Apr. 1929, p. 153. (Cana, Darién.)

Characters——Neck all around and upper back gray (varying from
light to dark) ; white on throat and upper foreneck more extensive.

A male taken at Mandinga, San Blas, February 12, 1957, had the
iris wood brown; bill dusky neutral gray, very slightly paler at the
base of the gonys; eyelids, lores, and skin beneath the gape, dull
orange ; tarsus and toes neutral gray, with a small area of light neutral
gray on the front of the tarsus, below the proximal joint.

Another male shot at Frijolito, Panama, near the Canal Zone
boundary differed slightly in having the iris russet brown; bill dull
black; bare skin around eye and on lores light orange; tarsus and
toes neutral gray ; and claws black.

Measurements—Males (17 from Panama), wing 137.0-149.2
(143.8), tail 56.8-71.5 (65.0), culmen from cere 17.0-19.8 (18.8),
tarsus 41.2-48.1 (45.1) mm.

Females (4 from Panama), wing 136.7-140.8 (137.3), tail 57.0-
63.6 (61.1), culmen from cere 16.1-17.8 (16.9), tarsus 40.8-41.8
(41.4) mm.

Resident. In the Tropical Zone lowlands, from the Caribbean slope
of Coclé (El Uracillo), western Colon (Chilar), and the Canal Zone
(Lion Hill, Barro Colorado Island, Juan Mina) east throughout
forested areas on both slopes to the Colombian boundary, ranging to
500 meters on Cerro Chucanti, and to 1,000 meters on Cerro Pirre;
fairly common in areas remote from human settlement.

One in the British Museum was taken near Lion Hill by Mc-
Leannan (date not recorded). In May 1904 W. W. Brown, Jr. shot
two near Panama City (Thayer and Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool.,
1906, p. 214) ; on September 3, 1911, and February 22, 1912, Jewel
collected males near Gatun (Stone, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadel-
phia, 1918, p. 242); and in January or February 1921 M. J. Kelly
took one near Gamboa that he prepared as a mount for exhibition
in the Everhart Museum of Scranton, Pa. Formerly these wood
quail were reported regularly on Barro Colorado Island but now are
rare, my last record being of one that called at dusk from the
forested slope above the laboratory on May 5, 1953. My only other

320 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

recent record for the Canal Zone area was on January 14, 1961, when,
as I landed from a cayuco on the forested bank of the Chagres at
Guayabalito, above Juan Mina, a pair ran off across the forest floor.
To the eastward in forested regions the birds remain fairly common,
as they still find shelter on steep hill slopes that have not yet come
under cultivation. I have noted them in such locations in numerous
localities from above Chepo and Chiman eastward through Darién,
and at Mandinga on the San Blas coast.

M. A. Carriker, Jr., collecting for the U. S. National Museum in
Colombia at Unguia, northern Chocé on March 2, 1950, flushed a
female from a nest at the foot of a large tree in the forest. There
was one egg. This is oval, glossy white, with a very faint buffy tint,
and measures 36.0 26.7 mm. Another egg, taken from the oviduct
of a female shot at the Hacienda Belén, in northeastern Antioquia,
Colombia, March 24, 1948, is also oval, but is pure white without
gloss (owing probably to a shell deposit still incomplete). It measures
36.3 27.7 mm. This description and the dimensions correspond to
those given by Oates (Cat. Eggs Brit. Mus., vol. 1, 1901, p. 69) for
2 eggs collected by Salmon at Remedios, Antioquia. Schonwetter
(Handb. Ool., pt. 4, 1961, p. 224) says that occasionally eggs of
this form are finely spotted, or more rarely heavily marked with
brown. He gives the measurements of 6 as 35-38.6 X27.0-28.0 mm.

Four-fifths of the contents of the stomach and crop of one taken
at Cana consisted of the broken fragments of starchy seeds, with a
few harder ones that may have helped in grinding the others. In
addition there were remains of a dozen or more millipeds, 6 ants, 2
roaches, a spider, and bits of beetles and beetle larvae.

In any series of these birds there is much range in marking from
those very dark to others much lighter, and from those definitely
barred to others that show finely marbled markings, but these appear
to be purely individual variations. Our series of 21 from Panama
and 28 from northern Colombia, most of them recently taken, con-
firms the final conclusions of Chapman (Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 380,
1929, p. 5) and Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, pp.
319-320), based on older material, that the bird of Panama must be
recorded under the name marmoratus described by Gould from a
Bogota trade skin. This subspecies, therefore, has a range extend-
ing from central Panama across northern Colombia (through the
lower valleys of the Atrato, Sint, Cauca, and Magdalena Rivers),
and along the eastern base of the eastern Andes, into northwestern
Venezuela.

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 321

A chick, a male recently hatched, collected by Bernard Finestein at
900 meters on the slopes of Cerro Mali, Darién, on February 26,
1959, is darker than burnt umber above and on the legs and under
tail coverts, with a tint of cinnamon on the bases of the down on
the sides of the head and the upper neck, where it forms an indefinite,
rather broad line; less distinctly cinnamon on the wings; a narrow
line of buffy white from the base of the wing to the rump on either
side; below dull buffy white, barred indistinctly with neutral gray
on the throat and foreneck; breast and sides dull brownish black;
center of lower breast and abdomen dull white.

An older male that I secured at Jaqué, Darién, on April 6, 1946,
has short, narrow stripes of cinnamon buff on the breast, and the
upper fore neck grayish brown, with faint basal markings of grayish
white.

ODONTOPHORUS GUJANENSIS CASTIGATUS Bangs

Odontophorus castigatus Bangs, Auk, vol. 18, no. 4, Oct. 1901, p. 356. (Divala,
Chiriqui, Panama.)

Characters.—Neck, all around, and upper back brown; with less
white on throat and upper foreneck than O. g. marmoratus.

Measurements.—Males (6 specimens from Panama) wing 139-
148.8 (142.6), tail 61.2-71.0 (65.3), culmen from cere 17.8-19.5
(18.6), tarsus 43.0-46.3 (44.6) mm.

Females (3 from Panama), wing 137.8-144.8 (142.1), tail 56.2-
61.0 (59.5), culmen from cere 16.9-17.3 (17.1), tarsus 43.1-44.6
(43.9) mm.

Iris brown; tarsus lead color (from label of a male, collected by
W. W. Brown, Jr.).

Resident. Tropical Zone of western Chiriqui; known in Panama
from early collections made at Divala and Bugaba; no recent records.

The race was described originally from 7 specimens taken at the
end of 1900, near Divala, by W. W. Brown, Jr. Arcé had obtained
a pair earlier at Bugaba (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p.
218) which came to the British Museum in the Salvin-Godman col-
lection. Bangs (Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol. 3, 1902, p. 22)
received 3 males taken by Brown at Bugaba in July 1901, the latest
published report of this race in the republic.

This form of the marbled wood quail has most of its range in
southwestern Costa Rica, as it barely enters Panama. An early report
of it from “Veragua” (Sclater and Salvin, Nomen. Avium Neotrop.,
1873, p. 138) refers to the skins sent by Arcé from Bugaba.

322 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The two lowland areas from which it has been recorded, both in or
near the drainage of the Chiriqui Viejo river system, formerly
heavily forested, have been cut over until little of the original cover
remains. It seeems doubtful that any are still to be found in the
Republic.

Two specimens in the American Museum of Natural History,
sent originally by J. H. Batty to the Rothschild collection, have data
that are not to be trusted, as they are labeled “Isla Cebaco” with
the dates February 4 and 5, 1902. Probably they are Arcé skins from
somewhere on the mainland.

ODONTOPHORUS GUTTATUS (Gould): Spotted Wood Quail; Gallito del
Monte Pintado

Ortyx guttata Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 5, no. 56, 1837 (Feb. 13,
1838), p. 79. (Bay of Honduras.)

Odontophorus Veraguanensis Gould, Athenaeum, no. 1490, May 17, 1856, p.
620. (“Near David, in Veragua,”’ Panama.)

Odontophorus veraguensis Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt, 24, no. 307,
Aug. 13, 1856, p. 107. (Boquete, Chiriqui.)

A forest quail with under surface grayish brown or dull cinnamon
spotted with white ; throat black, streaked with white.

Description—Length, 230-275 mm. Adult male, (in gray-brown
phase) crown brownish black, with the elongated crest feathers
bright cinnamon-buff, except for the darker tips; side of head gray-
ish brown, with a streak of chestnut, mixed slightly with black from
beneath the eye back over the ear coverts to the side of the neck;
hindneck and upper back mottled olive-brown and gray, with shaft
lines of white; a few black feathers mixed with chestnut forming a
narrow indefinite collar across hindneck; lower back, rump, and
upper tail coverts finely mottled with grayish brown and olive; wing
coverts similar, but with small spots of mixed black and buffy white;
tertials and inner secondaries with bold, irregular black spots, barred
narrowly with chestnut-brown, and lined with buffy white; flight
feathers fuscous, the outer webs of the secondaries with narrow,
irregular bars and spots of buff to cinnamon; tail dull black, with
faintly indicated bars and spots of cinnamon; throat and foreneck
black, streaked narrowly with white; lower surface grayish brown
with small elongated spots of white bordered narrowly with black ;
upper breast, sides and flanks washed with warm brown; under tail
coverts dull chestnut-brown, banded indistinctly with black; under
wing coverts dark grayish brown.

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 323

Female, similar but with exposed crown feathers brown, and the
longer ones at rear duller brown.

An erythristic phase is common in both sexes in which the con-
cealed crest feathers vary from cinnamon to chestnut, the upper sur-
face is brighter colored, and the ground color of the lower surface
is cinnamon brown to snuff brown. This variant, found throughout
the range, was supposed to be a distinct species for many years. In
Panama it was long recorded under the name Odontophorus vera-
guensis Gould.

Chick in down, center of crown and occiput, and middle of the
back russet; forehead and side of crown buff to ochraceous-buff ;
rest of upper surface dark ochraceous-buff, mottled with dusky; un-
der surface buff, mixed with olive-gray. This natal down is followed
by a grayish brown plumage, with narrow elongate streaks that
terminate in enlarged spots of white narrowly edged with black on
breast, sides, back, and wing coverts.

The chick is paler colored than that of O. gujanensis or O.
erythrops, the former being very dark, almost chocolate-brown above,
and the latter cinnamon-brown. (The description of the downy
young given under Odontophorus erythrops melanotis in Friedmann,
U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 10, 1946, p. 371, is taken from a
specimen of O. guttatus.)

Adult, iris light brown; bill dark neutral gray to black; bare lores
neutral gray; eyelids dull greenish gray; tarsus and toes dull green,
with the claws fuscous.

A juvenile female, three-fourths grown, had the iris hazel; cere,
base of maxilla, and mandible fuscous ; rest of maxilla light chestnut-
brown ; tarsus and toes dull greenish gray.

Measurements—Males (11 from Chiriqui), wing 134.7-144.1
(140.4), tail 55.7-68.5 (62.2), culmen from cere 16.2-18.5 (17.3),
tarsus 42.8-46.8 (44.5) mm.

Females (11 from Chiriqui), wing 134.1-141.5 (136.0), tail 53.8-
65.6 (58.7), culmen from cere 15.3-17.8 (16.3), tarsus 40.2-44.3
(42.9) mm.

Resident. Fairly common in the subtropical zone in western
Chiriqui from Cerro Horqueta across the slopes of the Chiriqui
Volcano, Cerro Picacho, and Cerro Pando to the highlands on the
Costa Rican boundary, mainly from 1,250 to 2,100 meters; recorded
at 1,100 meters at El Banco. Confined in Panama, according to
available records, to the Pacific slope.

324 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

To the north this species ranges through the mountains of Central
America to southern México.

These quail are found in small bands on forested slopes where
locally they may be fairly common, as to the present time they have
not been hunted extensively. They are secretive like the lowland
species, and hide at any alarm, but on the whole appear less wary.
When approached one or two may fly a few feet, but most run
rapidly away with head erect and crests raised. Their feet make
a rapid pattering sound on dry leaves that I have heard sometimes
when the birds were hidden from me in the undergrowth. Often
they hide and remain so quiet that I have had a band secreted within
30 meters for a period of 15 minutes, until chance brought me nearer,
forcing them to run.

Their presence in the forest often is indicated by their scratchings,
which are roughly circular, 30 centimeters or more across, with
the leaves cleared so that the ground is bare. Where the forest floor
is level such depressions may be spread over an area several meters
across.

The calls of this species will be recognized at once by those
familiar with the perro mulatto of the lowlands in the eastern part
of the Republic, as the two are similar in excited, rapid tone. The
present species, however, has more variation in its notes. The usual
series of phrases may be rendered as zwheet-o-wet-to-wheo-who,
repeated steadily with the terminal syllables sometimes changed to
to-whao. Variation in tone, and occasional confusion in utterance,
that I have noted has indicated that the call was a duet similar to
that characteristic of the lowland species. They call mainly at
sunrise, and for a short space afterward, and it is then that their
numbers become known. At times, I have heard half a dozen groups
on as many separate wooded slopes.

When alarmed they give low trilling notes as they become excited
and run away, and when a flock has been scattered they utter
mournful whistles, similar to calls of some of the trogons, to unite
the little band again.

Schénwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 4, 1961, p. 224; pt. 5, 1961, p. 267)
indicates that the eggs are creamy white, sometimes spotted with
brown. He gives the measurements of 6 as 39.2-40.5 x 28.5-29.7 mm.

Recently hatched chicks were taken near E] Volcan March 10 and
2a, oO).

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 325

ODONTOPHORUS ERYTHROPS MELANOTIS Salvin: Rufous-breasted Wood
Quail; Gallito del Monte Pechicastaiio

Odontophorus melanotis Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 3, 1864 (Feb.,
1865), p. 586. (Tucurrique, Costa Rica.)

Odontophorus melanotis coloratus Griscom, Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 280, Sept. 10,
1927, p. 3. (Guaval, Rio Calovévora, northern Veraguas. )

A forest quail with chestnut-brown breast and sides.

Description—tLength, 220-260 mm. Male, crown chestnut-brown,
with the longer crest feathers tipped or washed with fuscous-black;
hindneck and upper back dull black to brownish black, mottled finely
with dull buff or cinnamon-buff; lower back, rump, and upper tail
coverts browner, also mottled, and with indistinct spots and broken
bars of black; wing coverts and scapulars dark grayish brown,
mottled lightly and spotted irregularly, with black, and lined with
cream-buff, the scapulars with heavy cross bands of black; flight
feathers fuscous; outer webs of primaries with irregular bars of
cinnamon ; outer webs of secondaries with heavier, mottled bars of
mixed grayish buff and cinnamon-buff; tail dull cinnamon-brown,
mottled and barred indistinctly with dull black; sides of head, throat,
and sides and front of neck dull black, with a faintly indicated band
of chestnut on the side of the head; breast and sides cinnamon-
brown, merging with the black of the throat through an over wash
of chestnut, the hidden centers of the feathers of the sides mottled
finely with black; feathers of the abdomen fluffy, blackish basally,
tipped with cinnamon-buff; tibia, flanks, and under tail coverts dull
black, barred and tipped with cinnamon-buff.

Female, without black on the throat or sides of the head.

Chick, chestnut-brown above, dark cinnamon to cinnamon-buff
below. The bird molts immediately into a plumage that resembles that
of the adult but has the crest feathers duller, and the back with
prominent white to buffy white lines. Below it is heavily spotted and
barred with black.

Birds taken at Cricamola have the iris in a male marked as dark
red brown, and in a female as coffee brown. The feet in both are
said to be blue black; bare skin around eye purplish in male, bluish
black in female ; bill black ; tarsus and toes blue-black.

Measurements.—Males (6 from Panama) wing 138.8-147.8
(143.3), tail 42.7-59.6 (51.7), culmen from cere 18.1-20.0 (18.9),
tarsus 42.6-47.0 (45.9) mm,

326 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Females (6 from Panama), wing 139.8-149.4 (143.1), tail 49.8-
52.8 (50.9), culmen from cere 18.0-18.8 (18.3), tarsus 43.8-47.1
(45.7) mm.

Resident. Rare, local in distribution in tropical zone and lower
subtropical zone forests, ranging on Cerro Pirre to 1,600 meters. Not
known from the Pacific slope west of the Cerro Azul, except for
two reports from the southern side of Veraguas.

While this species is one of wide distribution there is little knowl-
edge of it in Panama other than the few specimens that have been
collected. The only records for the Pacific slope of western Panama
are of one sent by Arcé to Salvin (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867,
p. 161), marked as from near Santiago, and another in the American
Museum collected near Santa Fé on March 31, 1925, by Benson.
From Bocas del Toro Wedel sent specimens to the Museum of
Comparative Zoology taken between March 21 and 30, 1928, at
elevations of 450 to 1,000 meters, on the Boquete trail, back of the
Laguna de Chiriqui. Another was secured near Cricamola on
February 15 and one at Guabo on April 10 (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp.
Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 297). There are two others in the Conover
Collection of the Chicago Natural History Museum from Cricamola
taken by Wedel on September 7, 1936, and October 25, 1937. Benson
and Gaffney secured a pair at Guaval, on the Rio Calovévora in
Caribbean Veraguas which Griscom described as a distinct race
coloratus. This, however, proves not to differ from O. e. melanotts.

Goldman on March 22 and 25, 1911, collected 4 females at 750
meters near the head of the Rio Pacora on Cerro Azul, another on
June 8 at 600 meters on Cerro Bruja, Colon, and a male on April
24, 1912 at 1,600 meters on Cerro Pirre in Darién. Hasso von Wedel
on February 1, 1933, shot a male at Puerto Obaldia, San Blas that
came to the Conover collection. The latest report of the species is an
adult male, prepared by C. O. Handley, Jr., that was captured by a
dog beside a forest trail on Cerro Azul, January 27, 1958.

Goldman left a manuscript note in which he described their scratch-
ings as similar to those of other gallinaceous birds and says that the
birds he collected were visible for a few seconds only as they ran
with outstretched necks beneath the undergrowth. On Cerro Bruja
one allowed him to approach closely. The only other observation on
habits that I have seen is that of C. W. Richmond (Proc. U. S. Nat.
Mus., vol. 16, 1893, p. 524) on the Rio Escondido, eastern Nicaragua,
where a flock of a dozen ‘‘flew into surrounding trees and afterward
off into the woods, two or three at a time.” The indication is that
birds of this species may be less wary than their close relatives.

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 327

Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 4, 1961, p. 224; pt. 5, p. 267) says
that one egg available was marked like the spotted eggs of Odonto-
phorus gujanensis marmoratus and gives the measurements as 37.6
27.9 mm.

Individual variation in depth of color, especially on the lower
surface, is considerable in the series seen both from Costa Rica and
Panama, so much so that there is no apparent basis for recognition
of more than one race in this area.

ODONTOPHORUS DIALEUCOS Wetmore: Tacarcuna Wood Quail; Gallito del
Monte Fajeado

Ficure 1, FRONTISPIECE

Odontophorus dialeucos Wetmore, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 145, no. 6,
Dec. 16, 1963, p. 5. (1,450 meters elevation, 63 kilometers west of the summit
of Cerro Mali, Serrania del Darién, Darién, Panama.)

Upper foreneck white, with a broad central band of black, mixed
with rufous-brown.

Description.—Length, 220 to 250 mm. Male, crown black mottled
lightly with rufous and spotted finely with white; superciliary streak
white ; a mottled brown band across the hindneck, becoming cinnamon-
buff where it joins the superciliary on either side; back brownish
olive, barred and mottled with sooty black and cinnamon; inner
secondaries and wing coverts snuff brown, finely marked with buffy
white; tertials marked heavily with black; upper foreneck white,
with a broad central band of black mixed with rufous-brown; rest
of lower surface dull buffy brown to tawny olive, darker on flanks and
under tail coverts, mottled with sooty black and buffy white.

Female, brighter brown on the lower surface.

Immature, like female, but with black band across foreneck broader
so that it covers most of the area to the base of the bill; white of
lower segment duller.

Measurements——Males (3 specimens), wing 128.8-131.4 (129.9) ;
tail 50.1-54.0 (52.5); culmen from base 19.8-20.0 (19.9) ; tarsus
45.2-47.6 (46.6) mm.

Females (4 specimens), wing 125.6-132.0 (130.9) ; tail 46.4-50.4
(47.8) ; culmen from base 19.4-20.0 (19.7) ; tarsus 44.5-49.2 (46.5)
mm.

Resident. In the subtropical zone of the southern end of the
Serrania del Darién; known at present from Cerro Mali and Cerro
Tacarcuna.

328 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The three specimens from which this interesting wood quail was
described were collected by Dr. Pedro Galindo of the Gorgas
Memorial Laboratory near a camp at 1,450 meters elevation located
64 kilometers west of the summit of Cerro Mali. A young female
came first to hand on June 5, 1963, followed by an adult pair two
days later.

Among its relatives Odontophorus dialeucos resembles most O.
strophium of the subtropical zone of the mountains of central Colom-
bia. This also has a white upper foreneck banded broadly with black
across the center but differs in the presence of a narrow black collar
below the lower white neck band and in being rufous and cinnamon
on the breast and sides, with prominent white spots and shaft lines.
Its crown is fuscous-brown and its whole upper surface is rufescent
with prominent black markings. The darker bird of Darién is an
interesting contrast in its plainer pattern.

In February and March of the following year we found these
birds fairly common on the slopes of Cerro Mali and Cerro
Tacarcuna from 1,200 to 1,450 meters. They ranged in pairs and
little flocks of six or eight in undergrowth, and were not wild since
they had had no hunter contact. While they were birds of the forest
floor, once one flew to a perch in a small tree 5 meters above the
ground. When disturbed they gave the low, rapid calls common to
other wood quail when approached.

ODONTOPHORUS LEUCOLAEMUS Salvin: Black-breasted Wood Quail;
Gallito del Monte Pechinegro

Odontophorus leucolaemus Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, June 1867, p. 161.
(Cordillera de Tolé, eastern Chiriqui, Panama.)

Odontophorus smithianus Oberholser, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 45, Apr.
2, 1932, p. 39. (San Joaquin de Dota, Costa Rica.)

Odontophorus smithians “Oberholser” Griscom, Auk, vol. 50, July 6, 1933, p. 298.
(Lapsus for smithianus.)

A forest quail with black breast and white throat (white sometimes
much reduced).

Description.—Length, 220 to 240 mm. Adult (sexes alike), above,
including the crest, dark cinnamon-brown, very finely barred with
black to produce a mottled appearance; scapulars and inner sec-
ondaries spotted and barred boldly with black; flight feathers
fuscous; outer web of primaries faintly spotted with cinnamon;
outer webs of secondaries heavily mottled with dark cinnamon and
dull black; tail dull black, with numerous narrow indefinite bars of
cinnamon and cinnamon-buff; sides of head, malar region, lower

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 329

foreneck, and breast black, the breast barred narrowly with white ;
throat and upper foreneck white; abdomen dull fuscous with faint
tippings of cinnamon; sides, flanks, tibia, and under tail coverts like
the upper surface but brighter brown; shorter under wing coverts like
back, longer ones fuscous like flight feathers.

There is much variation in color in which the upper surface may
be blacker, and the white of the throat much reduced or nearly
absent; or both upper and lower surface, including much of the
breast, are brighter brown. The supposed species smithianus was
described from birds in the blacker phase.

Immature birds have the tip of the bill cinnamon to buffy brown,
while in the adult it is black.

Measurements.—Males (10 from Panama and Costa Rica), wing
117.9-130.1 (124.6), tail 44.2-58.6 (49.1), culmen from base 14.7-17.5
(16.3), tarsus 44.5-48.0 (45.9) mm.

Females (7 from Panama and Costa Rica), wing 125.0-129.7
(127.2), tail 46.2-50.2 (48.2), culmen from cere 14.6-17.2 (15.6),
tarsus 43.2-45.5 (44.1) mm.

Resident. Rare, in the subtropical zone of Chiriqui, Veraguas, and
Bocas del Toro; recorded from 1,350 to 1,600 meters elevation.

This distinct species was named by Salvin from a female taken
by Arcé in the Cordillera de Tolé, which is in eastern Chiriqui under
present political boundaries, though recorded originally from
“Veragua.” Arcé later sent Salvin (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870,
p. 217) a specimen from Calovévora, Veraguas, and also one to
Gould from Chitra (Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., vol. 3,
1903, p. 311). In western Chiriqui Bangs (Proc. New England
Zool. Club, vol. 3, 1902, p. 22) received specimens taken by W. W.
Brown, Jr., near Boquete and also on the Caribbean slope beyond,
which would place them in Bocas del Toro. In the American Museum
of Natural History collection there is one specimen from Boquete,
taken by Watson, another collected by Arcé at Chitra, and two taken
at this same point at over 1,000 meters, December 30 and 31, 1925,
by Benson. Monniche (Blake, Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p. 508)
secured a male at Camp Cilindro on July 14, 1933, and a female at
Camp Holcomb on June 26, 1933, both on the Caribbean side of the
divide in Bocas del Toro. These last are the latest records for the
species in Panama.

There is a skin in the U. S. National Museum collected by Heyde
and Lux labeled “Nata, Coclé,” a lowland locality where this species
would not be found. It is possible that the collectors secured it in
a journey that they made into the subtropical zone beyond La Pintada.

330 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The black-breasted wood quail ranges in the highlands to eastern
and northern Costa Rica, but other than specimens that have been
taken little is known of it. Carriker (Birds of Costa Rica, 1910, pp.
388-389) wrote of it in Costa Rica that like “all other species of the
genus it is an inhabitant of the forest, congregates in small coveys,
and keeps to the thickest parts of the jungle.” Oberholser (Proc.
Biol. Soc. Washington, 1932, p. 41) cited observations by Austin
Paul Smith, who found it an elusive inhabitant of steep, heavily
wooded slopes in Costa Rica where the “birds were noisy early in the
morning during March and April.”

RHYNCHORTYX CINCTUS CINCTUS (Salvin): Banded Wood Quail;
Gallito del Monte Menor

Odontophorus cinctus Salvin, Ibis, ser. 3, vol. 6, no. 23, July 1876, p. 379.
(Veraguas, Panama.)

Odontophorus spodiostethus Salvin, Ibis, ser. 4, vol. 2, no. 8, Oct. 1878, p. 447.
( Veraguas. )

Odontophorus rubigenis Lawrence Mss., Richmond, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol.
16, Oct. 4, 1893, p. 525. (Panama.)

Rhynchortyx cinctus hypopius Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. 72, no. 9,
Jan. 1932, p. 320. (Puerto Obaldia, San Blas.)

A small forest-quail, with upper breast plain gray (male) or plain
brown (female) ; head not prominently crested ; bill heavy.

Description.—Length 170 to 200 mm. Male, crown and hindneck
dark brown, very faintly spotted with buff and black ; upper back dark
gray, slightly mottled with buff, the feathers tipped more or less with
brown; lower back paler gray, washed with buff, barred lightly and
indistinctly with darker gray, and spotted with cinnamon-buff and
black; uppermost lesser wing coverts black, barred narrowly with
cinnamon; rest of wing coverts brownish gray, with irregular bars
and spots of buff and black; tertials and innermost secondaries spotted
boldly with black and barred with cinnamon; flight feathers fuscous ;
outer webs of primaries spotted faintly with buff; outer webs of
secondaries with irregular spots and broken bars of cinnamon-buft ;
rump, upper tail coverts, and tail dull cinnamon, with shaft lines of
black and mottling of fuscous; band from eye back over ear coverts
dark grayish brown; side of head, including a broad superciliary line
and the malar area, cinnamon; throat mixed white and light gray;
foreneck and upper breast dark gray; lower breast cinnamon-buff ;
sides dull gray, mottled and washed with buff and cinnamon-buff ;
abdomen and tibia white; flanks and under tail coverts cinnamon-
buff, barred with black; shorter under wing coverts brownish black,
spotted faintly with white.

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 331

Female, browner above; a dull black stripe over eyelids and
auricular region; superciliary and a spot on lores buffy white ; throat
white; foreneck and upper breast brown, with the feathers more or
less gray basally; lower breast and sides white, barred heavily with
black.

Downy young, (3 to 6 days old from Darién, collected March 26,
1915 by W. B. Richardson, A. M. N. H. 135313) down of crown,
back, rump, and tail chocolate brown; line through eye across auric-
ulars brownish black; throat, malar region, lores, and an indistinct
line along side of crown dull cinnamon-buff; line from eye back
above auricular region buff; lower foreneck, side and back of neck,
upper breast, and upper back bright buffy brown; sides, flanks,
and tibia dark gray ; lower breast and abdomen white.

An adult female taken near Armila, San Blas, March 4, 1963,
had the iris warm brown; cere and mandible neutral gray; base of
culmen mouse brown; rest of maxilla black; tarsus, toes, and claws
dull bluish gray.

Measurements—Males (16 from Panama), wing 112.0-119.5
(115.3), tail 38.0-49.1 (42.7), culmen from cere 14.7-16.0 (15.3),
tarsus 32.7-36.7 (34.3) mm.

Females (7 from Panama), wing 108.0-114.7 (111.7), tail 38.1-
45.6 (42.3), culmen from cere 13.6-16.1 (14.6), tarsus 32.0-35.5
(33.1) mm.

Resident. Rather rare in forested areas of the tropical and lower
subtropical zones; reported from Veraguas, and from western
Province of Panama (sight record on Cerro Campana) ; recorded
mainly from the eastern half of the isthmus from eastern Colon
(Cerro Bruja), eastern Panama (Rio Pequeni, Chepo, Cerro
Chucanti), Darién (Cerro Sapo, Cerro Mali), and San Blas
(Mandinga, Armila, Puerto Obaldia).

The first specimens of this bird collected by Arcé came to Salvin
through the dealer Boucard labeled “Veragua,” without more definite
locality. The sexes are so different that they were named as two
distinct species and were so regarded until their identity was estab-
lished by Hartert (Nov. Zool., vol. 9, 1902, pp. 600-601). Hellmayr
(Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1911, p. 1207) finally determined that
the bird described as cinctus in 1876 was the female and that
spodiostethus, named two years later, was based on the male sex.

The little known of this wood quail relates to the few localities in
the eastern half of Panama at which it has been taken. On the
Pacific slope I secured a male on April 9, 1949, on a low hill at
Zanja Limén on the Rio Mamoni back of Chepo. In February 1950,

332 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

we saw two in forest along the Rio Chiman near the mouth of the
Rio Corott. And on March 13 and 14 we secured specimens on the
Cerro Chucanti, where they were found to elevations of 500 meters.
In Darién Barbour and Brooks, in April 1922, collected 7, including
2 downy young, on Cerro Sapo, and Galindo secured two on Cerro
Mali, a female at La Laguna at 1100 meters June 10, 1963, and a
male on Cerro Mali at 1450 meters June 7, 1963. Goldman shot one
April 18, and another May 3, 1912 at 1400 meters on Cerro Pirre. I
saw one at Boca de Paya on the Rio Tuira on March 13, 1959.

In the Caribbean drainage Griswold (Proc. New England Zool.
Club, vol. 15, 1936, p. 101) recorded them on the Rio Pequeni above
the old Salamanca Hydrographic Station. Goldman shot a male on
June 7, 1911, at 600 meters on Cerro Bruja, and at Mandinga, in the
Comarca de San Blas, Florentino, a native hunter, shot one for me
in the forest immediately back of our little house. I saw another
near here on February 14. H. von Wedel collected a series at Puerto
Obaldia and Permé in 1930.

In addition to the specimen records W. M. Perrygo on March
21, 1951, flushed several in heavy forest on Cerro Campana.

These birds range in the same forests as the larger marbled wood
quail. Perhaps because of their smaller size they seem often to hide,
even when near at hand, rather than fly or run, and because of this
habit they may be more common than the few observations that have
been published indicate. In the heavy cover that they frequent it is
only by chance that I have come onto them so directly as to cause
them to fly. Near the mouth of the Paya early one morning one
flushed near the border of a small clearing and flew so swiftly that
it was in the cover of the bordering woodland before I could bring
my gun around, the only time that I have seen one in the open. In
their forest cover sometimes they run aside for a meter or two and
sometimes fly for a few meters above the undergrowth, and then
with set wings scale down again to the ground.

The claws of this species are quite small for birds of this family,
indication that it may not share the scratching habit common in the
related genus Odontophorus.

The typical subspecies has been found rarely north on the Caribbean
slope of Costa Rica (recorded from Villa Quesada). It is more
frequent in northwestern Colombia in Cordoba, northern Antioquia
(Taraza) and southern Bolivar (Volador). A much darker race R.
c. australis Chapman is found on the Pacific slope in the Province of
Chocd. An adult female from Cerro Pirre is somewhat intermediate

FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 333

toward this race. Rhynchoriys cinctus hypopius Griscom, described
from the eastern San Blas, through the additional specimens now
available is not separable, as the characters described from the
original series are merely those of individual variation.

George N. Lawrence received a specimen from Panama marked
“Dec. 1879” with “Wallace” indicated as collector (A. M. N. H.
no. 45162) that apparently he believed to be new as the label bears
the name “Odontophorus rubigenis’ in Lawrence’s handwriting.
Evidently he then found Salvin’s description of the bird in the Ibis
for 1878, as he added this reference on the label. Richmond inad-
vertently quoted Lawrence’s manuscript name with descriptive data
in comparing this specimen with one that he collected in eastern
Nicaragua, and so the name rubigenis needs to be included in syn-
onymy.

Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 4, 1961, p. 224; pt. 5, 1961, p. 268)
describes 3 eggs of R. c. australis of northwestern Colombia as white
without markings, with measurements 29.6-30.0 x 23.5-23.8 mm.
The female taken at Armila, March 4, 1963 contained a nearly de-
veloped egg.

[PHASIANUS COLCHICUS Linnaeus: Ring-necked Pheasant; Faisin Comin

Phasianus colchicus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 158. (Rion,
formerly Phasis, Georgian S. S. R.)

In September 1959, Pablo Brackney released 80 pheasants on his
property at Palo Santo near El Volcan, Chiriqui. These were birds
about 5 months old that had been reared in a pheasantry near Panama
City. Corn had been planted as food and cover for them, and in
February and March of the following year many were present, as
I heard males crowing regularly. One nest had been found at that
time and the eggs taken and placed under a hen, as the area was
to be burned, but they were lost. On March 18, 1960 Mr. Brackney
saw one brood of young chicks. By 1963 they had multiplied and
had begun to spread into adjacent areas. But in 1965 I was told that
all had been shot by hunters. One had been killed about November,
1959, near Santa Clara, 25 kilometers west toward Costa Rica.]

[Family NUMIDIDAE: Guineafowl ; Gallinas de Guinea

The seven living species of this family are native in Africa, in-
cluding Madagascar and the Cape Verde Islands, with one extending
to southwestern Arabia.

334 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The guinea, or guinea-hen, common now in poultry yards, was
known in the period of the Roman Empire, though the present-day
domestic stock stems from birds brought to Europe from Africa by
Portuguese traders during the fifteenth century. In the beginning the
guinea-hen was known as the bird of Turkey, that geographic name
being applied widely to Moslem countries from Africa eastward. In
the writings of early naturalists it became confused with the larger
turkey introduced from America a little later, which finally inherited
the original name, and the bird from Africa became the guinea.

NUMIDA MELEAGRIS GALEATA Pallas: Guinea-hen, Gallina de Guinea

Nuwmida galeata Pallas, Spic. Zool., vol. 1, fasc. 4, 1767, p. 13. (Based on the
domesticated fowl: Murphy, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1924, pp. 264-265,
suggested Bathurst, at the mouth of the Gambia River, as type locality.)

According to the records of La Jagua Hunting Club, 27 guinea-
fowl were released at the clubhouse at 4:30 a.m. on June 11, 1933.
The birds, obtained through Mr. Van Reed of Port-au-Prince, Haiti,
from wild stock naturalized in that island, came in three lots on May
14, 25, and 31 of the year in question to Capt. William Ancrum at
Balboa Heights. Karl Curtis informs me that some were seen from
time to time through the following year, but that eventually all
disappeared. There is no record of their nesting.

The species has been known as a game bird in the wild in
Hispaniola for more than 200 years, and it was hoped that it might
have become established in the woodlands that border the Rio
La Jagua marshes. |

Order GRUIFORMES
Family ARAMIDAE: Limpkin ; Carrao

The single living species of this family ranges in the New World
from the Okefinoke Swamp in southeastern Georgia through Florida
and the Greater Antilles, and from south central México through
Central America and South America to northern Argentina and south-
ern Brazil. The relationships of the family are with the cranes and
the trumpeters. Bones of two fossil species described from Oligocene
deposits in South Dakota, and of a third from Middle Miocene beds
in Nebraska, are indication of former diversity in the group and of
its long history in the Americas. Bones of the living species have
been found in Pleistocene deposits in several localities in Florida.

FAMILY ARAMIDAE 33

cn

ARAMUS GUARADNA (Linnaeus): Limpkin; Carrao

Ficure 55

Form ibislike, but with shorter, heavier, nearly straight bill;
blackish brown, with white streaks on the neck, and in some races
on the body.

Descriptton.—Length 580 to 630 mm. Adult (sexes alike), fore-
head and lores grayish brown; crown blackish brown, paler on the
forehead ; throat white ; neck black to dark gray, streaked with white ;
body olive-brown, more or less streaked with white, the amount
varying in the different subspecies (see beyond).

Downy young, chin dull white; throat and upper foreneck, an in-
distinct superciliary, malar region, and upper abdomen dull white,
with the downy plumes tipped lightly with buffy brown; elsewhere
dull brown, darker above and paler below.

Iris brown; bill grayish brown, almost black at the tip, with the
base reddish brown on the mandible, and dull buff on the maxilla;
tarsus and toes dull olive-black ; claws darker, nearly black.

The limpkin is so rare in its occurrence in Panama that its presence
there has been overlooked until recent years. On the Isthmus these
birds are found mainly along the lower courses of larger rivers
where the forested banks are low so that they may be flooded in
periods of high water. Their presence may be detected by the empty
shells of large apple snails left on muddy shores, as these form their
main food supply. In early morning limpkins may be found in the
open, but at any alarm they retreat to the shelter of forest and there
remain concealed. In other parts of their extensive tropical and sub-
tropical range they come out in open marshes, but there is little
suitable habitat of that type in Panama, except in the banana farms
of Bocas del Toro. Here limpkins are found occasionally on cleared
lands that have been flooded.

To secure their food limpkins wade in shallow water probing with
the bill. When an apple snail is found it is carried to the bank, and
set in the mud with the opening upward. The bird, with partly
opened bill tip, with quick dexterity then removes the horny oper-
culum that protects the snail, when the mollusk is pulled out and
swallowed.

Limpkins walk rather slowly, with constantly twitching tail, and
a curious undulating tread that gives the impression of lameness or
limping, from which the common name of limpkin is derived. Their
flapping flight is performed with head and neck extended, and feet
and legs projecting behind, in the manner of a crane. Where not

336 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

hurried they often show an attractive mannerism in the air in which
open wings are raised to a 45° angle and then brought down to
body level, suggestive of the flight method of many of the larger
butterflies.

As they move about they utter low clucking notes and then may
burst out in loud calls of car-r-r-rao car-r-r-rao, from which they

Fic. 55.—Limpkin, carrao, Aramus guarauna guarauna, northern subspecies,
heavily streaked with white.

derive their usual common name among those few of the country
people that recognize them. To most they are not distinguished from
the ibises, or cocos. The loud call, often mingled with harsher
sounds, is given sometimes in flight, and also may be heard at night.

In the adult male limpkin the trachea, as it descends the neck, is
elongated, and below the center is folded in a tight double loop on
the right hand side. It then continues to enter the thorax, where it
divides in the usual matter in two bronchi. The loop is not found in
females, and I have found it absent also in males that I assumed to

FAMILY ARAMIDAE 337

be immature. Apparently it is this stage that has misled some early
authorities who have stated that such convolutions were not present
in this species.

The nests of limpkins are masses of vegetation placed on tangled
branches, or growths of vines. In areas of extensive marsh land they
are built on mats of saw grass. The 4 to 8 eggs are ovate, with a
slightly glossy, smooth shell, buff to olive-buff, with blotches of drab
and brown.

Two of the recognized subspecies are found in Panama.

ARAMUS GUARAUNA GUARAUNA (Linnaeus)
Scolopax guarauna Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 242. (Cayenne.)

Characters——White stripes confined to the sides of the head and
neck, with a few on the lower surface and rarely on the wing coverts,
partly concealed by darker feather ends ; darker olive-brown ; smaller.

Measurements——Males (5 from Panama and Colombia), wing
301-309 (305.2), tail 122.8-138.8 (129.1), culmen from base 104.6-
116.8 (111.2), tarsus 109.6-126.8 (117.2) mm.

Females (3 from Panama and Colombia), wing 290-291 (290.3),
tail 122.2-129.7 (127.0), culmen from base 101.5-107.0 (104.7),
tarsus 106.0-114.7 (109.4) mm.

Resident.. Rare; found in the Canal Zone on the middle Rio
Chagres (above Juan Mina) and in Darién on the middle Rio Tuira
(Boca de Paya), and the lower middle Rio Chucunaque (mouth of
Rio Ucurganti).

The first report for Panama was of a male taken by Festa at the
Laguna de Pita near the mouth of the Rio Tuira in August 1895
(Salvadori and Festa, Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp. Torino, vol. 15,
1900, p. 42). At Juan Mina on the Rio Chagres on several occasions
Enrique van Horn described to me an ibislike bird that I was certain
must be a limpkin. In January 1958 he shot one for Dr. Frank
Hartman, who in the course of his studies prepared it as a skin
that he presented to the U. S. National Museum. The following
year I found the empty snail shells left by these birds scattered
over a muddy shore beneath overhanging bushes. And on January
28, 1958, I secured one for a specimen.

Later in the same season I collected a female on February 18
at our camp where the Rio Paya enters the Tuira; and during the
following month I noted one from time to time on the Paya im-
mediately above its mouth. Collectors for the Gorgas Memorial
Laboratory took another here on April 15. On the Chucunaque one
was reported to me on March 21.

338 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Hellebrekers (Zool. Med. Nat. Hist. Leiden, vol. 24, 1942, p. 245)
gives the following description of a set of 6 eggs from Surinam in
the Penard collection : “Ground: light buff... some eggs with a very
slight greenish tinge. Spots : yellowish brown, sayal brown . . . especially
at the large end, and purplish under markings. Average measure-
ments in mm: 56.1 x 44.2.”

On both the Chagres and the Tuira the limpkin ate the local apple
snail Pomacea geteki Morrison.

ARAMUS GUARAUNA DOLOSUS Peters
Aramus pictus dolosus Peters, Occ. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 5, Jan.

30, 1925, p. 144. (Bolson, Guanacaste, Costa Rica.)

Characters.—Olive-brown, with breast, sides, and wing coverts
heavily streaked with white; back similarly marked but less heavily ;
secondaries with broad, partly concealed, white shaft streaks ; larger.

Measurements (from Peters’s original description)—Males (4
from México and Costa Rica), wing 315-333 (324), culmen 123-127
(125.7), tarsus 126-135 (131.5) mm.

Females (3 from México, British Honduras, and Costa Rica),
wing 300-308 (304), culmen 102-115 (109.3), tarsus 117-119 (117.6)
mm.

Status uncertain, rare. Recorded from western Bocas del Toro.

A male in the Chicago Natural History Museum was taken by Hasso
von Wedel at Cricamola, Bocas del Toro, April 15, 1937. The only
other probable occurrence of this race is a limpkin that I saw on the
shore of an impoundment of water in the banana farms at Changuin-
ola on January 24, 1958, a bird that I stalked without success. This
subspecies ranges regularly from the lowlands of south central México
and Honduras south to Costa Rica. To date it has not been recorded
in Guatemala.

Schénwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 5, 1961, p. 306) gives the measure-
ments of one egg of this race from México as 58.045.6 mm.

Family RALLIDAE: Rails, Gallinules, and Coots ; Cocalecas y
Gallinetas de Agua.

Rails are found throughout much of the world, even on oceanic
islands, absent only in arctic regions. Typically they are marsh
inhabitants, with certain groups, the coots and gallinules, that swim
and feed like ducks in open waters. Some others have adapted to
dry land conditions, and may range in upland country, though these
seem to require access with regularity to water. The 9 species found
in Panama are widely distributed and may be locally common, but
are so retiring that little is known in detail of their manner of life.

—
.

FAMILY RALLIDAE 339

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF RALLIDAE

Pilanicsaplain,. WAtOUE , DAES s . o6:sce: «19,014 20:6 cteusie ove ae. « easton ariete letey aia acts. 3

Zee Wianics barred with black and whiten. cece saeco ce ceene eices sere 10

10.

is

12.

Smaller, wing less than 130 mm.
Uniform crake, Amaurolimnas concolor guatemalensis, p. 339
Marger) wing iiore than 150) mams./.o..4Geuled pita ae eee ees 5
Without a prominent frontal shield above the base of the bill; bill longer
than the head. (genus Avraimides i, «o.0< ae «targa ve + ors musaich vedic eased 7
With a prominent frontal shield above the base of the bill; bill not longer
tham tthe head. 32). S524.% LOPS ss Meee nae okie tees, aera eat 8
Head and neck gray, somewhat darker on the occiput; under wing coverts
cinnamon-brown, barred with black.
Gray-necked wood rail, Aramides cajanea, p. 341
Head and upper neck chestnut-brown; under wing coverts black, barred
with white (in some partly mixed with cinnamon).
Rufous-crowned wood rail, Aramides axillaris, p. 346
Toes with prominent lateral membranes or lobes on each joint; frontal
shield small, not extended on forehead back of the eyes.
American coot, Fulica americana americana, p. 363
Toes without lateral membranes or lobes; frontal shield large, much ex-
panded on forehead, and extended back to center of eyes or farther... 9
Bill stouter; nostril small, its width about one half its length; feathering
in front of eye terminated in a nearly straight vertical line along the
base of the bill; adult brilliant green and blue; immature with more or
less blue on wings........ Purple gallinule, Porphyrula martinica, p. 360
Bill more slender; nostril elongated, its length much more than twice its
width; feathering in front of eye projecting at an angle on the base of
the bill; coloration slate gray, black on the head.
Common gallinule, Gallinula chloropus, p. 357
Back mixed brown and black, streaked narrowly with white (genus
SOUS CUE) a eee No nea) Ae RSTE SAO REC Coe TT
Back plain reddish or grayish brown, without streaks (genus Laterallus) 12
Larger, wing 100 mm. or more; space in front of eye black or dark gray.
Sora, Porzana carolina, p. 350
Smaller, wing 70 mm. or less; a prominent white line from base of bill
to above eye. . Yellow-breasted rail, Porzana flaviventer flaviventer, p. 348
Sides of neck and breast gray; rump and upper tail coverts black barred
narrowly with white.......... Gray-breasted rail, Laterallus exilis, p. 355
Sides of neck and breast reddish brown; rump and upper tail coverts black
or brownish black, without bars.
White-throated rail, Laterallus albigularis, p. 351

AMAUROLIMNAS CONCOLOR GUATEMALENSIS (Lawrence): Uniform

Crake; Rascén Castafio

Corethrura Gautemalensis (sic) Lawrence, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia,
June 1863, p. 106. (Guatemala. )

A rail of medium size, rufescent-brown on lower surface; oliva-

ceous-brown above.

340 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Description—Length, 200-210 mm. Adult (sexes alike), oliva-
ceous-brown above, more rufescent on the scapulars; side of head
grayish brown; under surface rufous brown, lighter on the throat,
darker on the sides and under tail coverts; wings fuscous, margined
with brown; under wing coverts grayish brown to nearly black,
washed lightly with rufous brown.

Immature, duller, more grayish brown on lower surface.

Iris orange-brown; side of maxilla, to a point anterior to nostril,
and mandibular rami, dull yellowish green; rest of bill dusky neutral
gray; bare skin adjacent to gape, and along the base of the mandible,
dull grayish purple ; front of tarsus and toes fuscous; sides and back
of tarsus somewhat reddish brown; crus light reddish brown; distal
end of claws dark neutral gray.

Measurements—Males (4 from Panama), wing 110.9-118.0
(114.3), tail 39.0-43.2 (41.8), culmen from base 25.5-28.2 (26.6),
tarsus 40.8-42.9 (41.5) mm.

Females (3 from Panama and Nicaragua), wing 110.0-114.0
(111.5), tail 44.7-46.7 (45.3), culmen from base 26.2-26.5 (26.3),
tarsus 39.8-42.4 (41.3) mm.

Resident. Tropical zone, rare; recorded from Chiriqui (without
definite locality) ; Bocas del Toro (Almirante); San Blas (Man-
dinga); Darién (sight record, El Real); and Isla San José,
Archipiélago de las Perlas.

There is a female from Chiriqui in the American Museum of
Natural History (Chapman, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 36,
1917, p. 217). H. von Wedel collected one at Almirante, Bocas del
Toro, on August 5, 1927, and I shot two there on February 15 and
March 5, 1958. At Mandinga, San Blas, I secured another on
January 28, 1957. The record for Isla San José is of a female taken
August 23, 1944 by Dr. J. P. E. Morrison. On January 23, 1964, I
had a brief view of one at the edge of a road leading through marshy
land near El Real, Darién.

The first one that I found at Almirante was in a dense thicket at
the border of a banana plantation. My companion saw it move in the
dark shadows, and after a few minutes, during which we remained
partly hidden, it came furtively to peer at me. The second bird lurked
half concealed under the ground cover at the border of a swampy
spot. The one taken at Mandinga was in second growth at the
border of a small quebrada.

The only published record of the egg that I have seen is that of
Nehrkorn (Kat. Eiersamml., 1899, p. 202), who described one from

FAMILY RALLIDAE 341

Guatemala, as reddish gray with a few small spots of violet and rust
brown, and measurements of 3431.5 mm. According to Schén-
wetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 5, 1961, p. 316) this egg has disappeared.
(The measurements are quoted incorrectly by Schonwetter as 33 x
26.5 mm.)

When I identified the collections made on the islands of San José
and Pedro Gonzalez, in the Archipiélago de las Perlas (Wetmore,
Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 106, no. 1, 1946), I made no mention
of two eggs brought from San José by Dr. J. P. E. Morrison, after
I had left the island, as at that time I was not wholly certain of their
identity. Through familiarity with the avifauna of Panama that has
come since I am certain now that they are of the present species.
They were brought by one of the work force for the Chemical
Warfare Service on September 1, 1944, with the statement that they
had been found in a low nest, but no other information. Their
form is somewhat pointed short subelliptical, with the slightly glossy
shell smooth. The color is pale buff with a faint cinnamon cast,
marked sparingly with small scattered spots of chestnut brown, that
appear violet or grayish blue when overlaid by a thin deposit of
shell. Though one is broken, measurements may be made from
both as follows : 32.7 x 27.3 and 32.6 x 26.5 mm.

There is a study skin of this race in the British Museum (Natural
History) from the Salvin-Godman collection with the data “Guate-
mala (McLeannan),” cited in this same form by Sharpe (Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus., vol. 23, 1894, p. 88), in which either the locality or the
collector is in error, since McLeannan worked only in Panama.

ARAMIDES CAJANEA (Miiller): Gray-necked Wood Rail; Cocaleca Gris
Figure 56

Large size, gray head and neck, brown breast, and black abdomen
mark this species.

Description—Length 325 to 350 mm. Adults (sexes alike), head
and neck gray, brownish on the crown; throat white to light gray;
upper back and scapulars olive-green; breast, sides, and wings cin-
namon-brown; lower back, rump, tail, flanks, and abdomen black;
tibia dark, somewhat brownish, gray; under wing coverts cinnamon
barred with black.

Downy young, head, foreneck, and upper breast sayal brown, with
an indefinite line of deep mouse gray extending up the upper breast
onto the foreneck; hind neck, wings, and rest of body, dull black,
somewhat brownish black on under surface.

342 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Iris red; bare skin around eye, and gape dull red; base of bill
yellow to level of nostrils, changing there to light green for terminal
half ; gape red ; crus, tarsus and toes red; claws grayish brown.

Though wood rails are widely distributed, and are as widely known,
they are so secretive that their presence is recognized mainly from
their calls heard in morning, evening, and during the early hours of

WES a
SB

2

Fic. 56.—Gray-necked wood rail, cocaleca gris, Aramides cajanea.

night. Their range is governed by suitable cover to afford conceal-
ment, as they are found from the borders of mangrove swamps
inland throughout the tropical zone, and in places they may follow
streams to the lower edge of the subtropical zone at elevations up to
1,300 meters. In hill country they often range on slopes where forest
is not too high to points that are far from water. On Isla San José
in the Pearl Islands, and on Isla Coiba, I heard them or noted their
tracks regularly in the drier upland areas.

They are found in pairs, except for limited periods when they
may be accompanied by young. In the dry season on the eastern

FAMILY RALLIDAE 343

side of the Azuero Peninsula I have seen them regularly in early
morning in the open trails, walking about like chickens. The tail is
held at an angle, and the birds move stealthily, with the head held
forward. At any alarm their slow steps change instantly to a rapid
run and they disappear. Aside from this I have had only an oc-
casional glimpse of one at the edge of mangroves, or along some
stream, though often their presence has been known from their
calls. These are loud, with a curious halting cadence, and rise and
fall in sound with the individual syllables. They may continue for
several minutes. Regularly the notes are uttered as a duet, with two
birds alternating in their utterance. At a distance the sound is
melodious and pleasing, but near at hand low, rattling, clacking notes
intermingled completely spoil the agreeable effect.

The names by which they are known are taken mainly from imita-
tion of their calls, the usual one being cocaleca. Sometimes this is
shortened to coclé, or varied to chilico, or chilicote. English-speaking
Panamanians in the province of Bocas del Toro call them mangrove
hens, a name obviously of Jamaican origin. And those American
hunters near the Canal Zone, who know them, refer to them as the
king rail. The name cocaleca, obviously derived from the call notes,
is also applied to other rails, even to those of small size.

In upland areas on occasion I have eaten the bodies of those that
I have shot for specimens, but birds taken in the mangrove swamps,
where their main food is crabs, often have an offensive odor.

Though they move about at night, usually in the hour or two im-
mediately after sunset, or in periods of bright moonlight, they also
sleep, as I have come across them occasionally while night-hunting.
They rest two or three meters above the water, or above the ground
in the brush adjacent to a stream or swamp, often in exposed situa-
tions, and may be so dazed by the jack light that I have caught them
by hand. I have seen captive birds in possession of native boys
tethered in a curious way by a slender cord of tough bark fastened
to the bill through the open nostrils, which are perforated naturally
from side to side.

In addition to small crabs they eat roaches and other large insects
and often have the stomach crammed with small seeds and the
remains of drupes. George Shiras, 3d (Nat. Geogr. Mag., Aug. 1915,
p. 174), had them come regularly at night to his cameras set with
flashlight powder, regardless of whether the bait used was meat or
fruit.

344 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

ARAMIDES CAJANEA CAJANEA (Miiller)

Fulica cajanea P. L. S. Miller, Vollstand. Natursyst. Suppl. Register-Band,
1776, p. 119. (Cayenne.)

Characters —Averaging somewhat larger; darker in color, above
and on the under surface.

Measurements.—Males (8 from Panama), wing 172-192 (182.2),
tail 57.8-71.8 (62.9), culmen from base 51.0-58.3 (53.2), tarsus
70.0-81.0 (75.8) mm.

Females (9 from Panama), wing 174-184 (179.1), tail 57.5-67.1
(63.8), culmen from base 50.0-54.1 (52.0), tarsus 69.0-81.6 (75.2)
mm.

Resident. Coastal lowlands throughout the Republic, mainly in the
larger river valleys ; found locally in the subtropical zone ; in Chiriqui
a few range to 1,000 to 1,300 meters on the southern and western
mountain slopes; in Los Santos to 1,000 meters on Cerro Hoya; in
Darién to 1,400 meters on Cerro Mali: Isla Coiba; Isla Cébaco; re-
ported on Isla Parida.

The open nest of these birds is built of twigs, dried weed stems,
and similar materials placed in a bush or low tree over or near water,
at an elevation of a meter to 5 or 6 meters above the surface. Usually
it is well concealed, and when seen may not be distinguished from
other masses of dried vegatation left amid the branches by flood
waters. The well formed inner depression normally holds 3 to 5
eggs. Belcher and Smooker (Ibis, 1935, p. 282) record exceptional
sets of 6 and 7. A set of 3 in the U. S. National Museum taken by
Smooker on the Caroni River, Trinidad, on September 3, 1931, vary
from subelliptical to oval and are somewhat glossy, with a very slightly
roughened shell. Two are pale cream color, while the third is pale
buff. All are marked sparingly with small spots of cinnamon, chest-
nut, and lavender, mainly near the larger end. They measure 46.7 x
33.3, 46.8X 32.4, and 46.8x33.5 mm. Belcher and Smooker state
that some eggs are marked with “scrawlings and hair lines of
brown.”

These rails are hunted to some extent but are not common enough
to be regarded as game birds.

Three that I secured on Isla Coiba are equal in size to typical
cajanea of the mainland, but are slightly darker. Occasional main-
land specimens, however, approach their color closely. The tendency
toward deepened pigmentation, common in birds resident on Coiba,
thus is indicated, but not sufficiently to warrant recognition by name.

FAMILY RALLIDAE 345

ARAMIDES CAJANEA LATENS Bangs and Penard

Aramides cajanea latens Bangs and Penard, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., vol. 62,
Apr. 1918, p. 41. (Isla del Rey, Archipiélago de las Perlas, Panama.)

Characters——Averaging smaller than typical cajanea and definitely
paler in color, especially on crown, neck, and under surface; brown
of breast and sides more cinnamon-buff, less rufous.

Measurements.—Males (2 specimens), wing 168, 173; tail 57.5,
59.7 ; culmen from base 50.0, 51.8; tarsus 68.2, 69.0 mm.

Females (2 specimens), wing 161.0, 172.0; tail 57.5, 63.8; culmen
from base 51.0, 51.5; tarsus 67.0, 70.3 mm.

Resident. Archipiélago de las Perlas (Isla del Rey, Isla Viveros,
probably Isla de Cafias, and Isleta Malaga).

This race is known from the four specimens of the type series in
the Museum of Comparative Zoology collected on Isla del Rey in
February and March 1904 by W. W. Brown. The statements of
characters and the measurements given above are from my personal
examination of these birds. Rendahl (Ark. Zool., 1920, p. 22) listed
a female taken on Isla Viveros, on April 4, 1882, by Carl Bovallius,
that is unquestionably this race as the bird is said to be paler on
the head, neck, and underparts, when compared with skins from
Surinam and Baia. From January 21 to 23, 1960, I heard wood rails
calling on several occasions on Isla Cafias, which is separated from
the eastern side of Rey by a very narrow channel; and at Isleta
Malaga, immediately east of Isla Bayoneta, heard others on January
29. It is probable that these records refer to the race latens since
the islands listed lie on the same shallow submarine platform that
surrounds Isla del Rey.

ARAMIDES CAJANEA MORRISONI Wetmore

Aramides cajanea morrisoni Wetmore, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 59,
Mar. 11, 1946, p. 50. (Isla San José, Archipiélago de las Perlas, Panama.)

Characters——Similar in small size to A. c. latens, but gray of
hindneck clearer, less brownish, and also darker ; back, wing coverts,
and scapulars darker, more olivaceous green.

Measurements——Males (6 specimens), wing 165-179 (174.3), tail
54.1-64.2 (58.3), culmen from base 46.8-58.7 (52.5), tarsus 64.2-71.0
(67.6) mm.

Females (6 specimens) , wing 161-173 (166.5), tail 54.5-56.8 (54.9),
culmen from base 48.0-51.9 (49.8), tarsus 62.7-70.0 (66.5) mm.

Resident. Fairly common; islands of San José and Pedro Gonzalez,
Archipiélago de las Perlas.

346 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

During field work on Isla San José in 1944 I found these rails
common but so shy that, though I heard them constantly, it was only
on occasion that I had a glimpse of one in the undergrowth of the
forest. They were recorded in my notes almost daily but mainly
from their calls, or from their tracks, seen in the dust of trails and
roadways. During February and March they ranged in pairs. Later
in the season, as construction work concerned with a field laboratory
for chemical tests spread, they became more accustomed to human
presence through the many workmen engaged on roads and trails, and
were less timid. After my departure, Morrison, who remained on
the island, secured a dozen adults and one young bird in down
taken July 22.

This race is like the form of Isla del Rey in small size, but in
the series from the two islands available, morrisoni differs definitely
in darker color. It should be noted that San José and Pedro Gonzalez
are separated from the shallow bank around Isla del Rey by depths
of 12 to 15 meters or more.

ARAMIDES AXILLARIS Lawrence: Rufous-crowned Wood Rail; Cocaleca
Cabecicastana

Aramides axillaris Lawrence, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, June 3, 1863,
p. 107. (Barranquilla, Colombia.)

Smaller than the gray-necked wood rail, with head and neck rufous-
brown.

Description—Length 250-280 mm. Adults (sexes alike), head,
upper hindneck, foreneck, and breast rufous-brown; throat white;
lower hindneck and extreme upper back gray; back and scapulars
olive brown ; wings chestnut ; rump, tail, flanks, and under tail coverts
black; center of abdomen grayish brown; under wing coverts white,
barred with black.

Immature, neck and breast grayish brown.

A male taken on January 19, 1963, at Puerto Aguadulce had the
iris orange-brown; bill greenish gray, darker toward the tip, with
the side of the maxilla behind the nostril, and the base of the mandible
shading from this grayer shade to dull honey yellow which becomes
true honey yellow on the lower half of the base of the mandible;
crus, tarsus and toes dull red; claws black.

Measurements—(From Ridgway and Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus.,
Bull. 50, pt. 9, 1941, p. 125).

Males (18 from México and Colombia), wing 163-174 (169), tail
53-63 (58.3), exposed culmen 39.5-46.0 (43.7), tarsus 52.5-63.0
(59.5) mm.

FAMILY RALLIDAE 347

Females (13 from México and Panama), wing 145.5-170.0 (163.6),
tail 47.0-62.5 (57.3), exposed culmen 37.5-46.0 (42.2), tarsus 50.0-
60.5 (57.6) mm.

Resident. Known in Panama from the mangrove swamps near
Almirante, Bocas del Toro, and the Rio Pocri, at Puerto Aguadulce,
Cocleé.

Hasso von Wedel collected two females, one adult and one im-
mature, on January 14 and 15, 1929, on the Quebrada Nigua, across
from Almirante. On January 27, 1958, as I sat at the landing place
on the south side of Water Valley, to skin out a heron that threatened
to spoil, one of these rails came quietly across the mud of the swamp
to watch me. In the hand this proved to be an immature female, still
gray underneath, but with head and neck partly changed to the
chestnut of the adult.

In January 1963 I was interested to find this species in the man-
groves bordering the Rio Pocri at Puerto Aguadulce and to learn
that local hunters were familiar with it as a species distinct from the
larger cocaleca. On my first fleeting view of one I noted what
seemed unusually dark coloration but attributed this to the dark
shadows in which it ran. Male and female were taken at this same
point on January 19 and 22 as they came out to the water’s edge at
low tide. Mannerisms in walking, in jerking the tail, and alert
though furtive posture were like those of the companion species.
From what I was able to learn the cocaleca cabecicastaiia is confined
to the mangroves and does not wander far from their shelter. Though
specimens have been reported from the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa
Rica, and from Nuqui in northwestern Choco in Colombia, this is
the first report from the Pacific side of the republic. Nothing more
is known of the species in Panama. (The records in Ridgway and
Friedmann, cited above, for David and Lion Hill refer to Aramides
c. cajanea.)

Belcher and Smooker (Ibis, 1935, p. 283) in Trinidad record the
nest as “an open bowl of small twigs, lined with weed-stems, dead
leaves, and, finally, with green bamboo leaves. One was at about ten
feet from the ground in a small tree, the other on a dead stump over-
hanging the river, six feet above the water. The clutch in each case
was five.” They describe the color and form of the eggs as like those
of Aramides c. cajanea.

Schénwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 5, 1961, p. 317; pt. 6, 1962, p. 343)
gives the size of ten eggs that he has examined as ranging from
43-47 x 31-36.1 mm.

348 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

PORZANA FLAVIVENTER FLAVIVENTER (Boddaert): Yellow-breasted
Rail; Cocalequita Enana

Ficure 57
Rallus flaviventer Boddaert, Table Planch. Enl., 1783, p. 52. (Cayenne.)

Smallest of the rails in Panama; crown dull black, with a white line
over the eye.

Description—Length 120 to 130 mm. Adult (sexes alike), top of
head and nape, and a streak through eye dull black; line from base
of bill over eye white; side of head pale gray or pale buff; feathers
of back, scapulars, and tail black or brownish black centrally, with
wide borders of buff to dark cinnamon-buff, and narrow shaft lines
of white; lesser wing coverts brown, with faint tips of white; a
streak of black, with the feathers tipped with white, on the central,
middle, and greater coverts; wings in some barred heavily with black
and white; throat, upper foreneck, upper breast, and abdomen white,
with a strong wash of buff to cinnamon buff on lower foreneck,
upper breast, and adjacent sides; sides of lower breast, abdomen,
flanks, and under tail coverts barred heavily with black and white.

Immature, with indefinite bars of dark neutral gray on neck and
breast, faint in the center, more evident at the sides.

Downy young not known.

Iris reddish brown; most of maxilla and tip of mandible dark
neutral gray; sides of maxilla at base, below the nostril, and the
mandibular rami dull greenish olive; tarsus and toes honey yellow;
crus and posterior face of tibiotarsal joint mouse brown; claws mouse
brown.

Measurements.—Males (7 from Panama), wing 64.2-69.8 (66.5),
culmen from base 16.1-18.5 (17.3), tarsus 22.0-24.2 (23.5) mm.

Females (3 from Panama), wing 64.3-67.3 (66.0), culmen from
base 15.9-17.7 (16.8), tarsus 23.0-25.6 (24.2) mm.

Resident. Found locally in fresh marshes; fairly common near
Juan Mina on the Rio Chagres; recorded also at Playa Jobo, below
Las Lajas, Chiriqui; sight record near Changuinola, Bocas del Toro.

On the early morning of January 8, 1955, as I watched the marsh
at the border of the Rio Chagres, a short distance below Juan Mina,
two of these little rails came walking out at the edge of the floating
water plants. The one that I secured on this occasion was the first
record for the Isthmus. The following year in eastern Chiriqui on
February 24, as I waded through an extensive fresh-water ciénaga
back of the coastal sand dunes at Playa Jobo, below Las Lajas, one
flushed from low grass growing in the water, and I killed it on the

FAMILY RALLIDAE 349

wing. Another was seen on this same occasion. Following this I
found these rails fairly common in the marshes bordering the
Chagres between Gamboa and Juan Mina, though to be seen only
with understanding of their habits. They seem to congregate in
small groups in limited areas, and in these are fairly common. In
early morning, soon after dawn, they often climb up in the top of
clumps of grass growing in the water, and rest there briefly in the

Fic. 57.—Yellow-breasted rail, cocalequita enana, Porzana flaviventer flaviventer.

early morning sun. And for an hour or so they may appear in little
open areas in the marsh, on muddy shores, or on floating water
plants, but then withdraw to heavy cover for the day. Again to-
ward sunset they may appear, but more briefly. The larger white-
throated rails, common in these same areas, may drive at them if they
approach closely, but the smaller species escapes readily, sometimes
running across the floating plants with flapping wings to keep from
sinking. None taken in January and February were in breeding
condition, though gonads were beginning to develop in some of the
males examined. Nothing is known of their nesting.

350 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Eisenmann (Condor, 1957, p. 250) reported two of these rails seen
near Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, on June 30, 1956.

From the records available it is evident.that this species is widely
distributed in Panama. The series of 10 that I have taken agree in
size, and in extent and depth of the deep buff to cinnamon-buff on
the forepart of the body, with the typical race of northern South
America.

The race Porzana flaviventer woodi named from El Salvador, and
known now from northern Veracruz in México, and from the Rio
San Juan in Nicaragua, is smaller, and paler in the colors mentioned.

PORZANA CAROLINA (Linnaeus): Sora; Cocalequita Pasajera

Rallus carolinus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 153. (Northeastern

Manitoba.)

Breast gray; back olive brown, streaked with black, and lined
with white.

Description—Length 190-200 mm. Adult male, center of crown,
forehead, loral area, side of head to eyes, throat and foreneck black ;
line from fore crown back over eyes, side of head behind eyes, side
of neck, and breast light gray; line on either side of black crown,
back of neck, and upper back dull buffy brown, changing to light
olive-brown on back and scapulars, the whole marked with irregular
streaks of black, and lined with white; wings fuscous, edged with
dull buffy brown; wing coverts dull buffy brown; lower breast and
abdomen white; under tail coverts white, washed with buff; sides
and flanks dull black, barred with white.

Females have the black of head and throat reduced, and more
white on the back.

Immature birds have still less black on the throat and foreneck.

Measurements.—Males (10 specimens), wing 103.0-109.5 (106.7),
tail 43.5-53.0 (47.9), culmen 20.0-22.0 (21.1), tarsus 31.0-33.5 (32.7)
mm.

Females (10 specimens), wing 99.5-104.5 (101.1), tail 40.0-49.0
(45.6), culmen 18.0-22.0 (19.5), tarsus 27.0-31.0 (29.2) mm.

Migrant from the north. Fairly common; recorded from October
1 to March 18: Reported from Chiriqui, Veraguas, Bocas del Toro,
Canal Zone, eastern Province of Panama, San Blas; Isla Coiba.

These rails are found in fresh-water marshes, areas of wet lands
grown with low sedges and grasses, and along the open banks of low-
land streams and drainage ditches. In such localities they range in
company with the white-throated rail and like that species are seen
walking and skulking under cover. They often fly short distances

FAMILY RALLIDAE 351

when approached, but also may crouch and hide. I have found them
occasionally climbing about in marsh growth that stood in water
about a meter in depth.

In Panama they are most common on the Caribbean slope.

LATERALLUS ALBIGULARIS (Lawrence): White-throated Rail;
Carrasqueadora

Figure 58

Small; throat white, with sides of neck and breast reddish brown.

Description—Length 130 to 150 mm. Adult (sexes alike), above,
reddish brown throughout, or (in the race cinereiceps) with crown
dark gray, and back and wings reddish brown; wing coverts in some
individuals plain, in others barred with white; throat white; sides
of neck and breast rufous brown; rest of lower surface, including
flanks and under tail coverts, white barred with black; in some the
center of the breast and abdomen white.

Immature, neck and sides dark gray, with only a slight amount
of rufous-brown; center of breast and abdomen white; sides and
flanks dusky neutral gray, barred lightly with white.

Downy young, black.

An adult female of the typical form L. a. albigularis that I took
at El Real, January 22, 1964, had the iris orange-red ; base of maxilla
below nostril, cutting edge except at tip, and basal three-fourths of
mandible greenish neutral gray; rest of basal half of maxilla fuscous
black; tip of maxilla and mandible fuscous; front of crus, tarsus,
and toes dull yellowish brown; back of crus fuscous black; back of
tarsus dull greenish brown ; claws fuscous.

This is the most common of the rails in the republic, found in
the tropical zone, where it ranges along the wet borders of streams
wherever there is cover, and in marshy areas in general. Occasionally
there is a glimpse of one as it runs or flies a few meters across some
open space, but usually their presence is known from their rattling,
chattering calls that are given at any alarm. Though this note is
heard regularly it is seldom that the bird is seen in its delivery, so
that it was several years before I was certain of the identity of the
bird, though frequently the rail calls from a distance of a few meters.
The note is a rapid repetition that begins suddenly, is repeated for
several seconds, and then terminates more slowly. Often when one
calls two or three nearby answer.

In the period of rains these rails range widely away from the
marshes in any low cover, but in dry season, though they may come

352 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

out briefly on higher ground, they are found mainly in lower areas.
It is seldom that one is seen wholly in the open, and when they cross
trails, or other areas where there is no cover, usually they fly. On
floating vegetation they often run with wings flapping to keep from
sinking.

As noted in the heading, some individuals have the wing coverts
marked with light bars that vary from white to cinnamon-brown.
Two distinct races are found in the Republic.

Fic. 58.—White-throated rail, carrasqueadora, Laterallus albigularis.

Hellmayr and Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 1, 1942, pp.
375, 376) list the forms of Laterallus albigularis as races of Laterallus
melanophaius (Vieillot), found from southeastern Colombia and
Venezuela to northern Argentina and Brazil. The two groups are
closely similar in color pattern, but in melanophaius the under tail
coverts are plain brown without markings, while in albigularis this
area is barred heavily with black and white. An occasional albigularis
has some brown markings in the area concerned, varying from a
faint cinnamon wash on the tips of a few feathers to a light suffusion
of cinnamon brown, that however does not obscure the pattern of
barring. This is found in only about 20% of the series of more than

FAMILY RALLIDAE 353

60 specimens that I have handled. It should be added that in extreme
examples the cinnamon color extends up over the abdomen, so that
it appears to be a tendency toward a rufescent phase rather than an
indication of close relationship with the other species.

LATERALLUS ALBIGULARIS ALBIGULARIS (Lawrence)

Corethrura albigularis Lawrence, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. 7, 1861,
p. 302. (Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama, along the line of the Panama
Railroad.)

Characters —Top of head reddish brown; side of head similar, or,
in some, brighter brown.

Measurements.—Males (14 from Panama), wing 73.3-81.1 (76.4),
culmen from base 17.7-20 (19.2, average of 13), tarsus 27.8-32.3
(30.9) mm.

Females (12 from Panama), wing 71.0-77.4 (74.2), culmen from
base 16.5-18.6 (17.9), tarsus 29.0-31.2 (29.7) mm.

The length of the tail is omitted, as this measurement cannot be
made with accuracy.

Resident. Tropical zone, locally common; on the Pacific slope from
Costa Rica eastward through Darién; ascending in Chiriqui from
sea level to 1,250 meters near El Volcan; recorded also from Boquete ;
in Coclé taken at El Valle (600 meters) ; and in Darién from sea
level to 600 meters elevation near Cana; on the Caribbean side found
from western Col6n east to the Colombian boundary ; Isla Coiba.

These rails are especially common around Gatun Lake and along
the Rio Chagres from Gamboa to the bridge on the Trans-Isthmian
Highway. I found them present in numbers around Mandinga in
the San Blas, where they ranged from marshy spots for some distance
out into high grass in open clearings, especially in early morning. In
Darién specimens were taken by Festa at the Laguna de Pita, and
by W. B. Richardson at El Real. In 1912 Goldman found them
abundant around swampy places in the level valley at Cana and
collected several. Benson secured others here in 1928. Soon after
that date the mines of that area were closed and the whole region
was abandoned. In January 1961 I found that the valley was again
heavily forested, and so the only rail habitat was in small marshy
areas,

On Isla Coiba, there were a few pairs around a small lagoon back
of Catival, and others in a marshy spot nearer the sea, both areas in
the drainage of the Rio San Juan. The three taken do not differ from
birds of the mainland.

354 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

In laboratory examination of 6 stomachs it was found that ap-
proximately 90% of the food was vegetable. In part this was a
mass of fiber that was not identified. Mixed with it were seeds of a
grass (Panicum), sedges (including Scleria and Fimbristylis), spurge,
and Solanum. The animal food included spiders, Orthoptera, a va-
riety of beetles, flies, and ants.

The label on a specimen in the British Museum (Natural History)
received with the Salvin-Godman collection reads “Veraguas, 1876,
Arcé” and is so listed (without the date) by Sharpe (Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus., vol. 23, 1894, p. 142). Inasmuch as Arcé at the date in
question had transferred his collecting to Chiriqui, the bird probably
came from that Province, where this rail is locally common. There
are no records from the Pacific slope of Veraguas, as the bird has
not been found between eastern Chiriqui (Las Lajas) and eastern
Coclé (El Valle). It is also unknown at present from the entire
Azuero Peninsula.

Outside of Panama this race is found north on the Pacific slope
to the Gulf of Nicoya in southwestern Costa Rica, and to the south
from Antioquia, in western Colombia, to western Ecuador.

In spite of the widespread abundance of this subspecies nothing is
recorded of its nesting.

LATERALLUS ALBIGULARIS CINEREICEPS (Lawrence)

Porzana cinereiceps Lawrence, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. 11, nos.
3-4, Feb. 1875, p. 90. (Talamanca, Costa Rica.)

Characters.—Crown and sides of head gray, in contrast with the
dark brown of the nape, hindneck, and back.

Measurements—Males (10 from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and
Panama), wing 70.0-75.0 (72.3), culmen from base 17.1-19.7 (18.6),
tarsus 29.2-32.5 (30.7) mm.

Females (5 from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama), wing
67.8-73.8 (71.2), culmen from base 16.4-18.3 (17.3), tarsus 26.8-29.0
(28.3) mm.

Resident. Tropical zone on the Caribbean slope in Bocas del Toro,
from Costa Rica east to the Rio Calovévora, on the boundary with
the Province of Veraguas.

These rails are fairly common near Changuinola and around the
western border of Almirante Bay. On the Chiriqui Lagoon they
have been recorded on Isla Bastimentos and at Chiriquicito and
Cricamola. H. von Wedel secured specimens also at Guabo near
Chiriqui Grande. Specimens taken by Benson on the Rio Calovévora

FAMILY RALLIDAE 355

are of this race, which indicates a range extending into western
Veraguas in this river valley. To the north this form ranges on the
Caribbean slope to northeastern Nicaragua.

Richmond (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 16, 1893, pp. 528-529),
who found these rails common on the Rio Escondido, in southeastern
Nicaragua, described nests as globular, with a small opening in one
side, slightly elevated above the ground in grass, built of grass, and
lined with similar materials. Three sets of 3, 4, and 5 eggs in the
U. S. National Museum that he collected on May 30, July 18, and
August 26, 1892, are subelliptical to slightly oval, with a very slightly
roughened shell without gloss. The ground color is light creamy
white, marked with small spots of cinnamon and cinnamon-brown,
varied to lilac, scattered over the eggs, but more abundant at the
larger end. The range of measurement is as follows: 27.3-28.9x
20.6-21.8 mm. A nest found by Huber (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil-
adelphia, vol. 84, 1932, p. 209) at Eden in northeastern Nicaragua,
was similar in form and location, and in color and marking of the 3
eggs, which, with measurements of 28.1-32.5 x 20.9-22.0 mm., were
slightly larger.

A recently hatched young bird, received from the Gorgas Memorial
Laboratory, taken from a nest a little over half a meter from the
ground, found near Almirante, March 28, 1962, came preserved in
alcohol. The down appears black over the entire body. The bill is
pale brownish white, with an irregular band of black around the
center, anterior to the nostril.

In an occasional specimen the crown is washed strongly with
cinnamon-brown so that the appearance is that of L. a. albigularis.
On close examination, however the feathers of the loral area, and
around and over the eye are gray either wholly or on the partly
concealed basal area.

LATERALLUS EXILIS (Temminck): Gray-breasted Rail;
Cocalequita Pechiceniza

Rallus exilis Temminck, Nouv. Rec. Planch. Col. Ois., livr. 88, 1831, pl. 523.
(Cayenne. )

Small, with gray crown, and a broad reddish brown band on hind-
neck.

Description.—Length 135 to 145 mm. Adult (sexes alike), crown
gray, paler on sides of head, sides of neck, and breast; a broad band
of bright reddish brown from the back of the head and the hind-
neck down to the upper back; back, scapulars, and wing coverts

356 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

light olive-brown, the wing coverts barred narrowly with white; pri-
maries and secondaries fuscous on inner webs, light olive-brown on
outer webs; throat, upper foreneck, and center of abdomen pure
white; sides, flanks, rump, and upper and under tail coverts barred
narrowly with black and white; tail olive-brown.

Immature birds are said to lack the brown band on the hindneck.

Downy young are not known.

Iris crimson; eyelids clay color; under part of mandible neutral
gray; rest of bill dull green; tarsus and toes umber brown; claws
dark neutral gray.

Measurements.—Males (2 from Honduras and Nicaragua), wing
72, 72.1; culmen from base 16.5, 17.2 ; tarsus 22, 26.8 mm.

Females (2 from Isla Coiba and Colombia), wing 74.2, 74.7;
culmen from base 16.8, 17.4; tarsus 24.8, 24.8 mm.

Resident. Very rare; Puerto Obaldia, San Blas; Isla Coiba.

The only records for the Republic are of an adult female brought
to me alive by a convict on Isla Coiba on January 28, 1956, and of
another female, an immature bird, also caught alive in the partly dry
channel that passes through the village of Puerto Obaldia, San Blas
on March 14, 1963. The one first mentioned was captured when
men cleared a tract of marshy ground near the Catival work camp
at the Rio San Juan, back of Bahia Damas on the eastern side of the
island. The second was taken following similar clearing operations
in the coconut groves bordering the village of Puerto Obaldia.

In the latter part of 1961 Mrs. Ricardo Marciaq of Panama
purchased one of these rails alive in the city market but was not
able to ascertain where it had been captured. It is probable that it
came from Panama, but this is not certain, since live birds are
brought in rather regularly from Colombia. In February 1962 I
saw this bird in the collections of living animals at Summit Gardens
in the Canal Zone, where it was confined in a small aviary. It showed
a trace of albinism in a few scattered feathers over the body.

The species is widely distributed in tropical America but is one
that is little known. To the north it has been found in southern
Honduras on the Rio Segovia and in southeastern Nicaragua on
the Rio Escondido. In South America it is recorded from northern
Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad to Ecuador and northern Brazil.

Belcher and Smooker (Ibis, 1935, p. 284) describe a nest found
on the Caroni marshes, Trinidad, as “globular, with a large side
entrance-hole ; it was built of dry coarse grass-blades and weed-stems,
and set near the root in the center of a stool of sugar-cane. The
three eggs * * * are rather long ovals, smooth-shelled, and with a

FAMILY RALLIDAE 357

little gloss ; the ground-colour in all is cream, but in two the spotting
is of dark brown with underlying pale grey markings, thickest at
the big end, while the third has smears of two shades of brown,
disposed irregularly over the surface.” Schdénwetter (Handb. Ool.,
pt. 6, 1962, p. 346) gives the measurement of 5 (including those from
Trinidad described above) as 29.8-32.5 X 22.5-24.0 mm.

GALLINULA CHLOROPUS (Linnaeus): Common Gallinule;
Gallineta de Agua

Ficure 59
Fulica Chloropus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 152. (England.)

Frontal shield, and bill (except for the yellow tip) red; toes with-
out lobes.

Description—Length 290-310 mm. Adult (sexes alike), head and
upper neck slate-black; lower neck, breast, and sides slate-gray, the
sides with prominent white streaks ; upper abdomen and outer under
tail coverts white; lower abdomen, central upper and under tail
coverts, and tail black; back, rump, lateral upper tail coverts, and
ends of tertials and secondaries dull olive-brown ; primaries and sec-
ondaries fuscous; outer edge of wing, including outer web of outer
primary, white.

Immature, paler gray, with throat, sides of head, and tips of
breast feathers white.

Downy young, black above, and on the head, with a faint greenish
sheen on lower back; somewhat grayish black underneath; throat
and sides of head with somewhat elongated, and slightly curled, ends,
tipped with silvery white ; down covering of head scanty so that skin
is visible, particularly on crown and throat.

Iris dark red; tip of bill greenish yellow; remainder, and frontal
shield red; tarsus and toes greenish, with a band of red around the
crus.

In tropical Panama the common gallinule, like its relatives else-
where through the Americas, lives around broad expanses of fresh
waters where water hyacinth and other floating plants afford feed-
ing grounds, with taller, denser growths of marsh vegetation ad-
jacent for cover when needed. Though many remain hidden in this
taller growth many others move about outside, often in stretches of
water that are completely open, where they swim with nodding heads.
It is common also to see them walking on muddy shores, or across
masses of water plants. Intruders are greeted with clucking or
chattering calls, and when alarmed the birds dash to shelter, or rise

358 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

and fly low over the water. In feeding they dab at the surface to
pick out bits of succulent vegetation, which may be shaken to scatter
adhering water before they are swallowed. Often the head is com-
pletely immersed. They are local in occurrence compared to the more
widely distributed purple gallinule.

The two subspecies present as breeding birds in the Isthmus differ
slightly in size, and in the extent and depth of brown coloration on
the back.

aaa

Fic. 59—Common gallinule, gallineta de agua, Gallinula chloropus.

GALLINULA CHLOROPUS CACHINNANS Bangs

Gallinula chloropus cachinnans Bangs, Proc. New England Zodél. Club, vol. 5,
May 17, 1915, p. 96. (Arbuckle Creek, De Soto County, Florida.)

Gallinula chloropus centralis Waldron DeWitt Miller and Ludlow Griscom,
Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 25, Dec. 7, 1921, p. 3. (12 miles south of Metapa,
central Nicaragua.)

Characters—Brown of back and wing coverts more extensive,
darker, and of a brighter shade, and spread over the greater wing
coverts, in some as a slight wash, but in many in an amount equal to
that found on the back.

Measurements. —Males (16 from eastern United States and
México), wing 167-181 (174.5), tail 64.0-86.0 (71.6), tarsus 49.0-
56.5 (52.7) mm.

FAMILY RALLIDAE 359

Females (8 from eastern United States and México), wing 158-
174 (166.5), tail 63-71 (66.9), tarsus 48-50 (49.2) mm.

Resident. Found locally in western Bocas del Toro on fresh water
ponds and lowland streams where there are borders of marsh growth.
One record, possibly of a migrant, for western Chiriqui, on the smaller
of the two lakes near El Volcan.

Kennard secured a female near Almirante on February 14, 1926
(Kennard and Peters, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 38, 1928,
p. 447), and at about the same time Griscom (Amer. Mus. Nov. no.
293, 1928, p. 1) recorded one taken by Benson (under the name
Gallinula chloropus centralis), a specimen that I find was collected
near Almirante, August 24, 1927. H. von Wedel forwarded several
others from near Changuinola taken October 28, 1926, November 17
and December 2, 1927, and July 14, 1928, which were obviously
resident birds, a series that Peters (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71,
1931, p. 301) found to be identical with birds of eastern North
America so that he declared the supposed race centralis described
from Nicaragua one without validity. There is also a specimen in
the Havemeyer Collection at Yale, taken at Farm 3 near Almirante
by Austin Paul Smith in April 1927. In 1958 near Changuinola I
recorded 4 on January 30 and a mated pair on March 4. Eisenmann
(Condor, 1957, p. 250) found juvenile birds here on June 30, 1957.

One that I saw on March 6, 1954, on the smaller of the lakes near
El Volcan in western Chiriqui may have been a migrant bird from
the north.

The race of the West Indies, G. c. cerceris, is similar in size to
cachinnans but has the brown of the dorsal surface grayer and
restricted in extent on the wing coverts. Those resident on Cuba and
Jamaica are intermediate but slightly nearer cercerts.

GALLINULA CHLOROPUS PAUXILLA Bangs

Gallinula chloropus pauxilla Bangs, Proc. New England Zodl. Club, vol. 5, May

17, 1915, p. 96. (Guabinas, Valle, Colombia.)

Characters—Differs from Gallinula chloropus cachinnans in
slightly smaller size and in more grayish brown on the dorsal sur-
face, with this color restricted mainly to the back, only a light wash,
or none at all, being found on the wing coverts. The distinctions are
slight, but the two groups indicated are apparent when a series
of specimens is examined.

Measurements.—Males (8 from Panama, Colombia, and Vene-
zuela), wing 162-173 (168), tail 64.3-70.0 (68.0), tarsus 50.2-58.8

(55.0) mm.

360 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Females (2 from Colombia), wing 159-167 (163), tail 64.9-67.0
(66.6), tarsus 49.8-55.7 (52.5) mm.

Resident. Found locally on fresh-water lakes; recorded on the
Rio Chagres from Gamboa to above Juan Mina, and on the Miraflores
lakes, Canal Zone.

The first report that may refer to this race was by L. L. Jewel
(Auk, 1913, p. 425) who recorded one, but apparently did not pre-
serve it, on January 18, 1911. He does not give the locality, but this
may be presumed to be near Gatun as his observations were made
mainly in that area.

Gallinules of this species appear to have been rare in central
Panama until recently, as none were reported by the early collectors
before Jewel. The formation of Gatun Lake has provided favorable
habitat both in the lake and along the Chagres which has allowed
these birds to increase. Possibly they had been held down earlier by
competition with the more abundant purple gallinule.

On the Chagres and the Miraflores lakes the nesting season appears
to begin in December, perhaps in November, and in January young,
in size from those recently hatched to others half grown, are common.
Pairs of adults are seen regularly swimming in company, and oc-
casionally preening one another’s neck feathers. Small young when
threatened escape by diving, but may not be able to progress under
water because of the submerged plants. If captured they call with
high-pitched notes when a parent bird may charge across the water
scolding loudly.

These gallinules should be found elsewhere in eastern Panama,
though as yet they have not been reported. The race pau-rilla ranges
in South America from northern Colombia to western Ecuador and
western Pert.

PORPHYRULA MARTINICA (Linnaeus): Purple Gallinule; Polla Sultana

Fulica martinica Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 259. (Martinique,
West Indies.)

Brilliant blue and olive-green in the adult and light brown head
and back and white breast in the immature stage identify this species
from its companion coots and gallinules.

Description—Length 265-300 mm. Adult (sexes alike), head,
breast, sides, and wings deep blue; back, rump, tertials, and tail dull
green; abdomen and tibia black; under tail coverts white.

FAMILY RALLIDAE 361

Immature, head, neck, sides, and tibia buffy brown; back, rump,
and tail dull brown; wings greenish blue, washed with brown; throat,
breast, abdomen, and under tail coverts white.

Downy young, above black, underneath brownish black; crown,
sides of head from bill to back of eyes, and throat with somewhat
elongated filaments of very pale bluish white.

Iris brown; frontal shield pale bluish white to dull grayish blue;
bill red, tipped with greenish yellow to yellow; tarsus and toes light
greenish yellow ; claws brownish.

Measurements——Males (6 from Panama and northern Colombia),
wing 178-188 (181.8), tail 65.8-73.7 (69.2), culmen from base of
frontal shield 30.0-32.8 (31.5), tarsus 57.6-67.0 (61.7) mm.

Females (5 from Panama and northern Colombia), wing 166-172
(168.2), tail 56.8-63.3 (60.8), culmen from base of frontal shield
27.2-30.7 (29.0), tarsus 59.0-63.6 (60.1) mm.

Resident. Locally common along lowland rivers, in the backwaters
of Gatun and Madden Lakes, and in fresh-water marshes elsewhere.

There is no record for the Pacific slope from western Chiriqui east
through Veraguas, Coclé, and the western sector of the Province of
Panama to the Canal Zone.

These handsomely colored gallinules are found amid the floating
water plants that border the courses of lowland streams and in
fresh-water marsh areas in general. The formation of Gatun Lake
has greatly expanded their habitat in the central area of the Canal
Zone and is certain to have brought increase in their numbers in this
area.

These gallinules are seen during travel in small boats, sometimes as
they walk over the aquatic vegetation, but more commonly when
they flush from scanty cover to fly a few meters with cackling calls
and quickly beating wings. The main impression of color on such
occasions is of white from the expanded under tail coverts and of
yellow from the dangling legs and feet. When they rise 2 to 3 meters
in the air to fly directly and rapidly in more sustained flight, the
legs and feet are raised to the line of axis of the body. At times
they are seen swimming, but they appear on open stretches of water
far less frequently than the common gallinule.

In feeding, in addition to working through the water plants, they
climb about in trees, particularly those that grow in water, where
wet forests with dense branches stand partly flooded along the streams.
In such activities they often go up to 20 meters above the surface.

362 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

When the birds are not seen their presence is often known by
their clacking or guttural calls, that may be accompanied by cracking
sounds made by snapping the bill.

The breeding period is long as eggs or newly hatched young have
been recorded in Panama from March to early November. Nests
are shallow platforms made of the marsh vegetation adjacent to the
site, usually placed at a slight elevation, that allows a small margin
of safety when water levels rise during heavy rains. Gross and Van
Tyne (Auk, 1929, pp. 431-446) describe in detail their observations
of a nest found along the shore of Barro Colorado Island. The site
was concealed in tall grass on a floating island, a few meters from
the jungle covered shore. Green grass blades still attached at the
base had been woven into a platform 35 centimeters across with a
shallow depression to hold the eggs. A runway 3 meters or so long
woven from the surrounding grass led to a little platform less than
a meter above the water. This was a pathway used to reach and
leave the nest, repaired constantly, to keep it in proper shape. The
four eggs ranged in measurement from 39.1-42.8 x 28.5-29.8 mm.
and in weight from 15.15 to 16.35 grams. They hatched after an
incubation period of about 22 days.

The eggs vary from subelliptical to oval, are without gloss, and
have the shell very faintly roughened. The color varies from very
pale cream color (nearly white) to buff and pale cinnamon-buff,
spotted sparingly with dots of cinnamon or rufous-brown, that ap-
pear bluish or purplish where covered by a thin deposit of shell. In
Florida the usual set of eggs numbers 6 to 8 with an occasional
increase to 10, but the number recorded in Panama is less, being
normally 4 or 5. The young remain in the nest a day or so after
hatching, and then follow the parent birds in the water.

Food of these gallinules is made up of the insects and spiders
available in their watery haunts. The bits of vegetation found in
examination of stomachs of birds killed for specimens probably are
swallowed by accident with other food items.

The species ranges widely through the tropical zone of the
Americas, extending to southeastern United States on the north and
northern Argentina on the south without evident differences in size
or color.

The species is often called gallito, and cocaleca de la laguna by
country residents.

FAMILY RALLIDAE 363

FULICA AMERICANA AMERICANA Gmelin: American Coot;
Gallineta Cenicienta

Ficure 60
Fulica americana Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 704. (North America.)

Similar to the common gallinule but bill white ; toes with elongated,
fringing webs or lobes on each joint.

Description —Length 340-380 mm. Sexes alike; head and neck
black; under surface gray; above darker gray, tinged with olive on
the back ; under tail coverts, and tips of secondaries white.

Small frontal shield dull red ; rest of bill white.

Measurements—Males (10 specimens), wing 182-199 (192), tail
47.0-52.5 (50.2), tarsus 43-50 (46.6) mm.

Females (10 specimens), wing 176-188 (178.8), tail 41.0-54.0
(48.7), tarsus 47-56 (50.6) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common on fresh-water lakes and larger
rivers east to central Panama through the Canal Zone. Recorded
from mid-November to the end of March.

During the period of northern winter a few coots appear on the
small lakes at Miraflores, in areas of quiet water on Madden and
Gatun Lakes, and along the broad expanse of the Rio Chagres between
Gamboa and Madden Dam. They may come in greater numbers on
impounded waters among the banana farms near Changuinola, where
on January 30, 1958, I recorded about 400 in one forenoon. I have
seen a few on the lakes near El Volcan in Chiriqui, and years ago
Arcé secured specimens for Salvin at Laguna del Castillo and
Calobre in Veraguas. Karl Curtis informs me that he has found a
few at La Jagua, usually in November and December, but that they
do not remain for long.

Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 305) was
misinformed when he recorded this species as resident around Laguna
de Chiriqui, since though they appear near Almirante, it is only as
migrants. I have taken specimens for identification on the Chagres
near Juan Mina, Canal Zone, January 8, and near El Volcan, Chiriqui,
February 9, 1955.

In Panama coots range on open waters, often in shallow channels
bordered by aquatic weeds, where they swim and dive for food like
the ducks that often are present with them. The small, pointed bill,
as well as the constantly nodding head, mark them from their duck
companions, and the white color of the bill distinguishes them from
the gallinules that also may be their companions.

364 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

[?PARDIRALLUS MACULATUS (Boddaert): Spotted Rail;
Cocalequita Pintada

Rallus maculatus Boddaert, Table Planch. Enl., 1783, p. 48. (Cayenne.)

At Mandinga, San Blas, in the early morning of January 22, 1957,
a rail that appeared to be somewhat larger than a sora flushed in
fairly open, high grass near the border of the abandoned airfield.
The bird rose 5 or 6 meters from the ground, flew swiftly for 75

PPT
set TP SSS Sen

ry SSS
LT

ety

Fic. 60.—Foot of American coot, gallineta cenicienta, Fulica americana ameri-
cana, with lobed toes.

meters or so, and then dropped down on wet, bush-and-grass-grown
ground, where it disappeared in the manner usual in this family. On
the wing the upper surface of the body appeared black, well-streaked
with light gray. I made search in this area on several occasions
afterward but did not find the bird again.

It is probable that this was the spotted rail, the only species known
to me of the size and marking described that might be found in
this area. This species has been recorded in Central America from
Mexico, Costa Rica and British Honduras and to the south from
northern Colombia. None have been taken to date in Panama.

FAMILY HELIORNITHIDAE 365

In the hand the spotted rail has the throat and under tail coverts
white; the rest of the lower surface black, streaked on the neck, and
barred elsewhere with white; above blackish on the head and neck,
brown mixed with black on the back and wings, streaked narrowly
everywhere with white. The wing measures about 120 mm.

LATERALLUS JAMAICENSIS (Gmelin): Black Rail
Rallus jamaicensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 718. (Jamaica.)

A black rail is reported by Stephen T. Harty (Cassinia, no. 48, 1964-
1965, p. 19) as seen July 6 and 7, 1963, near the International High-
way west of Chepo at a point 16.2 miles by auto speedometer from
the road circle at the Tocumen Airport. The observation was made
in company with George B. Reynard, Philip A. Livingston, Henry
Matthews, and Thomas C. Crebbs, Jr. On July 6 two birds called re-
peatedly so that Reynard was able to make a tape recording, and
finally Harty located a globular nest in tall grass that contained 3
fresh eggs. On the following day Matthews had a brief view of a
“small dark sparrowlike rail.” The eggs, from a photograph sub-
mitted to me and the measurements 23.5-24 x 18.5-19 mm. (taken by
James Bond) in appearance and size resemble those of the black rail
(Laterallus jamaicensis). They are distinctly smaller than eggs re-
corded for Laterallus albigularis and L. exilis. Those of the yellow-
breasted rail Porgana flaviventer flaviventer, not yet recorded, may be
of similar size or smaller. As the general color of Porzana flaviventer
is light buffy brown it does not fit the description of the bird that
was seen. The area also is not a suitable haunt for the yellow-
breasted rail, which is a species of open marshes where grasses stand
in shallow water.

On January 4, 1964, with Rudolpho Hinds as assistant, I visited
the locality described. We located the spot without difficulty but could
not find the rails.

The black rail is recorded by Russell (Amer. Orn. Union Ornith.
Mon. 1, 1964, p. 58) in British Honduras, and there are uncertain re-
ports for Guatemala and Colombia. ]

Family HELIORNITHIDAE: Finfoots ; Zambullidores
de Agua

The three species of this family are tropical in distribution, one in
Africa, another in southeastern Asia, and the third, the smallest, in
the Americas. Structurally, they are allied to rails, but except for
museum specimens, are little known as naturalists have had limited

366 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

opportunity to study them because of their retiring habits. All have
close, firm plumage, like that of a duck, and slender, rather elongated
bills, with perforate nostrils like those of rails. The feet are webbed,
and the tail is long and broad. While they fly readily when ap-
proached, more often they dive, as they are truly aquatic in habit.

HELIORNIS FULICA (Boddaert): American Finfoot; Patico de Agua
Ficure 61
Colymbus fulica Boddaert, Table Planch. Enl., Dec. 1783, p. 54. (Cayenne.)

Like a grebe, but with head and side of neck black; streaked
prominently with white behind the eye, and on lower side of neck.

Description—Length 280 to 305 mm. Adult male, crown and
hindneck black, with a white line extending from above eye back
to upper neck; back and wing coverts olive-brown; wing feathers
fuscous; rump and upper tail coverts brown; tail black, tipped
narrowly with white; throat and foreneck white; side of head below
eye white, in some washed lightly with buff; a black band at each
side of lower foreneck, in some united across the front, separated
from the black of the hindneck by a broad white line; a faintly
indicated buffy brown band across upper breast and adjacent sides;
rest of breast and abdomen white; sides and under tail coverts grayish
brown ; under wing coverts dark gray.

Adult female, like the male, but with a prominent band of cinnamon
brown on the cheeks and adjacent sides of neck.

Immature, like the adult, but with cheeks and sides of neck white.

An adult female, taken on the Rio Chagres, at Juan Mina, January
18, 1955, had the iris dark brown; maxilla and side of mandible at
base dull red, becoming blackish at the extreme base, and on the tip
of the culmen; mandible light horn color on the sides, and light
neutral gray at the tip; bare edge of eyelids dull red, forming a
narrow ring; lower tarsus, toes, and webs honey yellow; three bands
on inner toe, four on the middle toe, five on the outer toe, and two
on hind toe dull black; upper third of tarsus dull brownish yellow;
a band of dull black on inner side, and on anterior face of tarsus,
and also on the posterior half of the outer face.

Measurements—Males (6 from México, Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
and Panama), wing 138.4-152.0 (141.3), tail 83.0-91.0 (86.7), culmen
from base 30.0-33.6 (31.5), tarsus 22.4-24.0 (23.5) mm.

Females (6 from México, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama),
wing 133.3-142.2 (137.7), tail 78.0-81.5 (80.1), culmen from base
28.5-33.2 (30.3), tarsus 21.7-23.7 (22.7) mm.

FAMILY HELIORNITHIDAE 367

Resident. Found locally in the tropical zone on larger bodies of
fresh water ; recorded from the Rio Changuinola and the Changuinola
Canal in Bocas del Toro; on Gatun Lake and the Rio Chagres in the
Canal Zone; Rio La Jagua, Panama (one record) ; and the Rio Tuira
at Boca de Paya, Darién (one record).

On the lateral channels and bays bordering the Chagres below
Madden Dam these curious birds are fairly common, though easily
overlooked because of the broad masses of floating vegetation that
furnish them cover. Occasionally they are encountered as they swim
in open waters along the shores, when in form they resemble grebes

= <—— r
2 re SK ZS
a SSS
ie = >
a
SS ZS SS

SN

Fic. 61—American finfoot, patico de agua, Heliornis fulica.

because of the slender bill and neck. When startled they may dive,
or may rise, with feet paddling the water for a short distance, and
then fly just above the surface to the shelter of water plants where
they disappear. Again, they may rise a meter or two in the air and
fly swiftly, like a small duck, for a hundred meters or more. When
moving slowly in a cayuco so as not to alarm the marsh birds I
have had them swim to the shelter of the shore and there remain
partly hidden until I approached within a few meters. At such times
the dark body merges with the shadows, so that only the white
streaks on head and neck are seen. I have observed them swimming
in company with small groups of lesser scaup ducks, when, as the
ducks take flight, the finfoot may dive, or may rise with them to
accompany them for a short distance, but soon to circle back and

368 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

alight on the water. Once on the surface they swim or fly into the
cover bordering the shore.

When I have come quietly in a cayuco into their haunts where the
birds remained concealed, I have often induced them to call by
striking a paddle on the side of the canoe. The note, resembling the
syllable Row, in tone closely like the call of the pied-billed grebe,
may be given once or may be repeated quickly several times.

On Gatun Lake they frequent sheltered coves, and may be seen in
such localities around Barro Colorado Island.

Enrique van Horn, of the staff of the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory,
who has accompanied me on much of my work on the Chagres, told
me that the nest, built of sticks, placed on a bush or branch over the
water, is small in size and flimsy in structure. Soon after hatching
the young enter the water where they are carried on the back of the
parent, in the manner well known among grebes. The adult when
alarmed may dive, when the young cling tightly. As the bird cannot
go far with this encumbrance it is soon again on the surface, with the
young still in place.

A nest that Enrique Van Horn collected for me on the Rio
Chilibre near its junction with the Chagres, on June 16, 1963, is
made of twigs and dried stems of coarse marsh plants, ranging in
diameter from small to pencil size. These formed a flattened plat-
form approximately 180 by 225 mm., with a slight depression that
held 3 eggs, buffy white, spotted finely with cinnamon and pale
purple rather uniformly over the entire surface. They measure 26.1
x 20.9, 26.8X20.1, and 27.3x20.7 mm. A second nest, found on
July 15, was similar in construction, with measurements of 200 by
250 mm, and held 4 eggs which could not be saved. Both nests were
placed in bushes that hung over the water, elevated about a meter
above the surface.

Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 6, 1962, p. 355, pl. 7, fig. 11)
describes the eggs as reddish cream, dotted with lilac gray, dark brown
and reddish markings, denser around the larger end, with the size
range of 27.1-29.3 x 20-20.6 mm.

An early account by Wied (Beitrag. Naturg. Brasilien, vol. 4,
pt. 2, 1833, pp. 827-828) states that the young when hatched are
naked (“véllig nacktes”) and in this condition are carried beneath the
wings of the parent. While this statement has been repeated by later
authors, so far as I am aware it has not been verified by later ob-
servations.

At night I have found the finfoot sleeping on branches a few feet
above the water.

FAMILY EURYPYGIDAE 369

In handling them in the flesh, it has been interesting to note the
great development of the caudal muscles, in addition to the robust
size of those that control the legs. This heavy form in the posterior
part of the rather flat body may be noticed in outline when they fly.

In some published accounts this species is called the sungrebe.

Family EURYPYGIDAE: Sunbitterns ; Abanicos

These are birds of the American Tropics found locally in forested
areas from Tabasco and Chiapas in southern México through Central
America and South America to eastern Bolivia and central Brazil.
The birds of the north have stronger, heavier bills, and are more
subdued in color on the upper surface, with the black bars narrower,
less in width than the gray interspaces. While described originally as
a distinct species under the name major these are now placed as
conspecific with the form helias of the southern part of the range.
In southern Pert birds of this type have the black bars on the rump
and upper tail coverts slightly narrower and are recognized as another
race, meridionalis. The typical subspecies helias, found from the
Orinoco Valley southward, is quite distinct in more slender bill and
in a mixture of buff on the back, where the black bars are wider.

EURYPYGA HELIAS MAJOR Hartlaub: Sunbittern; Abanico
FIGURE 62

Eurypyga major Hartlaub, Syst. Verz. Naturh. Samml. Gesellsch. Mus. Bremen,
pt. 1, Vogel, 1844, p. 108. (Colombia. )

Slender in form, with long neck and legs, white throat and abdomen,
brown breast and neck; a striking pattern of chestnut, black, and
white in the spread wing.

Description—Length 460 to 475 mm. Adult (sexes alike), head
black, with a slender line of white over the eye, and another across
the cheeks; neck dull chestnut, barred narrowly with black; upper
back like neck but black bars wider ; rest of back and tertials brownish
gray, barred heavily with black; scapulars spotted with white; rump,
upper tail coverts, and base of tail dull black, barred narrowly with
white; a band of chestnut bordered with black across center of tail,
and another near tip; center and tip of tail gray, banded narrowly
with white and pale grayish white ; primaries barred widely with chest-
nut, black, and white; center of secondaries mottled with buff ; throat,
lower breast, and abdomen white ; upper breast dark buff to cinnamon-
buff, barred narrowly with black; sides, flanks, and under tail coverts
buff, the latter marked finely and irregularly with black.

370 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Young, when hatched, covered with down, with longer filaments
thinly scattered over head and body; dark brown above, spotted on
the head and streaked on the back and wings with buff and white;
buffy brown below, with indistinct darker markings (Bartlett, Proc.
Zool. Soc. London, 1866, pl. 9).

Iris red; eyelids yellow edged with brownish; inside of mouth
bright orange ; maxilla black, brownish at base with tip orange-yellow,
and edge of commissure bright orange ; mandible bright orange ; tarsus
and toes bright orange, with front of tarsus and upper surface of
toes brown-orange; claws yellow (Deignan, Auk, 1936, p. 188).

Fic. 62.—Sunbittern, abanico, Eurypyga helias major.

Measurements—Males (7 from Panama and Colombia), wing
216-230 (223), tail 148-156 (151), culmen from base 61.1-65.1
(62.8), tarsus 54.1-58.0 (55.4) mm.

Females (8 from Panama and Colombia), wing 218-229 (222),
tail 147-155 (150, average of 7), culmen from base 61.1-67.3 (63.4),
tarsus 54.6-59.3 (57.1) mm.

Resident. Local, in forests of the tropical and lower subtropical
zones; recorded throughout except in the savanna regions of the
Pacific slope.

While this is a bird of forested areas it is one that lives around
gravel playones, on open-floored quebradas, and along the shores of
swift-flowing streams, where it has the protection of shade from the
full power of the sun, but open ground on which to move about. It is
found in pairs, or at times alone, and it is seldom that more than two
are seen together. Since it moves about quietly, often in the cover
of bushes, and usually is not wary, when approached it may merely

FAMILY EURYPYGIDAE 371

walk aside and hide so that it is often found with some difficulty.
Occasionally one may fly into low branches and there remain con-
cealed. As it moves the slender form and long legs and neck often
give the impression of a huge sandpiper, a resemblance heightened
by its rather somber colors. But this impression vanishes instantly
when one begins its display, with the wings and tail fully spread to
show their beautiful pattern of black, white and chestnut mingled with
light buff, while the bird turns and whirls, in shade or in sun. Then
its size seems more than doubled as both wings and tail are broad.

In the field the only note that I have recorded from them is a low
trill, but repeatedly in the bird house of the National Zoological
Park I have heard a ringing call, ko way, that has resounded through
the building.

They are often found walking over the rocky beds of small streams,
and it is here that they secure much of their food. The stomach of
one that I examined, taken in Darién where the Rio Ucurganti joins
the Chucunaque, held 15 to 20 tiny snails, the elytron of a beetle,
and leg bones of a small batrachian. In two taken by Goldman near
Gatun on May 16, 1911, one had eaten fragments of a river crab
(Pseudothelphusa sp.). The other held remains of 2 large spiders, a
bug (Heteropteran), moths, 2 large scarabaeids, and another beetle
(Temnochila sp.). Deignan (Auk, 1936, p. 188) found a shrimp and
remains of smaller crustaceans in one taken in Honduras. The bill
tip in most museum specimens shows wear from feeding among the
stones and hard ground of the usual habitat.

Skutch (Wilson Bull., 1947, p. 38), in Costa Rica, found a bulky
nest in a small tree near the bank of a boulder-filled stream, that was
built of leaves, stems, and other decaying vegetation, with green moss,
and some earth. Two eggs lay in the open cup, which was lined with
green leaves. I have seen no description of the eggs of the form of
Central America and northwestern South America. Three single
eggs of the allied, but quite distinct Eurypyga helias helias in the
U. S. National Museum collected by R. N. Berryman, Jr., May 10,
1934, June 26, and July 9, 1935, at Guanoco, Sucre, in northeastern
Venezuela, have the shell smooth, with a faint gloss, and in ground
color vary from tilleul-buff to somewhat darker than pinkish buff. All
are spotted sparingly with black, violet-gray, chocolate, and chestnut,
mainly around the larger end. They measure 42.8 x 33.3, 44.0 x 35.0,
and 44.6 x 33.7 mm.

The species is one of limited habitat and apparently of restricted
territorial range so far as individual birds are concerned, that while
shy is not especially wary, so that it is vulnerable as settlement en-

372 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

croaches on its haunts. Formerly it was spread widely through the
republic, but hunting and casual killing have destroyed it over exten-
sive areas. It has not been reported recently from Chiriqui and
southern Veraguas though some may remain in mountain areas, and it
has been a good many years since it has been found in the Canal
Zone. Some remain in remoter areas in Bocas del Toro, northern
Veraguas, Colon, eastern Panama, Darién, and San Blas, mainly in
hill country. C. O. Handley, Jr. found them at a thousand meters
and higher on Cerro Mali in 1959, and in 1962 recorded them at
similar elevations on Cerro Hoya in western Los Santos.

They are called primavera on the Rio Tuira; and in Venezuela
are known as tigana, or locally as pavito real.

Order CHARADRIIFORMES
Family JACANIDAE: Jaganas ; Gallitos de Agua

The eight species of this family, found in the tropical and sub-
tropical areas of Africa, southeastern Asia (from India to the
Philippine Islands), and America are marked by long, slender legs
with the toes tipped with greatly elongated, straight claws, so that
these birds walk with ease over the floating plants that carpet the
quiet waters of their haunts. In all of the forms the bend of the
wing is armed with a sharp-pointed, strong spur, a weapon to be
regarded with respect. The wide distribution of the living species
indicates a considerable antiquity in geologic time.

In America, where jacanas range from the lower Rio Grande
Valley in Texas through México, the Greater Antilles (except
Puerto Rico), Central America, and South America to northern
Argentina and Uruguay, two populations are found, superficially so
similar that there has been uncertainty as to their status. In the
accounts that follow, where their characters are described they are
treated as species that may hybridize when they are in contact in the
breeding season.

JACANA SPINOSA SPINOSA (Linnaeus): Northern Jagana; Gallito de Agua
Castaiio
FIGuRE 63

Fulica spinosa Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 152. (Western
Panama. )

Legs and toes very long in proportion to size of body; back and
abdomen chestnut-brown.

Description —Length 220 to 230 mm. Frontal plate with a central
division so that it is 3-lobed. Adult (sexes alike, except in size),
head, neck, and upper breast black with a greenish sheen ; rest of body

FAMILY JACANIDAE 373

and under wing coverts, chestnut-brown; primaries and secondaries
light greenish yellow, edged with fuscous.

Immature, crown, back, and tertials brownish gray; line behind eye,
back of neck, and sides black ; rump washed with chestnut ; broad line
over eye, side of head, and entire under surface white.

Iris dark brown; bill yellow, with base of maxilla pale bluish
white ; frontal plate orange-yellow to yellow ; tarsi and toes dull gray-
ish green ; wing spur bright yellow.

Measurements.—Males (7 from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salva-
dor, and Panama), wing 116.2-120.8 (119.4), tail 37.5-43.5 (40.3),
bill from nostril 16.8-19.0 (17.9), tarsus 51.0-57.5 (54.6) mm.

Fic. 63—Head of northern jacana, gallito de agua castafio, Jacana spinosa
spinosa.

Females (7 from Nicaragua and Panama) wing 130.6-136.6
(134.6), tail 41.6-46.6 (44.1), bill from nostril 19.0-20.4 (19.5),
tarsus 55.0-61.8 (58.7) mm.

Resident. Common in the tropical zone of western Panama,
through the lowlands of Chiriqui to extreme western Veraguas (El
Zapotillo) ; wandering casually to the lower subtropical zone (lakes
near El Volcan) ; on the Atlantic side from the Rio Sixaola to Almi-
rante in Bocas del Toro.

These brown-backed birds are found in western Chiriqui, and in
Bocas del Toro, east to Almirante. They are especially common near

374 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Changuinola and there often come to rain pools on the golf links. On
the Pacific slope, in eastern Chiriqui, they mingle with the black-
plumaged wattled jacana from Las Lajas and Remedios to the Rio
Tabasara, and in lesser number in Veraguas to the Rio Bubi west of
El Zapatillo, an overlap in range of between 40 and 50 kilometers.
The two to date have not been found associated on the Caribbean side.

The northern jacana in haunt, habits, and notes is the counterpart
of the other species found throughout most of the Republic.

While I have not seen eggs from Panama, those in a series in the
U. S. National Museum from México and Cuba are slightly larger
than those of the black form from the Canal Zone, the range in 15
specimens being 29.3-31.2 x 21.6-24.0 mm. They are also somewhat
more heavily marked.

With the large series of these birds now available it is found that
populations of the Greater Antilles, México (except for a limited
area in the northwest), and southern Central America, formerly re-
garded as 3 distinct geographic races, are to be merged in one as
Jacana spinosa spinosa. Specimens from Sinaloa to northern Colima,
México, are slightly smaller, so that they are separated as Jacana
spinosa lowei van Rossem. The northern group, the species Jacana
Spinosa (Linnaeus), has a well-marked central division between the
two lateral broader sections in the frontal plate, so that the free up-
per margin is clearly and definitely three-lobed. The base of the bill
is pale bluish or greenish white, and the frontal plate is bright yellow
to orange yellow. Birds of the southern species, Jacana jacana (Lin-
naeus), found from western Panama southward, have only two di-
visions in the upper margin of the frontal plate and also possess a
well-developed lappet on either side of the gape. The frontal plate
and the lappet are dark red in color. It should be noted that the lap-
pet is absent in younger juvenile individuals but begins to grow as
the frontal plate develops, so that it is present before the bird molts
into adult dress. As stated, the ranges meet in western Panama where
the two species now are found together over a space of about 50
kilometers. My own observations in this area of overlap confirm the
early reports of Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p.
305) who found the two together in the same pools near Remedios,
in eastern Chirigui, “without producing intermediates.” However, I
have examined several specimens in the British Museum, collected by
Arcé in 1869, labeled Calobre, in eastern Veraguas, that appear to

FAMILY JACANIDAE 375

be hybrids. Two have maroon backs with trifid frontal lappets, and
also a small rictal lappet. Two others with only a tinge of maroon on
the back have a small median frontal wattle between the two large
ones, and also a rictal wattle. One other, fully adult is completely
black on the back, with a small middle frontal wattle, and large ones
in the rictal area. All others seen have shown the normal differences
described.

Part of the confusion in understanding of the differences that sep-
arate the two has been due to individual variability in Jacana jacana
hypomelaena, the race of the southern species involved. This name
is applied to the population found through most of Panama and
northern Colombia, in which the head and body are deep black. It
appears that this is a condition of melanism in which the dark pig-
ment conceals the chestnut brown pattern of the back and breast nor-
mal in other populations to the south. It is fairly common to find
specimens of hypomelaena in which a definite wash of brown is evi-
dent on the back and wings, often hidden by black tips of the feathers,
and an occasional individual in which there are definite chestnut
markings on back and breast. As the chestnut pattern is found also
in the northern Jacana spinosa, these aberrant individuals have been
attributed mistakenly to intergradation between the two groups, a
supposition supported by specimens of J. 7. hypomelaena in which
the free margin of the frontal plate, through slight distortion in dry-
ing, appears to simulate the true central lobe of J. spinosa. The clear-
cut and striking differences in color of the frontal plate may be the
effective factor that separates the two groups during pair formation,
and thus maintains the two distinct. I have not seen a supposed in-
termediate adult specimen that could not be allocated specifically on
the characters that I have outlined.

Current acceptance of Todd’s designation of “Panama” as type
locality for this species (Ann. Carnegie Mus., vol. 10, 1916, p. 219)
requires amendment to western Panama in view of the limited range of
this bird in the Republic. The specific name spinosa of Linnaeus is
based solely on Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, 1743, p. 48, pl. 48. Edwards
was told that his specimen, “‘preserv’d a good while in spirits,” lent
to him by Sir Hans Sloane, “was brought from Carthagena, South
America.” It seems probable that it came from farther north in
Central America rather than from the limited area where this species
is found in western Panama.

376 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

JACANA JACANA HYPOMELAENA (Gray): Wattled Jacana; Gallito de
Agua Barbudo

Ficure 64

Parra hypomelaena G. R. Gray, Gen. Birds, vol. 3, May 1846, pl. 159. (Bogota,
Colombia.)

Similar to the northern jacana in general form, but head, neck,
back, and abdomen black.

Description—Length 210 to 230 mm.; frontal plate with two
lobes ; a distinct lappet on either side of the mouth at the gape. Adult
(sexes alike, except in size), wings as in the northern jacana; entire
body and under wing coverts, in most black. Some show a tinge of
chestnut on the back, and in a very few this color is sufficiently strong
to suggest the markings of the other species.

Immature, crown and back dark brown; side of head, neck, upper
back, and sides extensively black, often with a mixture of black on
the wing coverts ; rump and upper tail coverts black.

Iris dark brown; base of the maxilla, frontal plate, and rictal
lappets rather dull red; rest of bill cinnamon to yellow, tinged with
slate at the tip; tarsus deep neutral gray, with a tinge of green on
the posterior face of the crus; toes and claws dusky brown.

Measurements—Males (8 from Panama), wing 115.5-120.1
(117.6), tail 36.3-42.4 (38.8), bill from nostril 17.4-19.4 (18.3),
tarsus 53.4-56.8 (55.1) mm.

Females (9 from Panama), wing 127.0-134.8 (130.7), tail 40.2-
44.8 (42.4), bill from nostril 18.5-20.8 (19.7), tarsus 54.8-64.1 (58.7)
mm.

Resident. Common in the tropical zone along lowland rivers and
in fresh-water marshes from eastern Chiriqui (Las Lajas, Remedios),
the Rio Indio in extreme northern Coclé (El Uracillo), and western
Colén (Chilar and Rio Indio) to Colombia. Casual on Isla Coiba.

It is probable that these birds will be found to range much farther
west along the rivers of the Caribbean lowlands when field studies
have been made in the area from the Valiente Peninsula in Bocas del
Toro through northern Veraguas.

The wattled jacana, like the northern species, primarily is a bird of
fresh-water marshes and the borders of the larger lowland streams
where shores, bays, and side channels are lined with water-lilies,
pondweeds, and other floating aquatic plants. As the small body is
light in weight the long toes afford a broad support so that the bird,
with nodding head, walks about with ease. Where the plant growth

FAMILY JACANIDAE 377

is scanty the wings are fluttered to assist in support in more rapid
movement to denser growth. They come frequently to shallow pools
in wet pastureland. Once, in the marsh at La Jagua, a pair ranged in
the same manner as anis about a bull that fed in water up to its body.

Adults usually are found in pairs, in which the sexes may be
distinguished by difference in size, the female being much larger in
body than the male. Where the birds are common several pairs may
be associated, and with them there are often many of the white
breasted young. All feed quietly, picking at the water surface for
small insects, or with a quicker dab at a minnow. At any disturbance

Fic. 64.—Wattled jacana, gallito de agua barbudo, Jacana jacana hypomelaena.

the wings may be raised to show the striking, light-colored pattern,
and the birds give cackling and grunting calls. Adults often spar
with the spread wings raised high, the body horizontal, and the head
thrust forward, but seldom seem to come to actual blows, the sharp
spurs with which all are armed being a sufficient deterrent. I have
noticed this especially where one of a pair in a small group has been
killed, when the survivor is constantly driven away when it ap-
proaches its companions.

Jacganas fly easily and in the air present an unusual outline with
the neck and feet extended, the latter with a slight curve upward

378 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

from the linear axis through the head and body. At Juan Mina,
when traveling by cayuco along quiet channels, small groups of
jacanas often rise explosively from behind the taller vegetation, with
each individual headed in a different direction, but immediately
all shift and with chattering calls straggle off together.

They are most abundant in the open lowlands of the Pacific slope.
A few, usually, but not always, in the white-breasted immature dress,
wander inland along gravel bars exposed in dry season on the larger
rivers, and then may be encountered within the open valleys in the
hills. I supposed that it was such a wanderer, an adult bird in this
instance, that I recorded on Isla Coiba on January 21, 1956.

Four sets of 4 eggs each and one of 3, presented to the U. S.
National Museum by Maj.-Gen. G. Ralph Meyer, indicate that this
species nests in the main during the rainy season, as these, taken at
the Summit Gardens, Canal Zone, from 1940 to 1942, range in date
from August 10 to November 26. At Juan Mina, on the Rio Chagres,
I recorded two broods of 4 young each, on December 14, 1955.
Some nest later, as Thomas Gilliard found 4 young recently hatched
at Barro Colorado Island March 24, 1937 (Chapman, Life in an Air
Castle, 1938, p. 226). And Jackson Abbott has told me of finding
a pair with a nest containing 4 eggs in a lily pool at the Summit
Gardens on February 15, 1942. General Meyer also reported newly
hatched young on May 17, 1941.

The usual nest is a slight depression in a mass of floating vegeta-
tion. The eggs, in general, are similar to those of Jacana spinosa
spinosa, recorded under that species, but average slightly smaller,
and viewed as a group are less heavily marked. In form they vary
from oval to short subelliptical. The ground color is somewhat
brighter than deep olive-buff, marked heavily with irregular, scrawling
lines and occasional spots of black, that here and there are modified
to dull grayish brown. Measurements of 4 sets are as follows: 27.7-
29.7 x 21.0-22.3 mm. A fifth set is somewhat smaller, as indicated by
the following dimensions : 23.6-27.5 X 21.0-21.5 mm.

The usual name in Panama is gallito de agua, often abbreviated to
gallito. In Los Santos they were called rasca tortilla, and on the
Rio Jaqué in Darién they were known as the lagunero.

Family HAEMATOPODIDAE: Oystercatchers ; Ostreros

The species of this family, true shorebirds in form, are among the
largest of the group. All have heavy bodies and strong feet and bills,
the latter long, and compressed from side to side at the tip to a

FAMILY HAEMATOPODIDAE 379

chisel form. This is used in prying loose and opening the mollusks
that are their principal food. Part of the species recognized are
wholly dark in color, and part are blackish on the head and neck,
gray or gray-brown on the back and white underneath. As a group
they are found worldwide in continental areas, except in regions of
heavy cold.

HAEMATOPUS PALLIATUS PITANAY Murphy: American Oystercatcher;
Ostrero Blanco
Ficure 65
Haematopus palliatus pitanay Murphy, Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 194, Nov. 17, 1925,

p. 1. (Pisco Bay, Peru.)

A large shorebird with long red to yellow bill, compressed at the
tip ; sooty black head and neck, grayish-brown back and white under-
parts.

Description—Length, 420 to 440 mm. Adult (sexes alike), head
and neck sooty black, slightly grayer on the crown; spot on lower
eyelid white; back, longer tertials, lesser and middle wing coverts
grayish brown; greater wing coverts, and secondaries white except
for the black tips; wings and tail sooty black; upper tail coverts,
sides of rump, and under parts white; under wing coverts white more
or less spotted with sooty black.

A juvenile, half grown, from Isla San José, with the general color
pattern of the adult, has the throat covered with gray down, spotted
indistinctly with white and darker gray; entire upper surface with
feathers tipped narrowly with cinnamon-buff; rump and tail tipped
with cinnamon.

Iris yellow; edge of eyelids red; bill red, becoming yellow at tip,
and orange at base; tarsus and toes pinkish white to pale flesh color ;
claws fuscous.

Measurements——Males (5 from Panama), wing 141-156 (150),
tail 90.6-107.0 (98.7), culmen from base 75.0-81.0 (78.5), tarsus
54.5-58.3 (56.3) mm.

Females (2 from Panama), wing 157, 158; tail 101.6, 104.0;
culmen from base 82.1, 90.0; tarsus 58.0, 61.5 mm.

Resident. Local along the Pacific coast: Archipiélago de las
Perlas (recorded from islas San José, Pedro Gonzalez, Bayoneta,
Malaga, Pacheca, Pachequilla, Saboga, Contadora and Rey). Rare
elsewhere: Veraguas (specimen in British Museum without definite
locality or date taken by Arcé) ; Los Santos (La Honda) ; east of
Panama City (Sturgis, Field Book Birds Panama Canal Zone, 1928,
p. 54); mouth of Rio Majé.

380 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

‘These large shorebirds are found now mainly in the Pearl Islands
where they are widely distributed, but nowhere common, on rocky
coasts. On the mainland I have seen them on unfrequented sand
beaches on the coast of Los Santos and at the mouth of the Rio
Majé in eastern Panama near the frontiers of Darién. But only in
work in the Pearl Islands have I encountered them regularly. Arcé
secured one that is labeled ““Veragua,” but there are no other records
for western Panama. And the species has not been reported for the
long reach of the Caribbean coast.

Fic. 65.—American oystercatcher, ostrero blanco, Haematopus palliatus pitanay.

Usually oystercatchers are found in pairs on rock flats near the
water, and are wary so that it is necessary to stalk them behind cover
to secure specimens. They nest in February and March and then
call by day and night, though at other seasons they are vocal mainly
when disturbed.

They eat small mollusks, the strong bill with both upper and
lower halves compressed at the tip being specially adapted to secure
such food. One taken on Isla San José had opercula of the abundant
snail Nerita and a bit of barnacle in its stomach.

On March 20, 1948, on the beach at La Honda, near the mouth
of the Estero Espigadilla, in northern Los Santos, I collected a pair,
and by following their tracks in the loose sand located their nest.

FAMILY HAEMATOPODIDAE 381

The 3 heavily incubated eggs were placed in a slight depression with-
out lining in an open expanse of sand, back of the high water mark,
clearly visible at a distance of 15 meters. They are oval in shape,
with a slightly roughened shell that is without gloss. The ground
color is very pale buff, rather evenly spotted with small irregular
marks of fuscous, that appear dull gray to bluish gray where over-
laid by a deposit of shell. They measure 57.5 x 37.6, 57.6 X 38.3, and
59.5 X 38.1 mm.

Oystercatchers throughout the world are closely similar in ap-
pearance, particularly in the more common color pattern in which
the underparts are white. Those of this type of the Old World have
the back and rump clear white, while the eye, feet, and tarsi are
red. In the New World all have dark-colored backs, only the sides of
the rump and the upper tail coverts being white. The eye is bright
yellow, and the legs and feet are flesh color or faintly pinkish white.
While these are not great differences they are clearcut and are
constant, and therefore sufficient to indicate two specific groups
Haematopus ostralegus for the Old World and Haematopus palliatus
for the Americas.

As a whole, the white-breasted New World populations are darker
colored above along the Pacific coast and lighter in the Atlantic area.
The eastern group appears fairly uniform from New Jersey south
to Florida, west to Texas and the Yucatan Peninsula, and through
the West Indies, on the Guajira Peninsula of northeastern Colombia,
and in northern Venezuela. The bird is not known in the Caribbean
coastal area from British Honduras, to central Colombia, or along
the Atlantic coast from eastern Venezuela to northern Brazil. In
the latter country oystercatchers appear on the coast of Para and
range southward to Santa Cruz in southern Argentina. Through this
vast area the birds are remarkably uniform. Some from the Bahama
Islands have larger bills and have been recognized as a subspecies
H. p. prattii Maynard, with a range that extends through the Greater
and Lesser Antilles and the islands off the north coast of Venezuela.
The character, however, is one that is not constant, nor does larger
size, alleged in a longer wing, hold, so that the supposed subspecies
is one of doubtful value.

In the far south in Argentina, from the east coast of the Province
of Buenos Aires to southern Patagonia, oystercatchers average faintly
browner above, and are known as Haematopus palhatus durnfordt
Sharpe.

Along the Pacific coast from Baja California to Guerrero, México,
the breeding birds are recognized as H. p. frazari Brewster. Com-

382 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

pared to palliatus these average darker above, have less white on
the inner webs of the inner primaries, and the white of upper
breast heavily mottled with black, a pattern that in some extends a
short distance down the sides. At the Isthmus of Tehuantepec this
mottled pattern tends to disappear. Few oystercatchers have been
recorded on the Pacific side of Guatemala, there are none known
for El Salvador, western Honduras, and Nicaragua, and only two
for western Costa Rica. The birds are found regularly only from
the Gulf of Panama south to southern Chile. In this region the
population has a clear-cut line between light and dark in the breast
pattern like palliatus, agrees with frazari in restricted white on the
inner primaries, but is darker, grayer on the dorsal surface. This
may be known as Haematopus palliatus pitanay, described from Pert,
with a range extended here to include Panama.

On the Galapagos Islands the birds are much darker than any
others in the white-breasted group and have mottled upper breasts,
an extensive black pattern on the under wing coverts, and decidedly
larger feet. These are Haematopus p. galapagensis Ridgway, a
population definitely distinct from any others.

Family CHARADRIIDAE: Plovers ; Chorlitos

Plovers are birds of worldwide distribution in ice-free areas,
related to the sandpipers, snipes, and curlews, but with shorter and
somewhat more swollen bills. While several visit Panama in their
migrations only one, the collared plover or chorlito de collar, is a
resident on the isthmus. Most of the species range the sand beaches
of the seashore, but the golden plover in its passage flights comes
to open pastures and savannas.

KEY TO SPECIES OF THE CHARADRIIDAE

1. A long, slender crest; throat black.
Southern lapwing, Belonopterus chilensis, p. 383
Head not crested; throat white........ccccccccccceccceseseesesccecs 2
2. Avery small hind toe; axillars dark gray to black.
Black-bellied plover, Squatarola squatarola, p. 384
No hind toe; axillars pale gray or white. ...........0ssceserccceeees 3
3. Dorsal surface spotted and barred with white and black, some with golden-
yellow ; breast mottled with dark gray.
Golden plover, Pluvialis dominica dominica, p. 385
Dorsal surface plain, or feathers tipped lightly with pale buff or grayish
white) ‘breast. not mottled! /22. 404 W228. esis PGkk LTR oe ae 4

FAMILY CHARADRIIDAE 383

4. Breast with two prominent black bands.
Killdeer, Charadrius vociferus, p. 390
Breast with a single black or grayish-brown band.................-+- 5
5. Bill entirely black, strong and heavy, 19 mm. long or more.
Wilson’s plover, Charadrius wilsonia, p. 391
Bill with orange or yellow at the base, short and more slender........ 6
6. Larger, wing more than 114 mm.; dark brownish gray above; a distinct
web between the outer and middle toes.
Semipalmated plover, Charadrius semipalmatus, p. 386
Smaller, wing less than 105 mm.; light brown above; no web at base of
FOES ...Sbve lh. 6! cx Leh beens Collared plover, Charadrius collaris, p. 387

BELONOPTERUS CHILENSIS CAYENNENSIS (Gmelin): Southern
Lapwing; Teru-teru

Parra cayennensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 706. (Cayenne.)

A large plover, with a long, slender crest.

Description.—Length, 290 to 330 mm. Bend of the wing armed
with a strong, curved, sharply pointed spur. Adult (sexes alike),
forehead, crest, throat, center of upper foreneck, and breast black,
with a faint bluish sheen; a narrow line across the back of the fore-
head, and on the anterior area of the cheeks, dull white; rest of
crown grayish brown; rest of head and neck dull buffy gray; back
dull greenish gray with a bronzy area on either side; upper tail
coverts white; lesser wing coverts, alula, primaries, and outer sec-
ondaries black; middle and greater wing coverts white; secondary
coverts and inner secondaries dull gray; tail black, with basal half
and tip white ; abdomen and sides white.

Iris red; bill red on the basal half and black on the tip; tarsus and
toes dull red ; wing spur red.

Measuremenis.—Males (5 from Colombia), wing 218-231 (224),
tail 92.2-103.0 (97.2), culmen from base 30.0-34.8 (32.7), tarsus
74.3-84.3 (80.8) mm.

Females (5 from Colombia), wing 220-227 (223), tail 89.2-95.5
(92.7), culmen from base 32.6-34.4 (33.4), tarsus 73.0-78.0 (75.7)
mm.

Casual visitor. Recorded from the eastern sector of the Province
of Panama (La Jagua, Chepo), and San Blas (Puerto Obaldia).

This is a species of South America, found in open lands, that
ranges across Colombia to the lower Rio Atrato, and wanders oc-
casionally to eastern Panama. It was first recorded for the isthmus
when Karl Curtis shot one at La Jagua on May 17, 1936 (Griswold,
Auk, 1936, p. 457). Curtis informs me that about 1950, toward the

384 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

end of the dry season, he encountered a flock of about 30 below La
Jagua, near the mouth of the Rio Chico, and shot two or three that
he was unable to retrieve as they fell on mud banks that were not
passable. In March 1921, M. J. Kelly, of the Everhart Museum at
Scranton, Pa., secured two on a savanna area near Chepo. These,
mounted for exhibition for a time, subsequently came in an ex-
change to the U. S. National Museum.

On August 27, 1934, Wedel shot a female at Puerto Obaldia,
San Blas, which was purchased for the Brandt collection, now in
the museum at the University of Cincinnati (Brandt, Auk. 1938, p.
288).

The specific name chilensis is from Parra chilensis Molina of 1782,
a name that some have refused, since the description includes a
reference to a frontal shield like that of a jacana. The formal
diagnosis describes the short toes and crested head of the plover,
and the extended account of habits also is of that species. Many
early descriptions are in part composite but are accepted from the
action of a reviser who decides the proper allocation of the name. In
the present instance the question has been discussed in detail by me
(U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 133, 1926, pp. 168-169) and by Peters (Bull.
Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 65, 1923, pp. 295-296). In both references
chilensis is designated as the name to be accepted for the Belonopterus.

SQUATAROLA SQUATAROLA (Linnaeus): Black-bellied Plover;
Chorlito Gris

Tringa squatarola Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 149. (Sweden.)

A plover of medium size, with the axillars black.

Description.—Length, 270 to 290 mm. Sexes alike. Breeding dress,
face, foreneck, and breast black; forehead, sides of neck, and abdo-
men white ; crown and hindneck grayish, primaries and axillars black;
rest of upper surface barred and spotted with brownish black and
white.

Winter plumage, above brownish gray, barred and spotted ir-
regularly with white and grayish white; forehead, sides of head,
and undersurface white, the cheeks and sides of neck, streaked with
dusky ; breast streaked and mottled with dusky.

Measurements (from Ridgway, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt.
8, 1919, p. 73).—Males, wing 178-199 (189.3), tail 68-82 (75.4),
culmen 29.5-31.5 (30.4), tarsus 42-51 (45.3) mm.

Females, wing 179-196 (187.5), tail 69-84 (73.7), culmen 27.5-
31 (29.5), tarsus 41.5-48.5 (44.7) mm.

FAMILY CHARADRIIDAE 385

Migrant from the north. Locally common along the sea beaches ;
Isla Coiba; Isla del Rey. A few nonbreeding birds remain through
the period of northern summer.

The main migration arrives from the north in September and
early October, and most have left on return by April. I have seen
them mainly along the Pacific coast, particularly around the shores
of Parita Bay. Near Fort Amador, Canal Zone, and on the golf
links at Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, they often range on grass, like
golden plover. Eisenmann (Wilson Bull., 1951, p. 182) has re-
ported a few non-breeding individuals near Panama Viejo between
June 16 and July 17, from 1948 to 1951, with 13 individuals as
the maximum number seen at one time.

In 1956 I found them regularly on the beaches at Isla Coiba, and
collected a female on January 12. Though they should be found
throughout the Gulf of Panama a report for Isla del Rey for
March 11, 1904 (Thayer and Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol.
46, 1905, p. 146), is the only record for the Pearl Islands.

PLUVIALIS DOMINICA DOMINICA (Miiller): American Golden Plover;
Chorlito Dorado

Charadrius Dominicus P. L. S. Miller, Natursyst. Suppl., 1776, p. 116.
(Hispaniola. )

Slightly smaller than the black-bellied plover, darker on the dorsal
surface, with pale gray axillars.

Description—Length, 245 to 260 mm. Sexes alike. Breeding dress,
entire undersurface, including side of head black; a broad band of
white from the forehead over the eye and down the side of the neck
to the side of the upper breast; dorsal surface dusky speckled with
buffy-yellow.

Winter plumage, forehead, side of head, and under surface white,
streaked with dusky on the side of the head, and mottled with
brownish gray on breast and sides; under surface of wings and
axillars light gray; upper surface brownish gray, spotted indistinctly
with black, white, and dull buff.

Measurements (from Ridgway, Lc., p. 84).—Males, wing 159-
183.5 (176.4), tail 60-75 (67.9), culmen 20.5-24 (22.2), tarsus 38.5-
45 (41.9) mm.

Females, wing 176-183 (180.8), tail 64-70 (66), culmen 22-23.5
(22.5), tarsus 41-44.5 (43) mm.

Passage migrant. Locally, tolerably common; reported mainly on
the Pacific slope toward the end of the dry season when in north-

386 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

ward migration; found in flight southward from the middle of
August to November.

The golden plover was first recorded from Panama when T. A.
Imhof (Auk, 1950, p. 256) saw a flock of a dozen on the parade
grounds at Fort Clayton, Canal Zone on October 4, 1942. Loftin
(Carib. Journ. Sci., 1963, p. 65) in 1962 at Panama Viejo found
2 August 12, another September 23 (statement corrected from that
published from data supplied by the author). At Jaqué, Darién, in
1946 I found them regularly from March 15 to April 13, on the
airfield and along the river adjacent, and collected the first specimen
for Panama on the date first mentioned. This bird, a male, was in
good flesh but was not fat. On the Sabana San José, east of the
Rio Pacora I recorded them in 1949 on March 22 and 23, and on
March 22, 1958, shot one from a flock of a dozen that flew and ran
ahead of my jeep. The bird taken on this occasion was a female
that was heavy, but with fat that was dry so that it was not difficult
to prepare. It appeared that the oily elements normal in such a
condition may have been consumed in the first stage of its northward
flight from the wintering grounds in Argentina. On April 3, 1955,
I recorded a dozen on the mudflats at Panama Viejo, and on March
2, 1956, saw another flock of similar size on the golf links near
Summit, Canal Zone. None that I have observed have been in
breeding plumage.

CHARADRIUS SEMIPALMATUS Bonaparte: Semipalmated Plover;
Chorlitejo Semipalmeado

Charadrius semipalmatus Bonaparte, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol.
5, Aug. 1825, p. 98. (Coast of New Jersey.)

A small plover with a dark grayish brown back and a single dark
breast band.

Description—Length 145 to 160 mm. Breeding plumage, band
across center of crown, a narrow line across base of bill, becoming
wider on the cheeks, and a broad band across the upper breast
black; rest of crown, back, and wing coverts dark grayish brown;
primaries and distal half of tail, except tip, black; rest of under sur-
face, tips of primary coverts, and of tail white.

Winter dress, black markings of summer replaced by dark grayish
brown.

Measurements (from Ridgway, lL.c., p. 117).—Males, wing 114-
122.5 (119.4), tail 52-57.5 (54.8), culmen 11.5-13 (12.5), tarsus
21-24 (22.3) mm.

FAMILY CHARADRIIDAE 387

Females, wing 115-127 (119.8), tail 52.5-61 (55.7), culmen 10.5-
13.5 (11.9), tarsus 21-23 (21.9) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common along both Atlantic and Pacific
coasts: Isla Coiba; Archipiélago de las Perlas (San José, Saboga,
Viveros, and Rey islands) ; Isla Escudo de Veraguas. A few non-
breeding birds are present during the period of northern summer.

These plovers range the sand beaches, sometimes alone, but
usually in small groups of half a dozen to a dozen individuals. The
ocean front is a regular haunt, but on the larger rivers of the Pacific
slope, as on the Chiman and the Jaqué, these plovers regularly come
inland to the head of tidewater where the period of low water ex-
poses open bars of sand and gravel on which they may feed. When
the tide is in they often take refuge on rocky islets or headlands.
At such times they may go back also among the mangroves to rest
on exposed roots. A favored place at high tide is on the offshore
rocks at Panama Viejo. At Changuinola, in Bocas del Toro, I have
seen them on the golf links, about small pools left by heavy rains.

Some nonbreeding birds remain through June, during the period of
northern summer, but when flocks of fair size are recorded after
early July, probably they are early arrivals in the fall migration.
Large flocks may be encountered in late March and April when the
birds are on their way north.

At Puerto Mensabé on the coast of Los Santos on March 26,
1948, two in full plumage, that I assumed to be males, called, sang,
and postured as they do on their northern breeding grounds.

CHARADRIUS COLLARIS Vieillot: Collared Plover, Turillo
Ficure 66
Charadrius collaris Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 27, Dec. 1818,

p. 135. (Paraguay.)

Smallest of the plovers that have a black breast band; bill black,
except for the extreme base of the mandible.

Description —Length, 130 to 145 mm. Adult (sexes alike), fore-
head, line through eye, including lower eyelid, and under surface,
except breast band, white; fore part of crown, line from eye to
bill, and breast band black; upper surface from center of crown to
upper tail coverts, including ear coverts, and lesser and middle wing
coverts, grayish brown, in most with faint tips of dull white to pale
cinnamon; usually with a band of cinnamon brown between the
black and the gray of crown, and a mixture of the same color on

388 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

the ear coverts and the side of the neck; greater wing coverts tipped
narrowly with white; wings and central tail feathers fuscous; outer
tail feathers white.

Juvenile, black band on fore crown much reduced or absent ; black
band on breast reduced to a spot on either side, broken in the center.

Iris dark brown; bill black, except for a small orange spot on the
side of the mandible at the base that extends from side to side across
the bare skin between the mandibular rami; tarsus and toes flesh
color ; claws black.

Fic 66.—Collared plover, turillo, Charadrius collaris.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 141).—Males, wing 86-103
(95.3), tail 40-52.5 (45.2), culmen 13-16.5 (14.4), tarsus 24-27
(25.2) mm.

Females, wing 89-102 (94.4), tail 41-48 (42.8), culmen 13-16
(14.6), tarsus 23.5-26.5 (24.9) mm.

Resident. Local; rather rare; found on gravel bars of larger
streams, and on sand beaches.

The early specimens of this interesting species were those sent by
McLeannan, who collected it in company with Galbreath somewhere
on the Caribbean slope along the line of the Panama Railroad. The
two specimens concerned, male and female, are in the U. S. Na-
tional Museum, but as usual with this older material have no
definite locality noted on the label. It is probable that they were
obtained on the Rio Chagres.

FAMILY CHARADRIIDAE 389

The species is one that I have known in other regions, but one
that I sought over many miles of beach, mudflat, and stream edge
for ten years before I found my first individual on the isthmus. On
March 26, 1957, above the head of tidewater on the Rio Tonosi in
Los Santos, mangrove swallows and black jacanas drew me to a
broad gravel bar in the river bed. Here, presently, two small
plovers that at a casual glance I supposed would be the semipalmated
rose, but in the same instant it was obvious that they were a lighter,
browner gray, and as they alighted I saw that they were my long-
sought collared plover. Both were males.

At Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, in January 1958, a few of this
species ranged with other shore birds on the golf course after rains.
On January 30 I counted six in company. I found others on the outer
beach along Tirbi Bight, above Boca del Drago, on February 20,
where I believed they were on their breeding grounds, as a male
taken here had the testes beginning to enlarge. Apparently they are
more common in this area than elsewhere, as Eisenmann (Condor,
1957, p. 252) found 2 pairs at the mouth of the Rio San San, farther
along on this same stretch of shore.

The flight of these plovers is direct, fairly rapid, and low over
open ground or water. Usually after alighting they teeter once or
twice, but then walk about slowly, seeming rather inactive. But also
they may run quickly with the head down, and then stop suddenly
with the head erect but the neck still shortened. In general actions
they resemble the snowy plover, but seldom run as far without
stopping. On the outer beaches when approached they move back
above the crown, where they are inconspicuous among the scattered
bits of drift.

The alarm note is a sharp metallic tsee. Another common note
is a slightly rolling tur-r-r. These notes are heard most often during
the breeding season. At other periods usually they are silent.

A set of 2 eggs in the U. S. National Museum was collected on
September 30, 1926, by E. G. Holt, on the Rio Araguaya, below
Macatba, Goias, Brazil. The shell is smooth, without gloss, with the
ground color slightly paler than pinkish buff. Small, irregular black
spots are scattered over the surface, somewhat less abundantly near
the small end. The measurements are 28.3 x 20.9 and 28.4 x 21.2 mm.
Schénwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 7, 1963, p. 387) lists the variation in
size found in 36 eggs as 26-31 X19,.1-22.5 mm,

390 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

CHARADRIUS VOCIFERUS VOCIFERUS Linnaeus: Killdeer;
Chorlito Griton

Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 150. (South
Carolina.)

A plover with two black bands on the under surface, one on the
lower foreneck, the other on the breast.

Description.—Length, 235 to 250 mm. Forehead, line behind eye,
collar on hindneck and under surface white ; band across anterior edge
of crown, extending back over eye, one on malar stripe, one around
lower foreneck, and one across breast black; crown, side of head,
back, and wing coverts dark grayish brown; rump and upper tail
coverts cinnamon-buff ; primaries black; primary coverts tipped with
white; outer tail feathers cinnamon-buff, banded near the end with
black, and tipped with white; 3 central pairs grayish brown, banded
with black near the tip.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 100).—Males, wing 154-167
(160.2), tail 88-103 (95.6), culmen 19-23 (20.3), tarsus 33-36.5
(34.6) mm.

Females, wing 147-170 (160.1), tail 90-103 (94.9), culmen 19.5-22
(20.4), tarsus 32-37 (35.2) mm.

Migrant from the north. Fairly common wherever there are open
savannas and pasture lands, from sea level to 2,000 meters eleva-
tion; Isla San José. Present usually from November to March.

The killdeer is a land plover that is found as frequently in dry
pastures as it is around water. Often it ranges alone, except when
moving in migration, when several may appear in company. When
approached, if at a little distance, these birds may merely turn the
back to conceal the striking black and white of the lower surface of
the body, or, if near at hand, may run quietly away. When they take
wing, flight is usually accompanied by the loud calls in imitation of
which they have received their English name.

The majority arrive in November, though a few have been re-
ported earlier in late October, (October 31, Finca Lérida, above
Boquete ; Oct. 24, 1931, Oct. 27, 1932, Puerto Obaldia, San Blas).
Most leave for the north during March, but a few remain until April,
my latest date being April 13, 1946, at Jaqué, Darién. Here, a few
days earlier (on April 9) one on the old airfield amused me when it
settled down, with wings and body moving gently as though it was
adjusting eggs against its breast, and then presently stood up and
ran away, a realistic performance, but one not at all convincing in
view of the vast distance to its northern nesting grounds.

FAMILY CHARADRIIDAE 391

CHARADRIUS WILSONIA Ord: Wilson’s Plover; Chorlito Piquigordo

A small plover, with a single breast band, the bill much larger and
heavier than in others with similar marking.

Description. —Length, 160 to 180 mm. Breeding dress, male,
anterior part of crown, lores, and a band across upper breast black ;
posterior area of crown, hindneck, back, wing coverts, and tertials
grayish brown; side of head and nape in some washed with cinnamon ;
greater wing coverts tipped narrowly with white; primaries dull
black; central tail feathers blackish, outer pairs light gray tipped
with white; forehead and underparts, except for breast band, pure
white.

Female, similar but dark bands on fore crown, lores, and breast
grayish brown, with little or no black.

Winter plumage, like the female in breeding dress, but more
grayish brown.

Iris dark brown; bill black; tarsus and toes grayish flesh color;
claws black.

These plovers are found in small numbers on sand beaches, usually
remote from areas frequented by fishermen and bathers. They are
quieter and more retiring than the semipalmated plovers encountered
in the same localities, as when approached usually they run back into
the loose sand above high tide mark. There, with the breast turned
away, the dull gray back forms an effective camouflage so that they
are hidden. Often, too, they crouch so that they become completely
inconspicuous.

There is much to learn regarding Wilson’s plover in Panama as
there are few published records, and in my own studies I have en-
countered them infrequently. The specimens that I have collected
indicate that two geographic races are present.

CHARADRIUS WILSONIA WILSONIA Ord

Charadrius wilsonia Ord, in Wilson, Amer. Orn., Ord reprint, vol. 9, 1814, p.
77, pl. 73, fig. 5. (Cape May, New Jersey.)

Characters——Lighter, grayer on the dorsal surface; middle toe
longer, 18 to 20 mm.

Measurements (from Ridgway, lc., p. 109).—Males, wing 106-
121 (116.4), tail 44-50 (47.5), culmen 19.5-21.5 (20.7), tarsus
27.5-30.5 (29), middle toe without claw 18-20 (19.2) mm.

Females, wing 112-121 (117.6), tail 42-50 (46.9), culmen 19-22
(20.8), tarsus 27-31 (28.6), middle toe without claw 18-20 (18.6)
mm.

392 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Possibly resident. Status uncertain from present information;
recorded on the Caribbean coast of western Colén, Canal Zone, and
San Blas.

At Mandinga, San Blas, on February 6, 1957, I found half a
dozen Wilson’s plovers on a sand bar at the mouth of the Rio
Mandinga and collected two females. These prove to be the typical
subspecies, not previously reported for the republic. A pair recorded
on February 10, 1952, near Boca del Rio Indio, in the western sector
of Colén, I believe to have been the eastern race, but this is not
certain as I did not obtain one for a specimen. They were on a
sand beach at the mouth of a small stream about 3 kilometers east
of the village, and at my approach ran aside to hide, as they do
when on their nesting grounds. They have been recorded breeding
on Grassy Key off the coast of British Honduras but are little
known south of that point.

The only other report for these birds on the Caribbean side of the
Isthmus is a sight record by Arbib and Loetscher (Auk, 1935, p.
326) of 21 on August 23, 1934 at the spillway on the Chagres at
Gatun.

CHARADRIUS WILSONIA BELDINGI (Ridgway)

Pagolla wilsonia beldingi Ridgway, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 8, June 26,
1919, p. 112. (La Paz, Baja California.)

Characters —Darker gray on the dorsal surface ; middle toe shorter,
17-18 mm., or less.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 112).—Males, wing 115-116
(115.5), tail 45-48.5 (46.7), culmen 19.5-20.5 (20), tarsus 27.5-28
(27.7), middle toe without claw 17-18 (17.5) mm.

Females, wing 113.5-119 (115.5), tail 45-49.5 (47.2), culmen
19.5-21.5 (20.7), tarsus 27-29 (28), middle toe without claw 17.5-
18.0 (17.8) mm.

Probably resident. Local in occurrence on the Pacific coast;
recorded from Los Santos (La Honda) ; Canal Zone (Fort Amador) ;
eastern Province of Panama (near Panama City; mouth of the Rio
Chico) ; Isla Coiba; Isla San José; Isla del Rey.

Two males and a female taken March 20, 1948, at La Honda, on
the coast of northern Los Santos, were near breeding condition. I
believed from their actions that they were on their nesting ground,
as when approached they ran back into the loose sands behind high
tide mark for concealment. One that I recorded March 16, 1949,
on the mudflats at the mouth of the Rio Chico, and 4 seen April

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 393

2, 1955, on the beach at Fort Amador, probably were migrants.
Arbib and Loetscher (Auk, 1935, p. 326) saw several at Panama
Viejo on August 7 and 28, 1934. Hallinan (Auk, 1924, p. 309)
collected one near Panama City on August 11, 1907.

A female with undeveloped ovaries was taken on Isla Coiba on
January 30, 1956, and another female shot on January 24, 1960, at
Manzanillo, on the eastern side of Isla del Rey, was in similar stage.
It is possible that the birds may nest on this island as Brown col-
lected 3 near the town of San Miguel on February 29 and March 11,
1904 (Thayer and Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 46, 1905,
p. 146). Morrison secured an immature male, fully grown, on Isla
San José, August 2, 1944,

Family SCOLOPACIDAE: Snipe, Sandpipers, and Allies ;
Agachadizas, Playeros, y Aliados.

In this, the most abundant group of the true shorebird families,
the species in general resemble the plovers, but most have longer,
more slender bills, and there is a greater variation in size. None of
those found in Panama nest there, all being migrant from the north.
While many are found on inland waters their greatest abundance is
along the coasts, where flocks of thousands may be found on muddy
shores at appropriate seasons.

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF SCOLOPACIDAE

Le WVithontea (hind toehscace sna poet heroes Sanderling, Crocethia alba, p. 416
tind, LOG prESEN EA ciais sense verses Sesser ae are pees ST Ras ceede erst Siar vada 2
2. Bill long and prominently decurved (size large).
Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus, p. 396
Bill variable in length, usually straight, if not the curvature only slight
ATIC ATIC AT AR ELD Es tas tic oad shales ren carci ta gra tat re ee Teese Lo Tena aia cLCa/ohet custouas at eia 3
3. Bill more than 100 mm. long (size large).
Marbled godwit, Limosa fedoa, p. 398
Bill much shorter, less than 80 mm., usually much less..............
Ami emone: Cliath 40) AMAT rs rcs 5: 5s: a; se a sehels or ero ae cpetete evoke exchalershedntoierertel st arievsiars
Bill@lessethany AQ mines 68.5 Sis: eiate,ore ete essere: andere ons alatetetotehanetale aioe erelerais ushers
5. Larger, wing more than 170 mm., tip of bill smooth.................
Smaller, wing less than 160 mm., tip of bill minutely pitted..........
6. Primaries with a striking, contrasted pattern of black and white.
Willet, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus inornatus, p. 406
Primaries plain brownish black.
Greater yellowlegs, Totanus melanoleucus, p. 400
7. Tail with a chestnut-brown subterminal bar.
Common snipe, Capella gallinago delicata, p. 413
Tail barred black and white, without chestnut-brown subterminal bar. 8

NA OMh

394

8.

10.

i:

12.

13.

14.

BO:

16.

i.

18.

19,

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Black bars on tail and upper tail coverts decidedly broader than white ones.
Long-billed dowitcher, Limnodromus scolopaceus, p. 413
Black bars on tail and upper tail coverts not wider than white ones, the
latter usually decidedly broader.
Short-billed dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus, p. 410
Primary wing coverts and secondaries with conspicuous white markings. 10
Primary coverts and secondaries not broadly and conspicuously white. 12
Bill longer, 30 mm. or more
Bill straight, rump and upper tail coverts prominently barred with black
ald. winter). se iiss 5 Beenie belsisie scare elas Knot, Calidris canutus rufa, p. 415
Bill slightly but definitely decurved at the tip, rump and upper tail coverts
gray or brownish gray without bars..Dunlin, Erolia alpina pacifica, p. 424
Bill shorter, less than 30 mm., lower back or upper tail coverts white... 11
Lower back extensively white; tarsi and feet orange to orange-red.
Ruddy turnstone, Arenaria interpres morinella, p. 408
Lower back gray to sooty gray, tarsi and feet duller colored, greenish

VOUOW s Midis cide cares pulser, steed Surfbird, Aphriza virgata, p. 407
Tail feathers all, or except central pair, white banded with black..... 13
Tail feathers not extensively white barred with black, except for one or

tw Oot the outer cones i) /SOMmle, SPECIES fa -c\ayeieie,sieiereke okeiersleinel evaueeheieteis 14

Larger ; upper tail coverts white, barred somewhat with sooty black, wing
more than 145 mm.; tarsus bright yellow.
Lesser yellowlegs, Totanus flavipes, p. 399
Smaller; upper tail coverts dark, wing less than 145 mm., tarsus dark
Olive-preeHs 2. Se eee Solitary sandpiper, Tringa solitaria, p. 400
Tail more than 75 mm.; axillars and under surface of outer primaries
white or whitish, broadly barred with black or grayish black.
Upland plover, Bartramia longicauda, p. 395
Tail less than 70 mm., under surface of outer primaries not distinctly and
evetily Parred)) BAST res sc Soh v Shwe as 2eidig seks 2 MNe ARR Se 15
With a pronounced buffy color, brightest on lower surface.
Buff-breasted sandpiper, Tryngites subruficollis, p. 426
Without evident buff on lower surface, which is white on the abdomen,
Ge Wholly’ Witter Suche nates as cele ore tied ce laid nlcttetaiesale sie are satis sonlatelctn 16
Tarsus more than 35 mm.; legs long and slender, with the bare portion
(crus) above the tarsal joint equal to middle toe without claw.
Stilt sandpiper, Micropalama himantopus, p. 425
Tarsus less than 35 mm.; legs proportionately shorter and stockier, with
the bare portion (crus) above the tarsal joint definitely shorter than
qiddle foe “WIthOwl: Cla We eyecyeis = pc ecco cuaminle isis aioe es, 3 hous ener 17
Rump and upper tail coverts gray or greenish gray.
Spotted sandpiper, Actitis macularia, p. 402

Rump and upper tail coverts black, sooty, or black and white......... 18
Lareer, wing ‘more thay] 15 sabi... eich a teis ths So d-jatore brea wig ieee age 19
Smaller) wine dess:dhast UOStramath ag pbc icteye ns wisn» 010! cisieie ww eu ieee ene 21

Rump white; tip of maxilla pitted.
White-rumped sandpiper, Erolia fuscicollis, p. 421

Rump ‘black‘or'dusky.} tipiof maxillaysmooths .'us..(..55..c00 Vs eckniewh coms 20

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 395

20. Tarsus and toes greenish...... Pectoral sandpiper, Erolia melanotos, p. 423
‘Tarsasi and toessblacles.'4.\. cr wassioe Baird’s sandpiper, Erolia batrdu, p. 422
21. No webs between the toes; tarsus greenish gray or yellowish green.
Least sandpiper, Erolia minutilla, p. 420
A distinct web between the toes; tarsus black...................e00; 22

22. Bill shorter; in male 17-20 mm., in female 18-22 mm.
Semipalmated sandpiper, Ereunetes pusillus, p. 417

Bill longer ; in male 20.5-23.5, in female 23-28 mm.

Western sandpiper, Ereunetes mauri, p. 419

BARTRAMIA LONGICAUDA (Bechstein): Upland Plover; Correlona

Tringa longicauda Bechstein, in Latham, Allg. Uebers. Vogel, vol. 4, pt. 2,
1812, p. 453. (North America. )

A medium-sized sandpiper, buffy-brown in general color, with
small head, and long tail, found in open fields and savannas.

Description—Length, 245 to 260 mm. Crown dusky brown to
sooty black, with an indefinite central stripe of pale buff; forehead
streaked with white and buff; hindneck buffy, narrowly streaked;
back and rump sooty black, with feathers on the upper back bordered
with buff; lesser wing coverts sooty black; middle and greater
coverts cinnamon-buff to buffy white, barred lightly with black;
tertials brownish gray, barred with black; upper tail coverts black,
barred with dull cinnamon-buff and pale buff; central tail feathers
brownish gray, barred with black; outer ones cinnamon-buff, edged
with white and barred with black; primaries and secondaries fuscous,
barred narrowly with white; under surface pale buff, darker on the
under tail coverts, with the lower foreneck streaked, and the lower
breast marked irregularly and narrowly, with sooty black.

Birds in fall migration average deeper buff.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 380).—Males, wing 157-181
(163.3), tail 79-92 (75.6), exposed culmen 26-31 (28.2), tarsus 43.5-
49 (46.4) mm.

Females, wing 161-178 (166.6), tail 79-89.5 (84.0), exposed
culmen 27.5-32 (29.8), tarsus 47-50.5 (48.5) mm.

(The average measurement for the tail in females through an
error in computation is given by Ridgway as 75.6 mm. in the refer-
ence cited above.)

Passage migrant. Formerly common, but now rather rare; in
southward migration mainly from September to November ; in move-
ment northward in March and April (one on May 3).

396 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

The only records for western Panama are of one taken at Divala,
Chiriqui, November 30, 1900, by Brown (Bangs, Auk, 1901, p. 358)
and of two from tke town of Bocas del Toro, taken by von Wedel,
Nov. 18, 1938. Imhof recorded one at Chorrera, western Province
of Panama, October 11, 1942. In the Canal Zone Jewel (Auk, 1913,
p. 425) found this species regularly near Gatun in the fall of 1911,
when the birds arrived on September 12 and remained until December
8. The following year he saw the first one September 1. Arbib and
Loetscher (Auk, 1935, p. 326) recorded one there on August 17,
1933.

On the Pacific side Imhof saw them at Fort Clayton October 14
to 18, 1942, and Hallinan (Auk, 1924, p. 309) secured one at La
Boca on October 26, 1915. In 1953 collectors for the Malaria Control
Service secured specimens at Albrook Field on October 6 and 21.
The bird taken October 6 is in the U. S. National Museum.

Upland plover have been found less commonly in the spring migra-
tion. I recorded one on the open savanna at San José, above La
Jagua, Panama, April 7, 1950, and another at the same point on
April 11, 1959. There is a specimen in the American Museum of
Natural History that was taken at Boca de Cupe, Darién, May 3, 1915.

These birds nest from southern Alaska and southern Manitoba
south to Oklahoma and Maryland. They spend the period of north-
ern winter in the pampas region of southern South America.

NUMENIUS PHAEOPUS HUDSONICUS Latham: Whimbrel; Zarapito
Trinador

Numenius hudsonicus Latham, Index Orn., vol. 2, 1790, p. 712. (Hudson Bay.)

One of the largest shorebirds, with long, decurved bill; general ap-
pearance buffy brown, particularly when flying.

Description Length 410 to 450 mm. Crown blackish brown, with
a median streak of buffy white; hindneck, dull buffy white, lined
heavily with dull grayish brown; back and wings brownish black,
with feathers edged and spotted with dull buffy white; rump and
upper tail coverts grayer brown, with lighter markings that are
distinctly brown ; primary coverts tipped lightly with white to produce
an indistinct band; primaries and secondaries sooty black, heavily
barred on the inner web with buff; tail grayish brown, barred nar-
rowly with dull black, with an edging of pale cinnamon-buff on outer
web of outer pair; throat, lower breast, and abdomen white to buffy

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 397

white; foreneck and upper breast lined heavily with grayish brown,
the lines changing to narrow, irregular bars on breast; sides, flanks,
axillars, and under tail coverts pale cinnamon-buff, barred heavily
with grayish brown.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., pp. 403-404) —Males, wing
231-257 (239.1), tail 88-101 (92.9), exposed culmen 77-93.5 (83.1),
tarsus 52-61 (55.7) mm.

Females, wing 240-267 (252.4), tail 92-102 (97.1), exposed culmen
84-95.5 (91.5), tarsus 54-61 (57.9) mm.

Migrant from the north. Found along both coasts of the mainland:
Isla Coiba; Archipiélago de las Perlas (Rey, Pajaros, Chapera,
Saboga, Cafias, Malaga) ; Isla Escudo de Veraguas.

The main flight arrives from the north at the beginning of Septem-
ber. Most leave in March and April, with a few nonbreeding birds
present during the months of northern summer. Eisenmann (Wilson
Bull., 1951, p. 182) has found a few near Panama Viejo in June
and July, and Imhof recorded one here on June 20, 1942; Festa
collected one on June 14, 1895, near the mouth of the Rio Coconati,
Darién. On June 8, 1953, I recorded 5 near the mouth of the Rio
Vidal in western Veraguas.

While the whimbrel ranges to some extent on the sand beaches it
is most common on mud flats near the mouths of rivers, and in such
localities it goes back inland through the coastal swamps. As the
tide rises they often seek perches in the mangroves, sometimes as
much as 10 meters above the water, and there rest until their feeding
grounds again are open. The mudflats at Panama Viejo are favored
haunts where they may be found almost without fail—at low tide
spread widely, and when the flats are covered with water on the
rocky islets off the beach. Here in December I have seen as many
as 100 gathered together. On the Caribbean side of the isthmus they
are less common. I have recorded them there in Almirante Bay, at
Isla Escudo de Veraguas and at Mandinga. They are recorded along
this coast east to Permé, near the Colombian boundary.

At times the whimbrel may come to wet meadows a short distance
inland in pursuit of insects, as I found them in such a location at
Catival on Isla Coiba. Jewel (Auk, 1913, p. 426) recorded them
feeding in the short grass of the clearings around Gatun in 1911,
and reported that he saw them catching butterflies, an unusual food
for a bird that normally seeks the small crabs of the beaches.

308 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

LIMOSA FEDOA (Linnaeus): Marbled Godwit; Aguja Moteada

Scolopax Fedoa Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 146. (Northeastern
Manitoba.)

General appearance of the whimbrel but slightly smaller, with long,
slender bill, that curves slightly upward toward the tip.

Description —Length, 395 to 470 mm. Crown and hindneck dark
brownish gray, edged narrowly with buffy white; back, tertials, and
rump fuscous-black, with feathers edged and tipped with buffy white ;
upper tail coverts pale cinnamon-buff, barred narrowly with brownish
black; wing coverts, secondaries, and inner primaries cinnamon-buff,
the flight feathers tipped, and more or less mottled, with dull black;
outer primaries the same, but with outer webs white; outer tail
feathers cinnamon-buff, barred lightly with grayish brown; central
pairs pale cinnamon-buff, barred heavily with black; throat faintly
buffy white; rest of under surface buff to pale cinnamon-buff, lined
finely on the foreneck, and barred lightly on the upper breast, sides,
flanks, and under tail coverts with dusky brown; under wing coverts
cinnamon-buff, nearly immaculate.

In full winter plumage the under surface is plain buff, except for
a few faint dusky bars on the sides and under tail coverts.

Measurements (from Ridgway, lLc., p. 185).—Males, wing 221-
228 (225.4), tail 77.5-95 (82.9), exposed culmen 92-119 (100.3),
tarsus 67-76 (69.4) mm.

Females, wing 212-234 (224.1), tail 79-89 (83.4), exposed culmen
88.5-117.5 (104.8), tarsus 67-76.5 (71.4) mm.

Migrant from the north. Known only from sight records at Panama
Viejo, with one report from Fort Clayton.

The first published record of the presence of this species in
Panama is that of Eisenmann (Auk, 1955, p. 426), who found the
marbled godwit at Panama Viejo on August 11 and 19, 1954, and on
September 4 and 11, 1955. In the latter year Maj. F. O. Chapelle
recorded these birds on several occasions between April 2 and May
20. I saw 3 there on December 3, 1955. There is an earlier sight
record for Fort Clayton, given to me by T. A. Imhof, who saw one
November 24, 1942. Dr. Eisenmann informs me that his later records
run from April 4 through May and June, and in August and
September.

They feed on the open flats at low tide, and then, as the sea rises,
come to the rocky offshore islets, often in company with the whimbrel.
There is no report of a specimen taken.

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 399

The species breeds in the north from central Alberta and southern
Manitoba south to Montana and western Minnesota. It is found in
winter on the Pacific coast from California to Chile. Others winter
from the southern and southeastern coasts of the United States
south to México and British Honduras. On the return flight north-
ward they are recorded occasionally in the West Indies. There are
no reports as yet from the Caribbean coast of Panama.

TOTANUS FLAVIPES (Gmelin): Lesser Yellowlegs; Playero Chillén Chico
Scolopax flavipes Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 659. (New York.)

A slender-bodied sandpiper, of medium size, with long, bright
yellow legs.

Description —Length 240 to 250 mm. Breeding plumage, head and
hindneck light gray, streaked with dusky brown; back and scapulars
brownish gray, spotted irregularly with black and smaller marks of
white ; rump, upper tail coverts, and tail white barred with grayish
black; wing coverts and secondaries brownish gray, edged with
white and barred indistinctly with grayish black; primaries black;
underneath white with foreneck and upper breast with narrow streaks,
and sides, underwing coverts, and under tail coverts with bars of dull
black.

Winter plumage, gray above, in some with back and wing coverts
spotted lightly with dusky and white; foreneck and chest light gray,
lightly streaked.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 338).—Males, wing 149-
163 (153.5), tail 61-67 (62.8), exposed culmen 35-38 (36.4), tarsus
45.5-55.5 (50) mm.

Females, wing 149.5-157 (155.8), tail 55-66 (63.2), exposed cul-
men 30-39 (35.5), tarsus 46.5-52 (50.3) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common on muddy shores, and to a lesser
extent along the lower, more open, lowland courses of the larger
rivers ; Isla Coiba. Present from August to April, rarely later.

A few lesser yellowlegs appear in early August, but the majority
arrive later. They are found singly, or a few together, feeding on
tidal mud flats, about pools in wet meadows, or less often along the
sand and gravel bars on the broad courses of rivers. They range
on both coasts, but apparently are attracted only casually to the
offshore islands, as my only record in such localities is of one seen
on February 2, 1956, on Isla Coiba.

The yellow legs identify this bird and its larger companion, the
greater yellowlegs, from other shorebirds. The present species calls
quickly when startled, a shrill whew or whew whew.

400 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

TOTANUS MELANOLEUCUS (Gmelin): Greater Yellowlegs; Playero
Chillén Grande

Scolopax melanoleucus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 659. (Chateaux
Bay, Labrador.)

Similar to the lesser yellowlegs, but definitely larger; legs bright
yellow.

Description—Length 320 to 340 mm. Differs from the lesser
yellowlegs, Totanus flavipes, only in decidedly larger size, as the
colors in breeding plumage, and in winter, in the two are the same.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 332).—Males, wing 180-
198.5 (187.8), tail 71-83 (76.9), exposed culmen 52-61 (55.8), tarsus
57-68 (60.7) mm.

Females, wing 180-197 (188.9), tail 71-83 (76.6), exposed culmen
53.5-58 (55.5), tarsus 55-62.5 (59.4) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common; found on tidal flats, and
along the larger streams in the lowlands; casually to such upland
localities as the lakes near El Volcan, Chiriqui. Present from August
to April.

At Gatun Arbib and Loetscher (Auk, 1935, p. 326) recorded this
species from August 22 to 26, 1934. I saw half a dozen at Panama
Viejo on April 3, 1955.

Greater yellowlegs, like the smaller species, are found singly, or
in small bands, on attractive feeding grounds. Their greater size
usually is evident, as in body they are nearly as large as the willet
that often are nearby. Their note in sound is like that of the other
yellowlegs but is decidedly louder and also is repeated several times
in rapid sequence.

This species may be somewhat the more abundant of the two, as I
find that it is recorded more frequently in my field notes.

TRINGA SOLITARIA Wilson: Solitary Sandpiper; Playero Solitario

A small sandpiper that in flight appears dark above, with black
wings and white borders on the tail.

Description Length, 200 to 215 mm. Breeding plumage, above
dark grayish brown; wings black; crown and hindneck streaked
indistinctly with whitish ; back, scapulars, and wing coverts with many
fine spots of white; upper tail coverts blacker, barred with white;
lateral tail feathers white, barred with black; central pair black, with
white spots on the outer edges of the webs; underneath white; sides
of neck, foreneck, and upper breast streaked with grayish brown;
eyelids and supraloral streak white ; under wing coverts black, barred

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 40I

narrowly with white; flanks and under tail coverts barred with black.

Fall and winter plumage, similar but grayer above, with streaks
on lower surface less distinct.

The solitary sandpiper is the most widely distributed species among
the northern migrants of its family that come to Panama, as it may be
found about any small fresh-water pool, and is encountered also along
rivers wherever there are open channels. These birds range in suit-
able places into the lower mountains. As the name indicates, they do
not congregate in bands, but in periods of migration, or on especially
attractive feeding grounds, they may be found in scattered company.

They tilt the forepart of the body constantly as they walk, whether
in water an inch or so deep, or on the shore. When flushed they rise
quickly, and fly swiftly, often with a sharp call note. It is common
for them to dart away, and then turn to come back and drop again
close by.

The two forms of the species are both known in Panama.

TRINGA SOLITARIA SOLITARIA Wilson

Tringa solitaria Wilson, Amer. Orn., vol. 7, 1813, p. 53, pl. 8, fig. 3. (Pocono
Mountains, Pennsylvania.)

Characters——Blacker, more dusky olive above; a well-defined dark
streak on the lores; smaller in size. Wing, males, 121.5-129; females
126-134 mm.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., pp. 358-359).—Males, wing
121.5-129.5 (126.5), tail 50-57 (53.7), exposed culmen 27.0-30.5
(28.8), tarsus 28-31 (29.9) mm.

Females, wing 126-134 (127.8), tail 52-59 (55.4), exposed culmen
28-32 (29.3), tarsus 27.0-32.5 (29.4) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common throughout the mainland
around fresh-water pools, and along the rivers. Present from August
to April.

There is one record for July 29, 1929, at Permé, San Blas (Griscom,
Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 322), but the majority ar-
rive from the north after the middle of August. They remain com-
monly until mid-April, sometimes somewhat later, as I saw them in
1947 on the Rio Jaqué, Darién, until April 19. They appear regularly
at the lakes at an elevation of 1280 meters near El Volcan in
Chiriqui.

This race nests from southeastern Yukon and Labrador, south to
eastern British Columbia and eastern Ontario. It is found in winter
from northeastern México, Louisiana, and Florida, to Argentina.

402 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

TRINGA SOLITARIA CINNAMOMEA (Brewster)

Totanus solitarius cinnamomeus Brewster, Auk, vol. 7, no. 4, Oct. 1890, p. 377.
(San José del Cabo, Baja California.)

Characters.—Lighter, more grayish olive above; loral area usually
with fine scattered dusky spots, instead of a definite bar; inner web
of outermost primary usually mottled with white; spotting on back
distinctly buff in birds in fall plumage; larger, wing, males 124-137;
females 137-142 mm.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 363).—Males, wing 124-137
(132.2), tail 52.5-59.0 (56.2), exposed culmen 27.5-32.0 (30.2), tar-
sus 29-32 (30.1) mm.

Females, wing 137-142 (138.7), tail 56-59 (57.6), exposed culmen
29-32 (30.3), tarsus 30-33 (31.7) mm.

Migrant from the north. Rare; one record, a female, taken at the
lakes at 1,280 meters, near El Volcan, Chiriqui.

This bird was shot with another of the typical race on March 14,
1955.

This is the western subspecies that nests from central Alaska and
MacKenzie to northwestern British Columbia and northeastern
Manitoba. It winters mainly in South America, south to central
Argentina, so that it may occur with some regularity as a migrant
through Panama.

ACTITIS MACULARIA (Linnaeus): Spotted Sandpiper; Playerito
Coleador

FIGuRE 67

A small sandpiper. In breeding dress, with round black spots on
lower surface ; in winter plumage grayish olive-brown above; mainly
white below; teeters the body constantly as it walks; flight usually
low with quick strokes of the decurved wings.

DescriptionLength 160 to 175 mm. Breeding dress, above gray-
ish olive-brown with irregular fine, dusky lines and scattered irregular
spots and bars on the dorsal surface; a white line over eye; wing
coverts tipped narrowly with white or buffy white, and barred nar-
rowly with black; primaries and secondaries fuscous, the latter, and
the inner secondaries, tipped with white; outer tail feathers white,
barred with fuscous; under surface white dotted with small, round
black spots.

Winter dress, above grayish olive-brown, with indistinct shaft lines
of dull black ; wing coverts as in breeding plumage ; underneath white;
with a dark gray wash on the sides of the neck and upper breast ;
wings and tail as in breeding plumage.

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 403

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 373).—Males, wing 89-105
(100.5), tail 45-53 (49), exposed culmen 21.5-25.5 (23.6), tarsus
19.5-24 (22.2) mm.

Females, wing 100-109 (104), tail 47-53 (50.4), exposed culmen
21.5-25.0 (23.6), tarsus 21-25 (22.8) mm.

Migrant from the north. Found around water from ocean beaches
and mangrove swamps to small streams in the mountains; common
from August to May: Isla Parida; Isla Bolafios; Isla Coiba; Isla
Canal de Afuera; Isla Cébaco; Isla Iguana; Isla Taboga; Isla Tabo-

Fic. 67.—Spotted sandpiper, playerito coleador, Actitis macularia.

guilla; Isla Urava; Archipiélago de las Perlas (Pacheca, Saboga,
Contadora, Chapera, Rey, Cafias, Bayoneta, Malaga, and San José
islands).

In Chiriqui I have found spotted sandpipers regularly near El
Volcan and have seen them occasionally near Boquete.

The main flight begins during the first week in August, though an
occasional bird may arrive toward the end of July, the earliest report
to date being of one taken at Cana, Darién, July 25. The movement
northward starts in March, and continues through April, with a few
birds still present during the following month. Late dates for speci-
mens include a male in the Havemeyer collection at Yale, taken at
Zegla, Bocas del Toro, May 19 (1927), and a male in the U. S. Na-
tional Museum collected at Portobelo, Colon, May 23 (1911). During
the first half of April, near Jaqué, on the coast of Darién, I recorded
a considerable flight, evidently in passage from South America, when

404 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

a hundred or more were seen during single days. On April 11, 1946,
soon after dark, at least 200 dropped down on the tar-gravel surface
of the old fighter air field. During another flight two evenings later
fully 100 appeared about 9:30 p.m. Nonbreeding birds frequently re-
main far south during the northern summer, so that it may be ex-
pected that a few will be recorded during that period in Panama.

Spotted sandpipers range about water, either salt or fresh, and
are found on the coasts on sandy beaches, mudflats, rocky headlands,
and mangrove swamps. In the interior they are seen along streams,
and around ponds and lakes. They are not gregarious, as though sev-
eral may be found near one another on attractive feeding grounds, it
is only during the height of migration that they join in numbers, and
then the flocks appear diffuse. In fact, they are often pugnacious, as
one individual often pre-empts one bit of shore, and drives at any
other that may appear. Single birds seem in some instances to guard
a definite territory where they may be seen daily. Ordinarily, the
territorial disputes that I have seen have been merely pursuit and
chase, where one bird yielded to another. Occasionally, where two
seemed to have asserted definite claims, both stood and pecked hard
and steadily at one another for a minute or so. At the end usually
both turned and ran off in opposite directions. From a human view-
point, the apparent pretense seemed to be either that the bout was a
draw, or that each felt it was the victor.

They frequent the water’s edge, or open areas laid bare by reced-
ing water at low tide, moving quickly with the steadily tilting bodies
that gives the common Spanish name of chorlito or playerito coleador,
varied sometimes to meneacola, of similar meaning. Among English
speaking residents around Almirante in Bocas del Toro these birds
are called chicken peddy. When flushed they fly rapidly and rather
stiffly, with the wings little elevated above the level of the back, and
the body usually only a few inches above the water, so that as they
move they are mirrored on the surface immediately beneath. Instantly
on alighting the teetering motion again begins. In the mangrove
swamps it is common to find them at high tide standing on projecting
logs, or on small branches, often in the sun, and then they remain
quiet without movement, except to preen, until they are approached
when teetering may begin before they fly. At other times they may
rest quietly for a few minutes to receive the warmth of the early
morning sun.

The stomach of one from Portobelo was filled with remains of
small crustaceans, with a few bits of ants and a neuropteran. Two

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 405

others from inland localities in the Canal Zone contained a number of
aquatic insects, and a few ants, beetles, and Orthoptera.

Recently this species has been separated into eastern and western
subspecies on the basis of a difference in color of the dorsal surface, a
distinction that is slight, but one that may be recognized in migrant
birds as well as those on their breeding grounds. Both forms come to
Panama, and from the numerous specimens that I have examined are
present in equal number. As the two may be distinguished only with
birds in the hand and may not be identified in life I have included both
in the statement of range given above. The two are similar in size.

ACTITIS MACULARIA MACULARIA (Linnaeus)

Tringa macularia Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 249. (Penn-
sylvania. )

Characters—Dorsal surface grayish brown, with a brownish cast,
and a faint metallic gloss ; in breeding dress, with under surface more
heavily spotted, and the markings more intensely black.

The typical race breeds from California, Montana, Wyoming, and
Saskatchewan east to Labrador, and south to southern Nevada, cen-
tral Texas, northern Alabama, western North Carolina, and Virginia.
Specimens in the U. S. National Museum indicate a winter range that
covers Central America, through South America to Argentina, the
West Indies, and the Bahama Islands. Definite specimen records for
this subspecies in Panama are as follows:

Bocas DEL Toro: Zegla, May 19, 1927.

HeErrERA: Parita, Feb. 13 and 19, 1948.

Canat ZonE: Miraflores, May 13; Rio Indio, near Gatun, Feb. 15; Gatun
May 8; and Monte Lirio, Jan. 24; all in 1911.

PanaMA: Cerro Azul, Sept. 18, 1953.

DariEn: Jaqué, March 17, 1946.
Ista SAN José: Aug. 13 and Sept. 3, 1944.

ACTITIS MACULARIA RAVA Burleigh

Actitis macularia rava Burleigh, Auk, vol. 77, no. 2, Apr. 30, 1960, p. 210.
(Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Idaho.)

Characters.——Dorsal surface grayer, with only a faint trace of
metallic gloss. In breeding dress, less heavily spotted on the under
parts, with the markings less intensely black.

This race breeds from northwestern Alaska, Yukon, and western
MacKenzie south to Oregon and Idaho. It is found in winter mingled
with the other subspecies south to Peru, Venezuela, and the West
Indies.

406 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Definite specimen records for Panama are as follows:

Los Santos: Guanico Arriba, Jan. 25, 1962.

CANAL ZONE: Lion Hill, May 1; Rio Indio, near Gatun, Feb. 8, 1911.
Cot6n: Portobelo, May 23, 1911.

SAn Bras: Mandinga, Jan. 31, 1957.

Darién: Jaqué, Mar. 17 and 27, 1946.

CATOPTROPHORUS SEMIPALMATUS INORNATUS (Brewster): Willet;
Playero Aliblanco

Symphemia semipalmata inornata Brewster, Auk, vol. 4, no. 2, Apr. 1887, p.
145. (Larimer County, Colorado.)

Large; gray above, white underneath, with a striking black and
white pattern in the wing in flight.

Description.—Length, 340 to 355 mm. Breeding dress, above
slightly brownish gray ; crown and hindneck streaked, back and scap-
ulars, spotted and barred, with dusky ; wing coverts nearly plain; pri-
maries white for basal half, rest dusky black; secondaries white; tail
mottled with darker gray ; underparts white, with foreneck and upper
breast spotted, and sides barred, with dusky ; axillars and under wing
coverts sooty black.

Winter plumage, above light brownish gray; underneath white
shaded on sides, and in some individuals on front of foreneck with
pale gray ; wings as in breeding dress.

Measurements (from Ridgway, 1. c., p. 319).—Males, wing 193-
218 (205.2), tail 73-84.5 (79.4), culmen 58-63.5 (59.4), tarsus 57-69
(64.9) mm.

Females, wing 209.5-220 (213.5), tail 74-88 (80.9), culmen 63-65
(64.1), tarsus 66.5-70 (68.3) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common along the Pacific coast; rare
on the Caribbean side ; Isla Coiba ; Isla Cébaco ; Isla del Rey, Isla San
José. Common from August to April, with numbers of nonbreeding
birds remaining through the period of northern summer. All of the
hundreds that I have seen have been in plain plumage, with none in
barred breeding dress.

T. A. Imhof recorded in his unpublished notes that he saw 35 at
Panama Viejo on June 20, 1942, and Eisenmann (Wilson Bull., vol.
63, 1951, p. 182) from 1948 to 1951 found them here from the latter
half of June to the first half of July, with 23 as the maximum number
at one time. In 1953 I recorded a dozen at Playa Coronado on June
19, and 3 at Nueva Gorgona on June 23.

Willets are found scattered singly or gathered in small bands on
sandy beaches and on the mud flats at the mouths of the larger rivers.

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 407

At rest, or as they walk slowly about, they appear gray and white, but
as they fly the extensive areas of white in the otherwise black wings,
form a striking pattern that serves to identify the species without
mistake. Often they give their ringing calls as they take wing. In
addition to the numbers usually present at Panama Viejo I have
found them especially common around the Gulf of Parita, and at the
mouths of the Chico, Chiman, and Majé rivers. On the larger streams
some range inland but not above the limit of the tide. At high water
willets often join the whimbrels on perches in the mangroves, to rest
until falling water again leaves their feeding grounds bare.

Few range to the offshore islands. I saw them on Isla Coiba in
January 1956 and collected one. In the Pearl Islands Morrison shot
a female on Isla San José on September 23, 1944, and Brown col-
lected 2 females on Isla del Rey on February 20 and March 2, 1904.
I secured a male at the mouth of the Rio Cacique on this island on
January 27, 1960.

Peters (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 303) has re-
corded a female inornatus taken at Cricamola, Bocas del Toro, on
September 19, 1927, Eisenmann (Condor, 1957, p. 252) saw a willet
at the mouth of the Rio San San on July 3, 1956, in this same prov-
ince. And Wedel collected one at Puerto Obaldia, San Blas, March
15, 1935. These are the only records at present for the Caribbean side.

The typical race Catoptrophorus semipalmatus semipalmatus has
been recorded as a migrant visitor south to western Costa Rica, and
so may range occasionally to Panama. It is darker, more brownish
gray above and is smaller especially in length of bill and tarsus. In
males, the bill ranges from 53 to 58, and the tarsus from 54 to 58.5
mm ; and in females, the bill measures from 52.5 to 59, and the tarsus
from 51.5 to 58 mm.

APHRIZA VIRGATA (Gmelin): Surfbird; Chorlito de Rompiente

Tringa virgata Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 674. (Prince William
Sound, Alaska.)

A heavy-bodied shorebird, with short, greenish-yellow legs; dark
gray to dull black above, with white rump.

Description—Length 230 to 245 mm. Breeding dress, head and
neck with feathers dull black centrally, edged widely with dull brown-
ish gray; back dull black, with the feathers edged and tipped with
dull white, dull gray, and a few markings of dull buff; wing coverts
dark gray; primary coverts and outer secondaries white, forming a
distinct white line; rump and upper tail coverts white; tail with cen-

408 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

tral feathers fuscous, the outer ones white tipped with grayish; under
surface of body white, heavily marked with triangular spots of dark
neutral gray.

Winter plumage, dark brownish gray above with the feathers edged
lightly with white; crown streaked indistinctly with fuscous; under
surface white; throat with scattered small spots of gray; sides of
head and foreneck streaked, and breast with narrow crescentic bars of
dark gray.

Iris dark brown; tip of bill black; base of maxilla paler; base of
mandible dull orange brown; tarsus and toes greenish yellow; claws
black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 60).—Males, wing 164-183
(170.9), tail 63-69 (65.2), exposed culmen 23-26 (24.2), tarsus 29-
30.5 (29.6) mm.

Females, wing 169-181 (176), tail 64-66 (65), exposed culmen
23-26 (24.9), tarsus 29-31.5 (29.6) mm.

Migrant from the north. Rare; one taken at Bahia Pifias, Darién ;
numerous sight records at Panama Viejo, Panama.

This curious shorebird, migrant from its Alaskan nesting grounds
south along the Pacific coast as far as Chile, was first reported by
Eugene Eisenmann (Auk, 1948, p. 605) from 4 seen at Panama
Viejo, August 14, 1947. Imhof (Auk, 1950, p. 256) found one with
turnstones at San Francisco de la Caleta, September 2, 1942, a little
farther west on the same beach. And Eisenmann (Auk, 1955, pp.
426-427) recorded others, in part observed by Maj. F. O. Chapelle,
May 15, August 11 and 19, October 6 and 16, 1954, and January 22
and June 27, 1955. I found one here January 5, 1964, and another
February 21, 1965. There are other sight records for this locality.

The only specimen taken as yet in Panama is a male in the museum
of the University of Miami, collected September 11, 1961, by D. R.
Paulson during an oceanographic expedition with A. Glassell on his
yacht Argosy.

ARENARIA INTERPRES MORINELLA (Linnaeus): Ruddy
Turnstone; Vuelvepiedras

Tringa Morinella Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 249. (Coast of
Georgia. )

A heavy-bodied shorebird, with short, orange legs and a broad,
heavily mottled, dark band on the breast; in flight the black wings,
dark upper back, lower rump and the end of the tail are in prominent
contrast with white lower back.

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 409

Description.—Length, 225 to 240 mm. Breeding dress, head promi-
nently white, with lores, forehead, cheeks, and fine streaks over crown
black ; upper back, middle wing coverts and tertials cinnamon, heavily
spotted with black ; lesser and greater wing coverts grayish brown, the
latter tipped prominently with white; lower back and upper tail
coverts white; lower rump black; primaries and secondaries fuscous
to black; tail white on base, black at tip, edged and tipped with cin-
namon and white ; throat, sides of lower neck, under side of wing, and
rest of under parts white; sides of throat and upper foreneck black,
continuous with the broad black band across the lower foreneck and
breast.

Winter plumage, differs from the breeding dress in the absence of
cinnamon, and with the black replaced by dark grayish brown to
fuscous ; head with less white.

Iris brown; bill dull black; tarsus and toes yellowish to reddish
orange ; claws black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 52).—Males, wing 139.5-
155 (145.5), tail 56.5-64 (60), exposed culmen 21.5-24 (22.9), tarsus
22.5-26 (24.5) mm.

Females, wing 144-157.5 (148.6), tail 57-63 (60.4), exposed cul-
men 21.5-24 (22.9), tarsus 23-25.5 (24.5) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common along both coasts of Panama;
Isla Coiba ; Isla del Rey, Isla Saboga.

Turnstones, migrants to Panama from the far north, are birds of
the seashore, where they range on both sand and rock beaches. Usu-
ally they are found in little flocks of 3 or 4 to a dozen, often with, or
near, other groups of shorebirds. When the tide is low they move
along actively, with low, chattering calls, sometimes pecking quickly
at the sand, and sometimes, with a quick jerk of the head, flipping over
small pebbles to expose what may be hidden beneath—the habit
common to them throughout the world from which the common names
are taken. At high tide they rest, preen, and doze, often on rocky
points, to await the next stage of low water.

The northern migrants appear to arrive in August; most leave for
the north in April, though a few nonbreeding birds may be found
during the northern summer. T. A. Imhof recorded them in 1942
along the Fort Amador causeway on May 14, June 15, and July 21,
and Eisenmann (Wilson Bull., 1950, pp. 182, 183) reported this spe-
cies July 13, 1950, near Panama Viejo. There is a specimen in the
U. S. National Museum taken near Fort Kobbe on July 24, 1961.

410 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

LIMNODROMUS GRISEUS (Gmelin): Short-billed Dowitcher; Agachona
Gris Piquicorta

Of medium size, with bill longer than the tarsus; back and rump
white; legs rather short, light greenish yellow; tail with white and
dark bars of about equal width.

Description —Length 245 to 260 mm. Breeding plumage, upper
surface pinkish cinnamon with crown, hindneck, and back streaked,
and scapulars spotted, with black; lesser wing coverts dark grayish
brown with paler margins; middle coverts black, margined with cin-
namon-buff; greater coverts and secondaries grayish brown, edged
and tipped with white; primaries dusky, margined with white ; lower
back, rump, and upper tail coverts white, with rump spotted, and
upper tail coverts barred, with blackish; tail barred with white and
black, with the bars and interspaces about equal; sides of head and
underparts pinkish cinnamon, mixed with white on breast and ab-
domen, and spotted with dusky, the spots becoming bars on the sides.

Winter plumage, above gray, darker on the wing coverts, which
are margined lightly with white to grayish white; foreneck, chest, and
sides gray, mixed somewhat with white ; throat distinctly whitish ; rest
of lower surface white, with sides and under tail coverts barred with
dusky ; lower back, rump, upper tail coverts, tail, primaries, and sec-
ondaries as in breeding dress.

Shorebirds of this genus in heavy body, rather short legs, and
long, straight bills, in form resemble the common snipe, but this re-
semblance need give rise to no confusion as dowitchers live in the
open on sandy beaches and mud flats. And, further, they have the
rump and upper tail coverts white, a mark that shows prominently in
flight. In feeding they move about quietly, sometimes wading in water
nearly to their bodies, while they probe with their long bills, which
they may swing from side to side in avocet fashion, often with the
head completely immersed. Food is seized readily as the tip of the
maxilla may be opened for 5 to 6 millimeters (while the rest of the
mouth remains closed) through the operation of muscles at the base
of the skull on the flexible bones of the bill. The flight is swift, and
when in flocks the band of birds moves in close formation. When
tide waters are high dowitchers rest quietly on the upper levels of
the beaches or on rocky points. At Mandinga on one occasion I
found several standing on timbers beneath an old wharf when no
other shelter was near. I have found them in fair numbers on mud-
flats on the Gulf of Parita, where I have seen as many as 40 in
company.

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 4II

Dowitchers appear as migrants from the north, with two of the
three races of the species griseus recorded to date. The third, Limno-
dromus griseus caurinus, that nests in Alaska, differs from the other
two in darker gray color of the dorsal surface. Its range in south-
ward migration at present is not known with certainty.

Some of the published records are of uncertain allocation as un-
derstanding of the characters of the races of griseus and of the dif-
ferences that separate griseus and scolopaceus until recently has been
confused. The characters in general are of such a nature that sight
identifications are seldom practicable except as to placement in the
genus. The earliest report of these birds is that of Lawrence (Ann.
Lyc. Nat. Hist., New York, vol. 7, 1862, p. 479) who lists a dowitcher,
under the specific name griseus, as one of the birds received from
McLeannan, with no explanatory statement. I have not been able to
locate a specimen on which this report might have been based. Aldrich
(Scient. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, 1937, p. 58) saw
several dowitchers on the mud flats of Montijo Bay, Veraguas, March
29, 1932. Eisenmann (Wilson Bull., vol. 63, 1951, p. 182) recorded
4 seen near Panama Viejo, June 24, 1951 (which is the only record
to date for the months of northern summer). There have been other
sight records of uncertain reference.

There is also a report of one banded in Massachusetts on August
24, 1935, taken on the Rio Chagres, on September 12, less than a
month later.

LIMNODROMUS GRISEUS GRISEUS (Gmelin)

Scolopax griseus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 658. (Long Island,
New York.)

Characters —Darker gray above; throat only slightly whiter than
foreneck and breast.

Measurements (New England specimens, from Pitelka, Univ. Cali-
fornia Publ. Zodl., vol. 50, 1950, p. 38).—Males, wing 133-145
(138.8), culmen 51.2-60.4 (55.1), tarsus 31.5-35.7 (33.7) mm.

Females, wing 136-144 (140.4), culmen 56.4-66.3 (58.8), tarsus
31.3-37.3 (34.3) mm.

Migrant from the north. Local in occurrence and not common;
found along the coasts on sandy beaches and mudflats, where it is
recorded from September to March; a few nonbreeding birds appear
to remain through the period of northern summer.

412 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The first definite record for this subspecies was by Griscom (Bull.
Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 322), who reported a male from
Permé, San Blas, taken by Wedel. Through the kindness of Dr. R. A.
Paynter, Jr., I have been able to verify the subspecific identification
of this specimen as L. g. griseus and find that it was collected on
October 25, 1929. The gray of the back agrees in dark color with
typical griseus, being definitely darker than that found in hendersoni
to which it had been allocated with uncertainty by Pitelka (cit. supra,
pp. 44, 49, 79). Three that I collected at Mandinga, San Blas on
January 29, and February 6, 1957, and four from Aguadulce, Coclé,
January 18 and 19, 1963, also are of the typical subspecies.

LIMNODROMUS GRISEUS HENDERSONI Rowan

Limnodromus griseus hendersoni Rowan, Auk, vol. 49, no. 1, Jan. 4, 1932, p. 22.
(Devil’s Lake, Alberta.)

Characters.—Similar to griseus, but lighter gray on the dorsal sur-
face; also paler on the under surface of the body, with the throat
distinctly whiter.

Measurements (Birds from Alberta and Saskatchewan, from
Pitelka, l.c., p. 32).—Males, wing 136-150 (143.4), culmen 52.6-61.2
(57.5), tarsus 33.8-39.3 (36.7) mm.

Females, wing 138-152 (145.7), culmen 58.2-65.9 (62.4), tarsus
35.3-41.3 (37.9) mm.

Migrant from the north. Known at present from one record.

A specimen in the American Museum of Natural History, collected
at Aguadulce, Coclé, September 11, 1925, by R. R. Benson, is the
only record for this race. The bird was listed by Griscom (Bull. Mus.
Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 307) as scolopaceus, but on examination
of the specimen I find that the barring on the tail and upper tail
coverts is that typical of the griseus group, in which the black and
white bars are about equal in width. The specimen is in transition
from summer to winter dress, and because of this it requires careful
study for definite identification. The few remaining colored edgings
on the scapulars and longer tertials are paler, and are buff, rather
than the cinnamon of these markings in L. g. griseus. The hindneck is
slightly brownish, due perhaps to foxing, but on the whole this area
is paler as in hendersoni.

This is the most southern record reported for this subspecies.

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 413

LIMNODROMUS SCOLOPACEUS (Say): Long-billed Dowitcher;
Agachona Gris Piquilarga

Limosa scolopacea Say, in Long, Exped. Rocky Mountains, vol. 1, 1823, p. 170.
(Council Bluffs, Iowa.)

Similar to the short-billed dowitcher but darker gray above and
below, and with longer bill.

Description—Length 245 to 270 mm. Differs from Limnodromus
griseus in all its races in having the tail and upper tail coverts decid-
edly blacker, with the white cross bars definitely narrower than the
black ones. Compared with Limnodromus griseus: Breeding plum-
age, somewhat darker above, with the markings on the back more
reddish brown; lower surface much redder brown; dark markings
on foreneck and upper breast in the form of short bars (instead of
rounded spots).

Winter plumage, above darker gray; breast and foreneck darker,
grayer ; throat suffused with gray so that it does not appear solidly
white.

Measurements (Alaskan specimens, from Pitelka, l.c., p. 29).—
Males, wing 133-144 (138.6), culmen 56.8-68.6 (62.1), tarsus 34.7-
41.2 (38.2) mm.

Females, wing 138-151 (143.7), culmen 64.2-76.2 (71.6), tarsus
38.7-44.9 (41.0) mm.

Migrant from the north. Abundance uncertain; known at present
from two reports.

At Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, on January 30, 1958, following a
heavy rain, dowitchers came with other waders to shallow pools on
the golf course. I noted two or three at first and then a band of a
dozen. Presently I was fortunate in collecting 3 males, grouped to-
gether, all of them of the long-billed form. In feeding these birds
walked about poking with their bills at the short grass.

There is a male in the American Museum of Natural History taken
on October 27, 1927, at Cocoplum, near the seaward base of the
Valiente Peninsula, Bocas del Toro, by R. R. Benson, that also is
typical of this species.

The specimen listed by Griscom as scolopaceus in his check-list, as
indicated above is L. g. hendersont.

CAPELLA GALLINAGO DELICATA (Ord): Common Snipe; Agachadiza
Scolopax delicata Ord, reprint of Wilson, Amer. Orn., vol. 9, 1825, p. ccxviii.
( Pennsylvania.)
A long-billed, short-legged snipe of medium size, with dark-
colored rump.

414 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Description—Length, 260 to 275 mm. Sexes alike; above mainly
black, with a buff line from the bill down the center of the crown,
and another on either side over the eye; feathers of hindneck bor-
dered with cinnamon-buff ; back with broad lines of dark buff, and a
few bars of cinnamon-buff; wings and wing coverts fuscous, barred
with buffy white, the outer web of the outer primary edged with white
or cinnamon-buff ; rump and upper tail coverts barred with cinnamon-
buff ; outer tail feathers white, or buffy white, barred with black, with
the central pairs black, tipped with cinnamon, barred narrowly with
black ; under surface white, with foreneck and upper breast mottled
with buffy brown and fuscous; under wing coverts, sides, and flanks
barred with brownish black; under tail coverts buff, barred with
black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 173).—Males, wing 121-130
(127.1), tail 52-63 (57.1), exposed culmen 57.5-67.5 (62.9), tarsus
27.5-32 (30.4) mm.

Females, wing 117.5-135 (125.2), tail 50-58.5 (54.5), exposed cul-
men 58.5-73.5 (65.4), tarsus 28-33.5 (30.8) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common locally in boggy ground from
the lowlands to high mountain slopes: October to April; most abun-
dant in southward migration from late October to early December.

These are birds of wet meadows, partly dry ciénagas, and other
marshy ground where they remain concealed until approached and
then rise suddenly, utter a harsh call, and dart away in swift zigzag
flight. It is seldom that one is seen before it flies. They are most
abundant in swampy lands in the savannas, particularly so east of the
Rio Pacora, where flights of hundreds come sometimes during No-
vember. Most are in passage to points farther south so that only a
small number remain after December. The northward flight, which
is relatively small, comes during March and early April.

The earliest record for fall is that of Jewel (Auk, 1913, p. 425)
for October 7, 1911, near Gatun. T. A. Imhof (manuscript notes)
recorded one near Chorrera on October 10, 1942, and collectors for
the Malaria Control Service shot one near Pacora on October 16, 1953.
Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 322) listed one
taken October 25, 1929, at Permé, in the San Blas. Loftin (Carib.
Journ. Sci., 1963, p. 65) caught two in a mist net near Almirante,
November 10-11, 1962.

I have found them regularly during February and March near El
Volcan, and they come also to the mountain slopes around Boquete.
I have one female caught at night by the light of a head lamp at La

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 415

Jagua on March 16. My latest record for the season is for March 27
at Laguna de Agua, near El Volcan.

Capella Frenzel, 1801, to replace Gallinago Koch, 1816, as the valid
name for the snipes follows the Check-list of North American Birds
in its fourth edition published in 1931 (continued in the fifth edition
of 1957), volume 2 of Peters’s Check-list of the Birds of the World
of 1934, and other important writings that have appeared in recent
years. In 1956 the International Commission of Zoological Nomen-
clature in its Direction 39 ordered that ‘“‘Gallinago Brisson, 1760”
be placed on the accepted list of generic names. Two years later
(Ibis, 1958, pp. 125-127) I ventured to point out that Gallinago
Brisson did not exist as a generic term, since it is merely the name
that Brisson gave for the second species in his genus Scolopax, viz,
Scolopax Gallinago. Obviously it has no validity in the generic sense.
While Dr. Ernst Mayr recently (Ibis, 1963, pp. 402-403) has argued
that Capella has no nomenclatural standing, this is not clear in spite
of his argument. It seems desirable to use it here in conformity with
current New World practice pending further investigation.

CALIDRIS CANUTUS RUFA (Wilson): Knot; Playero Gordo

Tringa rufa Wilson, Amer. Orn., vol. 7, 1813, p. 43, pl. 57, fig. 5. (New
Jersey.)

A short-legged, plump-bodied sandpiper, of medium size, with
rather heavy bill.

Description—Length, 220 to 245 mm. Breeding plumage, narrowly
streaked on head and hindneck with black and gray; back mottled
heavily with black, white, and cinnamon-buff; rump pale gray barred
with black; wing coverts brownish gray, with black shaft lines and
narrow white edgings; greater coverts tipped with white to produce
a wing bar; flight feathers black on outer web and tip, dark brownish
gray on inner web, with ivory-white shafts; tail brownish gray tipped
very narrowly with white; line over eye, side of head, breast, sides,
upper abdomen, and under tail coverts cinnamon-buff ; lower abdo-
men and under wing coverts white; axillars white, barred with
brownish gray. Females are like the males, or may be paler cinnamon
on the lower surface.

Winter plumage, crown feathers sooty black centrally, edged widely
with dull gray to produce a streaked appearance; hindneck, back, and
wings brownish gray, with the feathers margined narrowly with
dusky and tipped with grayish white to produce a scalloped appear-
ance; rump white barred with black; under surface white, with the

416 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

lower neck, breast and sides with slightly elongated spots of dark
neutral gray.

Iris dark brown; bill black; tarsi and feet dull black to blackish
olive.

Measurements (From Ridgway, lc. pp. 232-233).—Males, wing
152-174 (162.7), tail 60-66 (62.2), exposed culmen 31-36.5 (33.9),
tarsus 29.5-33.0 (31) mm.

Females, wing 155-176 (166.3), tail 57-65.5 (62.3), exposed culmen
32-38 (36.3), tarsus 29.5-33 (31.5) mm.

Migrant from the north; casual in occurrence.

The knot is another of the sandpipers that nest in the tundras of
the far north. In winter and in migration it is found from the eastern
and southern coasts of the United States south to the southern tip of
South America. :

The only records for Panama are two immature males in winter
plumage, taken by Wedel, at Puerto Obaldia, San Blas, September 12
and 22, 1934, preserved now in the U. S. National Museum.

CROCETHIA ALBA (Pallas): Sanderling; Playerito Arenaro

Trynga (alba) Pallas, in Vroeg, Cat. Rais. Ois. Adumbratiunculae, 1764, p. 7.

( Holland.)

Palest in color of the small sandpipers; pure white underneath, with
a broad white band in the wing that shows in flight.

Description.—Length, 170 to 180 mm. No hind toe. Winter plum-
age, broad forehead and undersurface, including under wing coverts,
pure white; crown and hind neck pale gray, with narrow streaks of
dusky ; back darker gray with shaft lines of dusky; rump and upper
tail coverts white at sides, blackish in the center, bordered narrowly
with white; outer tail feathers light brownish gray, central pair
dusky, bordered narrowly with white; lesser wing coverts, primaries,
and secondaries dull black; middle and greater coverts brownish
black, edged and tipped with white; a broad white mark across pri-
maries and secondaries.

Breeding plumage, basally black above, with the feathers edged
with bright cinnamon-buff and grayish white; side of head, throat,
neck, and upper breast light cinnamon-buff, dotted with black. This
is the plumage from May to August that, in the main, disappears by
the end of September. The majority of migrants found in Panama
are in winter dress.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., pp. 308-309).—Males, wing
113-124.5 (119.1), tail 45-55 (50.3), exposed culmen 23-26 (24.7),
tarsus 23-25 (23.7) mm.

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 417

Females, wing 117-127 (123), tail 47.5-54.5 (52.8), exposed cul-
men 24-28 (26), tarsus 23-26 (24.7) mm.

Migrant from the north. Fairly common; recorded from August
to March.

This species, not included in Griscom’s list of 1935, was first re-
corded by Arbib and Loetscher (Auk, 1935, p. 326) from one seen
near Gatun, Canal Zone, on August 7, 1933, and another on August
8, 1934. Imhof (Auk, 1950, p. 256) observed single birds at Fort
Amador on September 16 and at Palo Seco on November 8, in the
Canal Zone, and a flock of 5 at the mouth of the Rio Chico, Panama,
November 17 and 18, all in 1942. In my own work I collected a male
from 4 seen at Monagre, on the coast of Los Santos, on March 16,
1948, and saw several at La Honda in the same province on March 20.
On February 12, 1961, I recorded four on Venado Beach, Canal
Zone. They are found rather regularly in August and September from
the Canal Zone west to Los Santos.

In 1956, I saw several on Isla Coiba between January 20 and Feb-
ruary 3 and collected two on the latter date. In the Pearl Islands in
1960 I shot one January 17 on Isla Contadora, and saw half a dozen
on January 27 at the mouth of the Rio Cacique on Isla del Rey. My
only record for the Caribbean side is of two seen on February 6, 1957,
on a sandy beach at the mouth of the Rio Mandinga, San Blas. Eisen-
mann has informed me of one at Fort San Lorenzo, C.Z., May 13,
1962.

Sanderlings are birds of the beaches, where their common habit is
to follow the receding waves to probe in the shifting surface sand
for small crustacea, and then to patter quickly back as the water re-
turns. They nest in the tundras around the entire polar area and in
migration move south along the seas of the world. In the Americas
their flights take them to southern Chile and southern Argentina.

EREUNETES PUSILLUS (Linnaeus): Semipalmated Sandpiper;
Playerito Gracioso

Tringa pusilla Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 252. (Hispaniola,
West Indies.)

One of the 3 smallest sandpipers that come to Panama. This spe-
cies and the western sandpiper have heavier bills and black legs; the
bird of the present account differs from its near relative in shorter
bill.

Description —Length, 140 to 155 mm. Anterior toes with webs.
Breeding dress, above brownish gray, with slight edgings of pale

418 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

cinnamon-buff on crown and back; crown streaked, and back spotted
heavily, with black; rump, central upper tail coverts, and central tail
feathers blackish ; outer rectrices brownish gray, edged narrowly with
white; lesser and middle wing coverts brownish gray, with slightly
paler borders; greater coverts, primaries, and secondaries dusky,
the coverts edged with white; line over eye white, lightly streaked
with dusky; loral space and center of forehead to base of bill
dusky brown; auricular region streaked with grayish brown; sides
of forehead and under surface white, with the breast and anterior
half of the sides streaked with dusky.

Winter plumage, above grayish brown streaked, more or less nar-
rowly, with dusky ; superciliary, sides of forehead, and undersurface
white, with the upper breast streaked lightly with dusky.

Iris brown ; bill, tarsus, and toes black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 211).—Males, wing 88-98.5
(93.9), tail 38-44.5 (41.2), exposed culmen 17-20 (18.6), tarsus 19-
21 (20.5) mm.

Females, wing 92-101.5 (96.5), tail 40-44 (41.5), exposed culmen
18-22 (20.3), tarsus 20-22 (20.8) mm.

Migrant from the north. Abundance not certain from the few
specimen records at present available; probably of regular occurrence
with the great flocks of Ereunetes mauri. Some may remain during
the period of northern summer.

The most definite character for separation of this species from the
western sandpiper is in the length of the bill, this being longer in the
latter. Since there is overlap in size between the female of the semi-
palmated sandpiper and the male of the western, this criterion may
be used with certainty only with birds of known sex, which implies
a specimen in the hand. In field observations occasionally a bird with
a very short bill—shorter than the head—may be accepted as a male
of the present species, but such records need to be considered with
caution.

A specimen of the present species, collected by McLeannan, in the
British Museum that came from the Tweedale collection has a bill
length of 18.2 mm. There is no locality data other than Panama, but
it is probable that it is from the Caribbean slope. Bovallius secured
a female at Panama Viejo, February 26, 1882 (Rendahl, Ark. Zool.
vol. 12, no. 8, 1919, p. 11). Jewel collected a female (culmen 18.5
mm.) at Toro Point, Canal Zone, on September 4, 1911 (reported by
Stone, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, vol. 70, 1918, p. 245).
Benson collected one at Aguadulce, Coclé, September 8, 1925 (speci-

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 419

men in American Museum of Natural History). I have identified
one taken at Almirante, Bocas de Toro, Oct. 29, 1964. Other re-
ports are sight records, which as explained above may be subject to
question.

It is probable that the semipalmated sandpiper is regular in occur-
rence along the Caribbean coast, and that it comes also along the
Pacific in company with the migrant flocks of the western sandpiper.

Loftin (Carib. Journ. Sci., 1963, p. 65) found them abundant at
Panama Viejo from August 12 to October 13, 1962, when he captured
and banded 43.

EREUNETES MAURI Cabanis: Western Sandpiper; Playerito Occidental

Ereunetes Mauri Cabanis, Journ. fiir Orn., vol. 4, 1856 (1857), p. 419. (South
Carolina. )

Similar to the semipalmated sandpiper, but with longer bill.

Description—Length, 140 to 155 mm. Toes webbed; bill thick at
base, with tip very slightly decurved. Breeding dress, like the semi-
palmated sandpiper in general but separated by the much greater ex-
tent of the rufous brown markings on the dorsal surface; lower sur-
face more heavily marked, with dark spots and streaks much heavier,
and covering more of the lower foreneck, sides, and upper breast.

Winter plumage, similar to that of the semipalmated sandpiper.

Iris brown; bill, tarsus, and toes black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 216).—Males, wing 91-99
(94.6), tail 37.5-42 (40.2), exposed culmen 20.5-23.5 (22.5), tarsus
20.5-22 (21.2) mm.

Females, wing 90-99.5 (96.4), tail 38-47 (41.7), exposed culmen
23-28 (25.9), tarsus 21-24 (22.1) mm.

Migrant from the north. Abundant locally along the Pacific coast ;
recorded less commonly from the Caribbean side; Isla Coiba ; Isla del
Rey. Present, in the main, from August to April; considerable num-
bers of non-breeding individuals remain through the other months of
northern summer.

Small groups of western sandpipers may be found on beaches and
mudflats anywhere, while flocks of thousands often congregate at
such favorable localities as the mouth of the Rio Santa Maria, at
Panama Viejo, and the mouth of the Rio Chico. I have specimens
from Alvina near the Rio Santa Maria opposite Parita, Herrera, from
El Real, Darién, and from Isla Coiba. There is one in the U. S. Na-
tional Museum secured at Farfan Beach, Canal Zone, July 21, 1931,

420 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

and others in the American Museum of Natural History taken at
Cocoplum, Bocas del Toro, October 27 and 30, 1927, all collected by
Rex Benson. One in the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory was taken at
Almirante on October 10, 1964.

EROLIA MINUTILLA (Vieillot): Least Sandpiper; Playerito Menudo

Tringa minutilla Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 34, Dec. 1819,
p. 466. (Halifax, Nova Scotia.)

Differs from the other two species of very small sandpipers by more
slender bill and yellowish legs; also is somewhat browner on the
back.

Description.—Length, 130 to 145 mm. Bill definitely slender toward
the tip; no webs between the toes. Breeding dress, crown with
feather centers black, margined narrowly with buffy brown, the
brown more cinnamon on the back of the head; an indistinct light
line over the eye; hindneck dark gray, lined with buffy brown; upper
back and scapulars black, margined and barred irregularly with buff
and pale cinnamon; lower back, rump, and central tail feathers
black; outer tail feathers light gray, edged narrowly with white;
wing coverts dark grayish brown, with the greater coverts tipped
narrowly with white ; primaries and basal half of secondaries fuscous,
with the shafts white ; outer ends of secondaries grayish brown tipped
with white; foreneck and breast grayish white, narrowly streaked and
spotted with dusky ; rest of undersurface white.

Winter plumage, above dark grayish brown, with the feathers
darker, blacker centrally; less heavily marked on the breast and
foreneck ; otherwise as in breeding dress. Darker gray above, with
the breast more heavily marked than in the semipalmated and western
sandpipers.

Iris brown ; bill black ; legs greenish to yellowish brown.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 295).—Males, wing 82-88
(85.5), tail 35-40 (38.2), exposed culmen 16-19 (17.2), tarsus 16.5-
19 (17.7) mm.

Females, wing 83-91 (86.5), tail 35-41 (37.1), exposed culmen
17.5-20 (18.7), tarsus 16-19 (18.1) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common along both coasts; occasional
inland in the lowlands, August to April; Isla Coiba; Isla San José;
Isla Bayoneta ; Isla del Rey.

Least sandpipers begin to arrive from the north during August,
with the main flight in September. The northward movement is
under way in March and continues into April. My latest record is

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 421

April 11 at Jaqué, Darién. It is probable that some remain to near
the end of the month.

These birds are found in little flocks, or alone, both on sand
beaches and on rock flats and headlands. Also they come inland on
the tidal reaches of the rivers, and along the larger channels in the
lowlands, where open, muddy shores or gravel bars afford feeding
grounds.

EROLIA FUSCICOLLIS (Vieillot): White-rumped Sandpiper; Playerito de
Rabadilla Blanca
Tringa fuscicollis Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 34, Dec., 1819,
p. 461. ( Paraguay.)

Similar to Baird’s sandpiper, but with middle upper tail coverts
white.

Description—Length, 160 to 175 mm. Bill heavier, tip somewhat
broadened, with the surface distinctly pitted. Breeding dress, above
brownish gray, with the feathers black centrally, those of crown and
back edged with buff to cinnamon, and those of hindneck bordered by
buff ; wing coverts brownish gray, with shaft lines of dusky; greater
coverts tipped narrowly with white; outer primaries dusky; sec-
ondaries and inner primaries paler edged with white; rump dusky
brown, with feathers margined with dull buff; central pair of upper
tail coverts dusky black, tipped with white; lateral upper tail coverts
white with concealed darker markings; rectrices with central pair
black, others dusky brown or gray edged with white; under surface
white, with foreneck heavily streaked and spotted, and sides barred,
with dusky.

Winter plumage, crown, hindneck, scapulars, and upper back
brownish gray, with concealed mottling of black and buff; markings
on under surface less in extent and grayer brown.

It is common to find specimens in which details of the markings on
the upper tail coverts are not sufficient for identification. The form
of the bill described above and under the account of Baird’s sand-
piper, will serve invariably to separate these two species.

Iris brown; maxilla, except area below nostril, and tip of mandible
dull black; maxilla below nostril, and base of mandible brown.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 285).—Males, wing 117-
122.5 (119.7), tail 50-53 (51.4), exposed culmen 21-24 (22.7), tarsus
22-24 (23.1) mm.

Females, wing 116.5-124 (120.6), tail 50-54 (51), exposed culmen
21-26 (23.1), tarsus 22-24 (22.8) mm.

422 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Passage migrant from the north. Rare; status uncertain.

The only definite record is that of a specimen in the British Museum
(Natural History), received in the Salvin and Godman collection,
collected by James McLeannan, and labeled Lion Hill (see Sharpe,
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, 1896, p. 391). Eisenmann (Wilson
Bull., 1951, p. 183) quotes Thomas Imhof for a report of 3 seen
on June 15, 1942. Loftin (Carib. Journ. Sci. 1963, p. 66) recorded
one September 23 and two October 13, 1962 at Panama Viejo.

The white-rumped sandpiper nests in the tundra regions of the
north from northern Alaska to Baffin Island, and winters in southern
South America from Paraguay and Brazil to Tierra del Fuego. The
Isthmus of Panama seems to lie to the west of its usual line of
migratory flight.

Many individuals may be told from Baird’s sandpipers with
difficulty, so that sight records, unless supported by specimens, may
be open to question.

EROLIA BAIRDII (Coues): Baird’s Sandpiper; Playerito Unicolor

Actodromas Bairdii Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 13, June-Aug.
(Dec. 28) 1861, p. 194. (Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake, MacKenzie
District, Northwest Territories.)

Similar to the white-rumped sandpiper, but with all the central
upper tail coverts black, so that this area appears dark in flight.

Description Length, 170 to 185 mm. Bill more slender than in
E. fuscicollis, tip not broadened, with surface smooth. Breeding dress,
crown, back, and scapulars with the feathers extensively black cen-
trally, bordered by pale buff, buffy white, and, to a lesser degree, cin-
namon-buff; wing coverts light grayish brown, edged with grayish
white; lesser coverts tipped narrowly with white; primaries dusky;
secondaries brownish gray, edged with white ; rump and central upper
tail coverts dusky ; outer ones white, marked with grayish brown near
tip; central rectrices dusky; lateral pairs dark gray, margined nar-
rowly with white; foreneck and upper breast grayish white, streaked
and spotted heavily with dusky.

Winter dress, dorsal surface, in general, like the summer plumage,
but back, rump, scapulars, and lesser and middle wing coverts tipped
prominently with white to buffy white; greater coverts edged with buff
and tipped rather widely with white to form a distinct band; crown
and hindneck edged with buff; upper breast feathers with dusky cen-
tral mottling, washed with light buff; rest of under surface white.

Iris brown ; bill, tarsus, and toes black.

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 423

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 281) .—Males, wing 114-122
(118.7), tail 48-53 (51.1), exposed culmen 20.5-23 (21.7), tarsus
20-23 (21.1) mm.

Females, wing 119-126 (122.3), tail 49-54 (51.7), exposed culmen
21.5-24 (22.8), tarsus 20-23 (21.4) mm.

Passage migrant from the north. Status uncertain; reported defi-
nitely only during southward flight.

Baird’s sandpiper is another species that nests in the far northern
tundras, from northeastern Siberia to Greenland, and winters in South
America. Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 307)
included the species with the statement “Canal Zone on migration
(once).” Hellmayr and Conover (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 3,
1948, p. 190) say “a few records from Panama,” with no details of
occurrence. The only other definite report is of sight records by
Imhof (Auk, 1950, p. 256), who recorded these birds regularly from
September 19 to October 28, 1942, at rain pools on the grass grown
parade grounds at Fort Amador (Pacific side) and Fort Davis
(Caribbean side), in the Canal Zone. I have seen no specimens from
Panama.

EROLIA MELANOTOS (Vieillot): Pectoral Sandpiper;
Playerito Pectoral

Tringa melanotos Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 34, Dec. 1819,
p. 462. (Paraguay.)

Of medium size, with foreneck and breast gray, washed with buff,
and streaked heavily with dusky in a solid pattern, in sharp contrast
with the white throat, lower breast, and abdomen.

Description —Length, 220 to 235 mm. Breeding dress, feathers of
upper surface heavily black centrally, with those on crown and upper
back, edged with buff and cinnamon-buff, and on hindneck and sides
of neck, bordered widely with buff; tertials edged broadly with buff
and cinnamon-buff ; wing coverts dusky bordered with buff and cin-
namon-buff ; lower back, rump, and upper tail coverts plain black;
outer primaries black; inner primaries and secondaries dark gray,
the latter bordered with white ; central tail feathers black ; outer pairs
brownish gray, edged lightly with white; upper foreneck to upper
breast grayish buff, lined narrowly with dull black, the whole sharply
cut off from the white of the throat, lower breast, and abdomen ; under
tail coverts white, with shaft lines of dusky.

Winter plumage, similar, but with the cinnamon markings on the
upper surface reduced or absent, and foreneck and upper breast gray-
ish white.

424 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Iris brown; base of bill dull greenish yellow, tip black; legs
greenish yellow.

Measurements (from Ridgway, lLc., pp. 270-271).—Males, wing
137-146 (139.8), tail 59-65 (62.4), exposed culmen 26-29.5 (28.4),
tarsus 27-30 (27.7) mm.

Females, wing 119.5-130 (125.8) ; tail 51-60 (55.3) ; exposed cul-
men 24-29 (25.8), tarsus 24-26.5 (25.8) mm.

Passage migrant from the north. Fairly common in southward
flight in fall, mainly in October, seen less often in September; rare
in spring.

There are sight records near Gatun on August 30 and September
1, 1934 (Arbib and Loetscher, Auk, 1935, p. 326), and at Fort
Amador on September 16, 1942 (Imhof, MSS field notes). Hasso
von Wedel secured specimens at Puerto Obaldia, San Blas, on Sep-
tember 25 and October 2 and 15, 1931, November 15, 1932, September
16 and 17, 1933, and September 21, 1934 (data from skins in the
Herbert Brandt collection at the University of Cincinnati). There is
a skin in the U. S. National Museum, forwarded by the Malaria Con-
trol Service, that was taken on the Pacific side of the Cerro Azul,
Province of Panama, on October 11, 1955. There are numerous other
records for October. The only reports during the northward flight
are of one seen by C. O. Handley, Jr., May 30, 1959, on the old air-
strip at Mandinga, San Blas, and others noted by Eugene Eisenmann,
April 28, at Puerto Pilon, Colon, and on May 11 at Coco Solo, Canal
Zone, both in 1961.

In migration these sandpipers usually are found in fresh-water
marshes or wet meadows and also come to pools of water left by
rains on such open areas as parade grounds or golf links. Most of the
reports to date have come from the Canal Zone. Hellmayr and Con-
over (Cat. Birds Amer., pt. 1, no. 3, 1948, p. 194) have recorded one
from Francés, in Chiriqui, but this seems to be in error, as Emmet
Blake informs me that there is no specimen from that place in the
Chicago Natural History Museum.

EROLIA ALPINA PACIFICA (Coues): Dunlin; Correlimos Comin

Pelidna Pacifica Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 11, 1861, p. 189.
(Simiahmoo, Washington. )

The dunlin is a short-legged bird, slightly larger and heavier in
body than the spotted sandpiper, with a bill decidedly longer than the
head, rather heavy, and slightly, but noticeably, curved downward
near thetip. —

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 425

Description.—Length, 200-220 mm. In winter dress gray above,
with a grayish wash on the breast.

In the brighter breeding plumage the lower breast and abdomen
are black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., pp. 262-263).—Males, wing
108.5-125.5 (115.9), tail 42-57 (52), culmen 31-41 (35.6), tarsus
23-28 (25.2) mm.

Females, wing 114-125 (117.4), tail 44.5-56 (53), culmen 34-42
(38.3), tarsus 25-27 (26) mm.

Migrant from the north. Rare ; status uncertain.

In the New World the dunlin nests in Alaska, northern Canada,
and Greenland and winters regularly along the coasts from southeast-
ern Alaska to Sonora and from Massachusetts to Florida and Texas.
There is one record for Momotombo, western Nicaragua (Sharpe,
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, 1896, p. 611). I have seen sandpipers
on three occasions that I identified as this species, one December 3
and another December 28, 1955, at Panama Viejo, and five at the
mouth of the Rio Chico, March 5, 1956. Since Panama is so far be-
yond the recorded range I include these as not wholly definite, pend-
ing the capture of specimens.

MICROPALAMA HIMANTOPUS (Bonaparte): Stilt Sandpiper;
Chorlito Patilargo

Tringa himantopus Bonaparte, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. 2, 1826,
p. 157. (Long Branch, New Jersey.)

Slender, larger than the spotted sandpiper, with very long yellowish-
green legs and slender, straight bill that is decidedly longer than the
head.

Description—Length, 195 to 210 mm. Breeding dress, crown
dusky black, edged with grayish white and buffy white; hindneck
streaked with dusky and grayish white; a light superciliary some-
what streaked with dusky ; back and scapulars mixed black and gray,
with scattered edgings of buff; rump and upper tail coverts white
barred with black; primaries black; wing coverts and secondaries
dark gray, the latter tipped with white; tail gray, with white base
and white tips on outer pairs; underneath white, with throat plain,
foreneck and upper breast streaked, and lower breast, abdomen, and
under tail coverts evenly barred with dusky ; side of the head behind
the eye cinnamon-ru fous.

Winter dress, upper surface plain brownish gray ; superciliary stripe
white ; under parts white, with the lower foreneck, sides of neck, upper

426 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

breast, and under tail coverts narrowly and rather indefinitely streaked
with gray.

Iris brown ; bill black, somewhat brownish basally ; legs dull yellow-
ish green.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 206).—Males, wing 116-
135 (124.4), tail 45-53 (51.1), exposed culmen 35.5-41 (38.5), tarsus
36-43 (39.9) mm.

Females, wing 120-137 (127), tail 44-58 (51.5), exposed culmen
36-44 (39.9), tarsus 39.5-45 (42.9) mm.

Passage migrant from the north. Rare.

This interesting sandpiper breeds in tundra areas from northern
Alaska and far northern Ontario south to the northern edge of the
forests, and spends the northern winter season in southern South
America.

The stilt sandpiper was first recorded in Panama from 2 seen by
Arbib and Loetscher, August 22 and 26, 1934 (Auk, 1935, p. 326).
Eisenmann noted 3 on the Gatun Dam spillway August 28, 1958. The
only other reports are of one that I observed on the mud flats at the
mouth of the Rio Chico, March 5, 1956, and one that I collected from
4 seen at La Jagua, Panama, March 24, 1964.

The species is one that may be expected to occur rarely in its mi-
grations. It is recorded in Guatemala and Nicaragua to the north,
and in Colombia and Ecuador to the south.

Stilt sandpipers frequent tidal flats and other muddy shores, some-
times coming to open pools. It is common for them to wade in water
so deep that it nearly reaches the body, and to feed with head and
neck immersed.

TRYNGITES SUBRUFICOLLIS (Vieillot): Buff-breasted Sandpiper;
Chorlito Canelo

Tringa subruficollis Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 34, Dec.
1819, p. 465. (Paraguay.)

Rather small, with short bill; yellowish legs; buffy underneath
from bill to tail.

Description —Length, 190 to 205 mm. Adults, upper surface in
general grayish buff, the feathers with black centers; edge of wing
white, narrowly barred with black; greater wing coverts grayish
brown, tipped with buff; primary coverts darker, with a subterminal
spot of black, and a narrow tip of white; primaries grayish brown,
black at end, tipped with white; secondaries with outer webs grayish
brown at base, dusky at tip, inner webs white, with the tips mottled

FAMILY RECURVIROSTRIDAE 427

with black and buff; rump and upper tail coverts black, tipped with
cinnamon-buff ; middle rectrices dusky, tipped with buff, the outer
pairs grayish brown, black toward the end, tipped and edged with
deep buff, that becomes narrowly white distally ; underneath mainly
light pinkish cinnamon, edged with white to buffy white; throat, ab-
domen, and under tail coverts pale buff ; axillars and main under wing
coverts white; under primary coverts grayish buff, tipped with white,
with irregular lines and subterminal spots of black; inner web of
remiges with irregular spots of black toward the tips.

Iris brown; base of maxilla deep olive gray; rest of bill black;
tarsus brownish orange (yellow ocher to olive-ocher), shading to
grayish buff on the upper part (the crus) ; toes olive-buff to honey
yellow ; nails black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 227).—Males, wing 129-136
(132.1), tail 58-63 (60.6), exposed culmen 19.5-20.5 (19.9), tarsus
30-37 (32.1) mm.

Females, wing 122-132 (127.2), tail 54-62 (57), exposed culmen
17.5-19.5 (18.4), tarsus 29-31 (29.5) mm.

Passage migrant from the north. Rare.

The only specimen record is that of Jewel (Auk, 1913, p. 426), who
collected one in a dry pasture near Gatun on October 18, 1911. He
saw another at the same place on March 29, 1912. Dr. Eisenmann
has recorded this species at Coco Solo, and at Balboa, Canal Zone,
on September 28, 1958.

The buff-breasted sandpiper is another that nests in the tundras of
the far north, from northern Alaska to northern MacKenzie, and
migrates south to Argentina for the period of northern winter.

On their wintering grounds in the far south I have found single
birds with other sandpipers, but remaining somewhat apart, on muddy
shores. More often they were in small flocks that ranged over alka-
line barrens amid scattered herbaceous growth. They are active and
quick in their movements, and are constantly in motion. Their dis-
tinct buffy color distinguishes them from the other small sandpipers,
as does the slender neck, small head, and short bill, a profile that sug-
gests that of a pigeon.

Family RECURVIROSTRIDAE: Avocets and Stilts ;
Avocetas y Cigiefiuelas

The few living species of this family of shorebirds are widespread
through temperate and tropical regions of the world. All are of
moderate size, and all stand on tall legs, those of the stilt, the only

428 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

species of the group in Central and South America, being especially
long and slender. Both avocets and stilts range in marshlands and
along muddy shores, usually in companies that remain together during
the nesting season. Their food is obtained from water and mud, that
of the stilt by probing. Avocets often walk through shallows with
the bill sweeping like a scythe back and forth over the surface of
the mud.

HIMANTOPUS MEXICANUS (Miiller): Black-necked Stilt; Viuda
Ficure 68
Charadrius Mexicanus, P.L.S. Miller, Natursyst. Suppl., 1776, p. 117. (México.)

Legs very long and slender ; black above, white underneath.

Description—Length, 345 to 365 mm. Adult male, crown, sides
of head, hindneck, upper back, and wings black, with a slight sheen
of greenish blue; forehead, spot behind eye, central portion of both
eyelids, central and lower back, rump, upper tail coverts and entire
undersurface pure white; tail pale gray; under wing coverts dull
black, with a few white markings on the edge of the wing.

Female, similar but lower hindneck, upper back, and scapulars
brownish black.

Immature, black of crown duller; hindneck and upper back gray-
ish brown to brownish black.

Iris red ; bill black ; legs and feet pinkish red ; claws black.

Resident. Found locally along channels in the mangroves, on tidal
mudflats, and around lowland pools. Part of those present in the
dry season may be migrants from elsewhere.

The first report of the species is that of Lawrence (Ann. Lyc. Nat.
Hist. New York, vol. 8, 1863, p. 12) who listed it as received from
McLeannan without comment. Jewel (Auk, 1913, p. 425) secured
one at the Gatun Dam on November 11, 1911, a bird that had been
present there for a week. Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 69,
1929, p. 155) recorded a female taken by Benson at El Real, Darién,
in 1928, and another (l.c., vol. 72, 1932, p. 322), a male, collected by
Wedel, at Permé, San Blas. These are the only published records of
specimens that I have seen.

In my own field studies I found an adult and a full grown imma-
ture bird on April 4, 1948, at the mouth of the Rio Chico, Panama,
and in the following year on March 16, I shot a bird there that
still had part of the juvenile plumage on the back of the neck. Others
were seen there on March 24. On March 5, 1956, I found between
50 and 60 at this point, the largest assemblage that I have recorded in

FAMILY PHALAROPODIDAE 429

Panama. Some of those seen have been encountered along a channel
that is bordered by mangroves, but most have been out on the open
flats. T. A. Imhof in his notes recorded them here on November 17,
1942. I was told that in the rainy season they spread back around
pools in the savannas. My only record here away from the coast is
of two at a fresh-water pond on the eastern side of the Rio La Jagua

Fic. 68.—Black-necked stilt, viuda, Himantopus mexicanus.

on March 21, 1958. The birds are well known, and it is my supposi-
tion, from those in partial immature dress that I have seen, that they
nest here.

My only record in other areas is of one flushed on March 23, 1960,
from a roadside pool west of Puerto Vidal, Veraguas, a short distance
from the Rio Tabasara.

Family PHALAROPODIDAE: Phalaropes ; Falaropos

The phalaropes in general form resemble their cousin plovers and
sandpipers but differ in the possession of lobes that broaden the toes
and a feather covering that is dense and strongly water repellant,

430 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

like the plumage of gulls. Both are developments for a truly aquatic
life as phalaropes are adept swimmers.

The tarsus in all is strongly compressed from side to side. Males
are smaller and duller in color than females. The three species nest
in the north and in winter move into the Southern Hemisphere,
where two range in flocks at sea, and the third is found along shores
and inland in southern South America.

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF PHALAROPODIDAE

1, Bill shorter, about as long as head, broad, slightly expanded toward the

tip ; base of bill with nostrils definitely separated from the frontal feathering.

Red phalarope, Phalaropus fulicarius, p. 430

Bill longer than head, slender and attenuate, with the nostrils close to the

frontal ‘feathers... . .'c cies eens stanton eterna etal einettin cisiane emer eels a

2. Smaller, with much smaller legs; tarsus less than 24 mm.; bill more slender,

especially at the tip, and shorter, not more than 25 mm.

Northern phalarope, Lobipes lobatus, p. 432

Larger, with longer, heavier legs; tarsus more than 28 mm.; bill heavier,
particularly toward tip, and longer, not less than 28 mm.

Wilson’s phalarope, Steganopus tricolor, p. 431

PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS (Linnaeus): Red Phalarope; Pollito de Mar
Rojizo
Tringa Fulicaria Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 148. (Northeastern
Manitoba.)

A small, swimming shorebird, with heavy bill that is slightly ex-
panded toward the tip.

Description.—Length, 200 to 210 mm. Nostril separated from the
anterior margin of the feathers on the forehead by a definite space
of 2 mm. or more; tarsus short, about equal to middle toe. Summer
plumage (male definitely duller than female), crown, hindneck, and
loral area slaty black; throat somewhat gray; upper back dull black;
scapulars and upper tail coverts black, edged broadly with buff; wing
coverts dark gray edged lightly with white; primary coverts and
inner secondaries with broad white tips and edgings; primaries, rest
of secondaries, and tail slaty black; under wing coverts and sides
white ; entire under surface vinaceous-brown.

Winter plumage (sexes alike), head, neck, and entire under surface
white ; occiput and region around eye slate; upper surface light gray.
In changing plumage the white of the under surface often is mixed
with brown.

FAMILY PHALAROPODIDAE 431

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 419).—Males, wing 119-
130 (125.2), tail 59-70.5 (62.9), culmen 18.5-23 (21.9), tarsus 19.5-
21.5 (20.7), middle toe 19.5-21.5 (20.5) mm.

Females, wing 129.5-139 (135.1), tail 63-71 (66.4), culmen 21.0-
24 (22.5), tarsus 20-22.5 (22.0), middle toe 19-21.5 (20.4) mm.

Migrant from the north. Occurrence uncertain.

Red phalaropes nest in the far north and winter at sea, chiefly in
the Southern Hemisphere, where they are common off both coasts of
South America. Their main migrations, which include many thou-
sands of individuals, are also offshore. They may be expected at sea
on the Pacific side, perhaps casually in the outer Gulf of Panama. The
only record to indicate this at present is one by Robert Cushman
Murphy who informs me (in litt.) that he saw two about 5 p.m.
on November 19, 1956, when the ship’s position at noon had been at
lat. 8°55’ N., long. 88°50’ W., a point far to the west of the Gulf of
Panama.

In Spain this species is called falaropo picogrueso.

STEGANOPUS TRICOLOR Vieillot: Wilson’s Phalarope; Pollito de Mar
Tricolor

Steganopus tricolor Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 32, Sept.
1819, p. 136. (Paraguay. )

Largest of the phalaropes ; rump white, wing nearly plain.

Description.—Length, 215 to 230 mm. Tarsus decidedly longer than
middle toe. Breeding dress (male duller than female), crown and
upper back gray; hindneck white; wing coverts and lower back
brownish gray; upper tail coverts and side of rump white; primaries
and secondaries fuscous brown; tail brownish gray; sides of head
black; sides of neck, of upper back, and much of scapulars rufous;
foreneck and upper breast pale cinnamon; rest of under surface
white.

Winter dress, crown and sides of neck light gray; hindneck and
back brownish gray ; underneath white.

Immature birds have the wing coverts slate gray margined with
pale buff and white.

Measurements (from Ridgway, lLc., pp. 431-432).—Males, wing
116-125 (121.1), tail 48-54 (51.2), culmen 28-31 (30.5), tarsus 28.5-
33 (30.1), middle toe 22-25 (24) mm.

Females, wing 130-137.5 (132.6), tail 52.5-65 (55.9), culmen 31-
36 (33), tarsus 30.5-33 (31.7), middle toe 24.5-26.5 (25.3) mm.

432 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Migrant from the north. Several sight records indicate casual
occurrence.

The Wilson’s phalarope, in addition to following the sea, comes to
fresh and brackish waters regularly during its migrations between
its summer home in fresh-water marshes of the western United States
and Canada, and its wintering grounds, which are mainly in southern
South America.

Eugene Eisenmann informs me that he observed this species at
Puerto Pilon, Colon, and at the Gatun spillway in the Canal Zone,
on August 28, 1958. It was found also at Coco Solo, Canal Zone,
September 28, 1958. Arbib and Loetscher (Auk, 1935, p. 326) re-
ported one seen at Gatun several times from August 22 to 26, 1934.

LOBIPES LOBATUS (Linnaeus): Northern Phalarope; Pollito de Mar Boreal

Tringa lobata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, pp. 148, 824. (North-
eastern Manitoba.)

Smallest of the phalaropes, with slender, pointed bill.

Description Length, 170 to 190 mm. Posterior border of nostril
nearly in contact with frontal feathering; tarsus short, about equal to
middle toe; lateral membrane of toes broad and prominent. Breed-
ing dress (males decidedly duller than females), head, hindneck,
and upper back dark gray; rest of upper surface blackish slate, lined
with buff; middle wing coverts tipped lightly with white; primary
coverts and inner secondaries broadly margined with white; wings
dull black ; tail dull brown, the central rectrices blackish ; neck, includ-
ing sides, cinnamon; upper breast, including adjacent sides dark gray,
with a slight mixture of this color on the cinnamon foreneck ; throat
and rest of under surface white, with sides indistinctly lined with
light gray.

Winter plumage, occiput and side of head from eye back over ear
coverts slate gray; back mainly gray, edged more or less with white;
head, except as indicated, and entire lower surface white. In Sep-
tember and October some of the buff markings of the summer dress
may be present.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., pp. 424-425) .—Males, wing
102-109 (105.1), tail 46-50 (48.3), culmen 21-23 (22), tarsus 18-20
(19.2), middle toe 18-20.5 (19.5) mm.

Females, wing 105-116 (110.2), tail 48.5-52.5 (50.2), culmen 20-
24 (22.4), tarsus 18.5-21 (19.8), middle toe 18-20 (19.1) mm.

Migrant from the north. One record in the Gulf of Panama.

The northern phalarope nests in the far north in both New and

FAMILY STERCORARIIDAE 433

Old Worlds and spends the winter season at sea, ranging far south
in southern oceans.

Eugene Eisenmann informs me that on May 1, 1961, while on a
trip in the lower Bay of Panama he observed two flocks of at least
300 birds in the area between Isla Chame and Isla Otoque. As the
launch cruised among them for some time he noted that most were in
breeding dress.

In Spain this bird is known as falaropo picofino.

Family STERCORARIIDAE: Skuas and Jaegers ;
Gaviotas Salteadoras

These are the predatory robber gulls that on their nesting grounds
kill and eat smaller avian companions, as well as small mammals.
When at sea, off their nesting grounds, they are scavengers on dead
fish and other animals and also harass gulls and other birds to force
them to drop or regurgitate food that they have taken. As this falls
the robber may seize it expertly in the air. The smaller jaegers nest
in the north, while the skuas that reach Panama breed in the
Antarctic. They are seen most often in the Gulf of Panama.

Members of this family differ from gulls and terns in the possession
of a horny cere on the base of the bill.

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF STERCORARITIDAE

1. Larger, wing 380 mm. or more; bill strong and heavy, more than 45 mm. long.

Skua, Catharacta skua, p. 433

Smaller, wing not more than 370 mm.; bill smaller, more slender, less than

AQ ryt ONG 5, 5 b.5: 46:00: 0 6:0 0:05 0. 00e 2.4 SOI teve exe ohare evens ateliats) sora eyetes ess 2

2. Wing 350 mm. or more; depth of bill at base slightly more than width; adult
with elongated central tail feathers twisted toward tip.

Pomarine jaeger, Stercorarius pomarinus, p. 435

Wing less than 345 mm.; depth of bill at base about equal to width; adult

with elongated central tail feathers flat and straight................ 3

3. Horny cere (supranasal saddle) decidedly longer than distal section of bill
(dertrum) ; adult with middle rectrices less than 235 mm.

Parasitic jaeger, Stercorarius parasiticus, p. 436

Horny cere not longer than dertrum; adult with central rectrices more than

240 mm. long........ Long-tailed jaeger, Stercorarius longicaudus, p. 437

CATHARACTA SKUA Briinnich: Skua; Salteador Grande
Ficure 69
Catharacta skua Briinnich, Orn. Borealis, 1764, p. 33. (Iceland.)

Gull-like in form, of large size, with a prominent white area in
each wing.

434 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Description.—Length, 520 to 560 mm. Above dark grayish brown,
streaked, particularly on head and neck, with pale cinnamon; under
surface mainly cinnamon to cinnamon-rufous.

Fic. 69.—Skua, salteador grande, Catharacta skua.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., vol. 2,
1936, p. 1011)—Wing 370-412 (380.4), tail 131-1584 (144.8),
culmen 48.9-56.1 (52), tarsus 60.6-71.5 (67.5) mm.

FAMILY STERCORARIIDAE 435

Migrant from the far south. Recorded in the western area of the
Gulf of Panama.

My first observation of skuas was on February 7, 1944, in crossing
to Isla San José when I saw two in the Bay of Panama about 5 to 6
kilometers outside Balboa Harbor, and another in the gulf 25 kilo-
meters or so off the island. One turned to pursue a laughing gull,
buffeted it about without making it disgorge, and then flew on its
way. On February 6, 1956, on the return journey from Isla Coiba, I
saw between 15 and 20 at sea offshore between Punta Mala and a
point to the northward where Otoque and Bona were barely in sight.
All were flying low among the terns and other sea birds. On March
17, 1962, a few kilometers north of Isla Iguana, a skua appeared and
finally swung in toward the launch on which I was traveling. I shot
it at long range, but it continued so far before falling that we were
not able to find it, since the waves were fairly high. On February 9,
1963, I saw another that came along side the MV Pelican between
Isla Iguana and Isla Bona.

It is probable that these were the race Catharacta skua chilensis
(Bonaparte), described in Conspectus Generum Avium, vol. 2, Feb.
1, 1856 (Oct. 1, 1857), p. 207, with the type locality Chile, which nests
from Arauco Bay, Chile, south along the coast to Tierra del Fuego,
and ranges north along the Pacific coast regularly to Pert, and
casually to southern California. I was interested, however, in 1956
to have a brief distant view of one that was definitely lighter in color,
which suggested that another of the several races may be found also.
No specimens have been collected.

STERCORARIUS POMARINUS (Temminck): Pomarine Jaeger;
Salteador Pomarino

Lestris pomarinus Temminck, Man. Orn., 1815, p. 514. (Arctic regions of
Europe. )

Largest of the 3 jaegers ; adult with elongated central tail feathers
twisted toward the tip.

Description —Length, 460 to 495 mm. Bill higher than wide at
base. Light-colored phase, crown, lores, malar region, and upper
surface (except hindneck) sooty gray; hindneck and lower surface
white, except for lower abdomen and under tail coverts which are
like the back.

Dark phase, dark sooty gray throughout.

Many are in an intermediate stage in which the lower surface in
general is white with foreneck, upper breast, sides, flanks, lower

436 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

abdomen and under tail coverts lined, barred and spotted with sooty
gray.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 682).—Males, wing 349-
374 (361.9), tail 172-243 (207.9), culmen 38-43.5 (40.4), tarsus
48-54 (52) mm.

Females, wing 351-370 (359.7), tail 128-205.5 (182.2), culmen
38-44 (40.2), tarsus 50-55 (52.1) mm.

Tarsus pale bluish gray on upper part in life; lower part and feet
blackish brown.

Migrant from the north. Known from sight records in Colon
harbor, and in the Gulf of Panama.

Griscom (Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 282, 1927, p. 3) on March 13,
1927, in company with Maunsell Crosby, recorded several at Colén.
In later comment (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 308)
he wrote that these jaegers sometimes enter Colon harbor where they
live on garbage and rob the many laughing gulls. Eisenmann has given
me a record of several seen at Coco Solo on April 28, 1961. Murphy
has seen them in late November (1956) parasitizing the laughing
gulls in the Gulf of Panama. On February 8, 1963, I saw one with
fully developed tail from the MV Pelican when off Isla Iguana. Cer-
tain other reports appear uncertain.

No specimens have been collected.

This species is of heavier form than the others of the genus, and
in the adult is distinguished by the form of the elongated central
rectrices which are broad at the tip, in addition to having the plane of
the web rotated or twisted toward the free end.

STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS (Linnaeus): Parasitic Jaeger;
Salteador Parasito

Larus parasiticus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 136. (Coast of
Sweden.)

Adult with slender, pointed central tail feathers projecting from
12 to 100 mm.

Description—Bill heavier; length of horny cere (supranasal
saddle) from base decidedly more than the length of the distal,
hooked section (dertrum). Length, adult 450 to 470 mm.; immature
420 to 440 mm. Adult, light phase, upper surface and under tail
coverts sooty gray, slightly darker on the crown, somewhat paler on
the lower hindneck ; a brownish gray band across lower foreneck and
upper breast; a buffy white band across hindneck; under surface,
except as described, white.

FAMILY STERCORARIIDAE 437

Dark phase, sooty gray above, blacker on crown, wings, and tail;
brownish gray on lower surface.

Immature, in light phase, head and neck streaked, and lower sur-
face more or less barred and spotted, with dusky brown. In dark
phase, underparts barred with grayish white.

Adult, tarsi and feet black. Immature, tarsi bluish gray, with ends
of toes and webs black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 688).—Males, wing 301-340
(320), tail 164.5-235 (188.9), culmen 28-35 (31.2), tarsus 39.5-45.5
(41.9) mm.

Females, wing 317-341 (323.7), tail 176-226 (199.7), culmen 29-
34.5 (31.8), tarsus 39-45 (42.1) mm.

Visitor from the north. Known from one taken on the coast of
the Comarca de San Blas, and a few sight records.

A male in the Herbert Brandt Collection at the University of
Cincinnati was collected by Wedel on November 27, 1934, at Puerto
Obaldia, San Blas. One was seen by Robert Cushman Murphy near
Isla San José, February 21, 1941 (see Wetmore, Smithsonian Misc.
Coll., vol. 106, no. 1, 1946, p. 34). Another was recorded in Colon
harbor Feb. 9, 1927, by Griscom (Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 282, 1927,

p: 5).

STERCORARIUS LONGICAUDUS Vieillot: Long-Tailed Jaeger;
Salteador Rabudo

Stercorarius longicaudus Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., nouv. éd., vol. 32,
Sept. 1819, p. 157. (Northern Europe.)

Adult with central tail feathers projecting 80 to 150 mm. or more.

Description.—Bill smaller ; horny cere (supranasal saddle) shorter,
not more than length of distal segment of bill (dertrum). Length
adult 520 to 570 mm., immature 410 to 460 mm. Adult, crown, in-
cluding loral and orbital regions sooty black; rest of head and hind-
neck yellowish white; rest of upper parts brownish gray ; wings and
tail dull black; abdomen, flanks and under tail coverts gray; rest of
undersurface white.

Immature, undersurface and upper tail coverts barred more or less
extensively with brownish gray.

A few birds in dark phase have been reported in life, but this color
stage, if correctly identified, must be rare, as no specimens of it have
been collected.

Tarsus light bluish gray, toes and webs black; immature, only
distal end of toes black.

438 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Measurements (from Ridgway, lLc., p. 696).—Males, wing 295-
327 (309.1), tail (to end of middle rectrices) 263-350 (299), culmen
27-31.5 (28.6), tarsus 38-44 (41.1) mm.

Females, wing 305-317 (313.3), tail (to end of middle rectrices)
238-350 (295), culmen 27.5-30 (28.8), tarsus 40-42.5 (41.8) mm.

Visitor from the north. Status not certain.

The only record is of one seen by L. Griscom and M. Crosby in
Colén harbor on February 9, 1927 (Griscom, Amer. Mus. Nov. no.
282, 1927, 'p. 3):

Adults of the two smaller jaegers usually may be separated on the
length of the central tail feathers; and a small bird in dark phase
plumage may be accepted as S. parasiticus, since this type of colora-
tion in S. longicaudus is not yet firmly established by a specimen.
Field identification of immature individuals is uncertain unless
chance may give a clear view of the leg color, black in parasiticus and
bluish gray in longicaudus. With birds in the hand the two may be
separated by close scrutiny of the size of the bill—heavier in para-
siticus, slightly more slender in longicaudus. It is probable that both
species come occasionally along the coasts so that I have included
them on the basis of sight records, which are not wholly certain.

Family LARIDAE: Gulls and Terns ; Gaviotas y Gaviotines

The two groups of aquatic habit included in this family, while
allied structurally, differ so clearly in carriage and action that they
are distinguished at a glance by any one reasonably familiar with
them. The gulls are larger and are more robust, wider-winged birds
that in flight carry the strong, rather heavy bill with its hooked tip
pointed forward in line with the long axis of the body. While they
may snatch at food on the surface of the water, it is not their
regular habit to dive. All the species found in Panama are migrant
from the north or south. Terns as a group are small, with slender
bodies, and narrow, pointed wings. As they fly over the water in
search of food the slender, straight bill is pointed down at an angle,
and the birds habitually feed by plunging, often going beneath the
surface. Only the royal tern, of those found in Panama, has the
body size of the smaller gulls. At least two species, the noddy and
the sooty tern, come to nest on the rocky islets of Los Frailes off
Punta Mala. Probably a third, the bridled tern, may breed there also.
Other kinds are found as migrants. While both gulls and terns range
along the coasts, some of them come inland on larger bodies of fresh
water.

10.

i,

12.

13:

FAMILY LARIDAE 439

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF LARIDAE

Culmen with tip distinctly decurved; the curving end of the maxilla over-
hanging the end of the mandible; tarsus relatively longer (Gulls). 2
Culmen with tip not decurved, more nearly straight throughout its length;
end of maxilla not overhanging that of mandible; tarsus relatively

shorter a@Lertis)ic/, 32. oad. te, esd A See RN ae eines ee 8
failitruncatev or) slightly ‘rounded’ r.26 ve. sae. ese staan 3
Railiidetinitely forked’.s Weak. cal dcie to pselots are ovsinn wal Gostoke ote entios weteter a
Under surface white, or washed and mottled with grayish brown; back

plain gray, or grayish brown; bill not completely black............ 4

Entire body plain mouse gray; bill completely black.
Gray gull, Larus modestus, p. 440
Size large, wing more than 410 mm.
Herring gull, Larus argentatus smithsonianus, p. 441
Size.smallers wing: less. than390) mimi. a 5..cs4 sais os'eies 2 saaetahnare 2 5
Bill small, exposed culmen less than 35 mm.; tarsus less than 45 mm.
Franklin’s gull, Larus pipixcan, p. 445
Bill larger ; exposed culmen 40 mm. or more; tarsus more than 45 mm. 6
Tarsus and feet light-colored; bill light-colored, at least at base; if
immature, upper tail coverts spotted with grayish brown.
Ring-billed gull, Larus delawarensis, p. 441
Tarsus, feet, and bill dark; if immature, upper tail coverts plain white or
grayish white, without spots........ Laughing gull, Larus atricilla, p. 442
Large; wing more than 390 mm.; bill slender, exposed culmen more than
AO MMM sarees enter oe Swallow-tailed gull, Creagrus furcatus, p. 446
Small; wing less than 300 mm.; exposed culmen less than 30 mm.
Sabine’s gull, Xema sabini, p. 447
HeadWsmooth) snot *erested a. sioielspre etete crore store s"elctnre) later steicianeral oleh exelelclore 9
Back of head with feathers elongated in a definite crest................ 15
Toes partly webbed, the webs extending only to the bases of the outer
toe joints ; outer tail feathers broad and rounded at tip.
Black tern, Chlidonias niger surinamensis, p. 448
Toes fully webbed, the webs extended on the outer toe joints; outer tail

feathers’ narrowed) and pointed: at ‘tips desis ric «cen see tsmle decade 10
Size small; wing not more than 180 mm. .Least tern, Sterna albifrons, p. 457
Barcer- wing mose than’ 200) mani; ...2eyacio as oes ia < serie cra ne telat s sicels 11

Bill relatively short and heavy, with greatest depth equal to about one
third length of exposed culmen; tarsus longer than middle toe with claw.
Gull-billed tern, Gelochelidon nilotica aranea, p. 449

Bill relatively longer and more slender, with greatest depth definitely less
than one third length of exposed culmen; tarsus shorter than middle toe

WATT ECLA Waren. SOR nie Stew Sith. .Muaahelsna me ternal c Maa aen a Pea eit « iste ars 12
Back and wings light gray....Common tern, Sterna hirundo hirundo, p. 452
Back and wings dark sooty brown, sooty gray, or black.............. 13

Tail rounded ; body and wings dark sooty or grayish brown.
Brown noddy tern, Anous stolidus, p. 461
cThaslmdeeplyantor ede mrmpnee yy a yascis cia ay cea cic te Seales eerese astm hehe Ta TSLaTS orale eves ssavene oes 14

440 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

14. Back brownish gray; with hindneck white to pale gray.
Bridled tern, Sterna anaethetus nelsoni, p. 454
Back and hindneck black................ Sooty tern, Sterna fuscata, p. 455
15. Bill black, with yellow or whitish tip; smaller, wing less than 310 mm.
Sandwich tern, Thalasseus sandvicensis acuflavidus, p. 459
Bill orange or red; wing more than 350 mm................eeeeeeees 16
16. Bill orange to orange-yellow; feathers on back of head more elongated and
definitely pointed; tail forked for one-fourth of its length; smaller, wing
less than 400 mm........ Royal tern, Thalaseus maximus maximus, p. 458
Bill red; feathers on back of head less elongated, more rounded at tip,
and blended in a smooth crest; tail less deeply forked; larger, wing more
than. 400)mini..’. .'.)gkjene steels Caspian tern, Hydroprogne caspia, p. 451

LARUS MODESTUS Tschudi: Gray Gull; Gaviota Garuma

Larus modestus Tschudi, Arch. Naturg. vol. 9, pt. 1, 1843, p. 389. (Lurin, south
of Lima, Pert.)

Slightly larger than the laughing gull; body uniform gray, with a
prominent white border on the posterior edge of the wing.

Description —Length, 420 to 450 mm. Plain gray; anterior half of
crown, forehead, and throat grayish white ; primaries and secondaries
black, with the inner primaries lightly, and the secondaries broadly,
tipped with white; tail with a subterminal band of black, and a
narrow tip of white.

Iris brown; bill black ; tarsus and toes black.

Measurements (from Murphy, Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, p.
1049) —Males, wing 314-337 (329.2) ; tail 117-131 (124), culmen
40-43 (41.8), tarsus 48-55 (53.2) mm.

Females, wing 299-328 (318.7), tail 116-122 (119.6), culmen 37-41
(39.6), tarsus 46-51 (48.7) mm.

Visitor from the south. Casual in the Gulf of Panama.

According to Eisenmann (Trans. Linn. Soc. New York, vol. 7,
1955, p. 32), Robert Cushman Murphy has reported this species in
Panama Bay near the entrance to the Canal. On February 6, 1956,
on the return from Isla Coiba, about 5 kilometers south of Isla
Otoque, I saw 3 grayish gulls, lighter on forepart of the head and
with a conspicuous white border on the posterior edge of the wing.
It is not always easy to identify birds flying at a distance from the
deck of a crash boat travelling at rapid speed, and at the time I
thought that they were Heermann’s gulls, Larus heermanni, from
the north, and so recorded them (Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 134,
no. 9, 1957, p. 33). I believe, however, that it is more probable that
they were Larus modestus, a species that ranges regularly to central
Ecuador and has been reported casually along the Pacific coast of
Colombia.

FAMILY LARIDAE 441

LARUS DELAWARENSIS Ord: Ring-billed Gull; Gaviota de ©
Pico Anillado

Larus Delawarensis Ord, in Guthrie, Geogr., 2d Amer. ed., 1815, p. 319.
(Delaware River, below Philadelphia.)

A dark ring around the bill near the end; legs yellowish; smaller
than the herring gull.

Description —Length, 460 to 530 mm. Adult, back, scapulars, and
wings light gray ; body and tail otherwise white ; outer primaries black,
the two outermost tipped with white.

In winter plumage, head and hindneck streaked with brownish gray.

Immature, above grayish brown; under parts white mottled with
grayish brown ; a narrow black subterminal tail bar.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 625).—Males, wing 365-389
(378.1), tail 143-161 (150.8), culmen 42-45.5 (44.3), tarsus 54-61
(56.5) mm.

Females, wing 334-372 (362.4), tail 132-150 (141.8), culmen 37-
41.5 (39.5), tarsus 47-54 (50.9) mm.

Migrant from the north. Casual wanderer.

There is record of one banded as a nestling on Little Galloo Island
in Henderson Harbor, Lake Ontario, Jefferson County, N. Y., on
June 14, 1953, by Allan S. Klonick, that was found dead (without
feathers) at Boca del Rio Grande, Coclé, on July 11, 1954. Eugene
Eisenmann has reported ring-billed gulls seen along the sea wall in
Panama City, November 9 and 26 and December 4, 1962.

The species comes south regularly along the coast of México, and
has been reported from one sight record from El Salvador. It ap-
pears to be of casual occurrence in Panama.

LARUS ARGENTATUS SMITHSONIANUS Coues: Herring Gull;
Gaviota Argentea

Larus Smithsonianus Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 14, no. 6,
June (Aug. 1), 1862, p. 296. (Eastern and western coasts of North America.)

Adult with a subterminal spot of red on lower mandible; legs
flesh-colored ; larger than the ring-billed gull.

Description—Length, 560-625 mm. Adult, back, scapulars, and
wings pale gray; head, neck, rump, tail, and entire underparts white ;
outermost primaries black with white toward the tips.

Winter dress, head and hindneck streaked with dusky.

Immature, mainly grayish brown, with head and neck streaked
with whitish ; rest of upper surface spotted irregularly with grayish
buff ; wings and tail blackish.

442 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Measurements (from Dwight, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol.
52, 1925, p. 182).—Males, wing 405-460 (433.8), tail 151-190
(175.2), culmen 49-62 (57), tarsus 60-74 (67.8) mm.

Females, wing 397-422 (410.6), tail 154-178 (165.3), culmen 47-53
(50.1), tarsus 57-66 (62.1) mm.

Migrant from the north. Present in small number during the
period of northern winter.

The herring gull recorded at Bocas del Toro, on December 10,
1933, by Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, p. 308)
had been banded as an immature bird in New Hampshire in July of
the same year. Hofslund (Bird-Banding, vol. 30, 1959, p. 113) has
reported another, banded as an immature bird at Knife Island, Lake
Superior, off the mouth of Knife River, Lake County, Minn., June 8,
1957, that was “caught on fish hook,” in the bay at Bocas del Toro,
February 7, 1958. Another banded in Wisconsin in July 1930, was
found near Panama City the following December. Eugene Eisen-
mann has reported one seen off San Francisco de la Culeta, near
Panama Viejo on December 4 and 20, 1962. In 1963, I recorded
one on January 30 in the entrance of the Canal at Colon, and another
on February 9 near Balboa. The herring gull comes south regularly
during the northern winter along both coasts as far as southern
México, in small numbers farther south. It is found most often in
the Caribbean area.

LARUS ATRICILLA Linnaeus: Laughing Gull; Gaviota Reidora
Ficure 70

Larus Atricilla Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 136. (Bahama
Islands. )

In flight, adult with outer half of wing wholly black; tail white.
Immature, wing like adult; tail with black subterminal band and
indistinct light tip; middle toe with claw definitely shorter than
culmen.

Description—Length 380 to 425 mm. Adult, in summer dress,
head black, with a white spot on eyelid; back, scapulars, and wings
dark gray; hindneck, tail, and undersurface white; outer primaries
black distally, with small inconspicuous white tips, except on the
outermost; innermost primaries and secondaries gray, tipped with
white.

Winter plumage, similar, but head and upper foreneck white,
spotted and mottled with brownish gray on the occiput and sides of
the head.

FAMILY LARIDAE 443

Immature, above, mainly grayish brown; tail light gray at base, dull
black at end, tipped obscurely with white; underneath grayish brown
except for the abdomen, which is paler.

Measurements.—Males, wing 316-348 (332.7), tail 121-135
(127.6), culmen 40-43 (41), tarsus 47-53 (50.4), middle toe 34.5-
38 (36) mm.

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Fic. 70.—Right wings of two gulls to show pattern of marking. Upper: Frank-
lin’s gull, gaviota de Franklin, Larus pipixcan. Lower: Laughing gull, gaviota
reidora, Larus aitricilla.

Females, wing 311-331 (322), tail 116-125.5 (120.2), culmen 38-
40 (39.1), tarsus 46-51.5 (48.1), middle toe 32.5-35 (33.5) mm.

Migrant from the north. Found along both coasts, abundant in the
Bay and Gulf of Panama; common on Gatun Lake, and casual on
other larger bodies of water inland. Recorded regularly at Isla Coiba,
and occasionally around other offshore islands. Nonbreeding in-
dividuals remain through the period of northern summer.

The main influx from the north comes in October and November,
and during succeeding months the birds are widely spread. Molt into

444 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

the breeding plumage begins in late February and continues through
the middle of March. By the end of March birds that display the
black head of the summer dress are common. Flocks in full plumage
evidently are in northward flight by early April. Though there is
great reduction in their number at this time, scores remain in
Panama through the months of northern summer. Scattered birds,
all in nonbreeding plumage, may be found in their usual haunts
through this period, with flocks congregated in favorable localities
where food is attractive. As an example, on May 11, 1953, I ob-
served 50 or more widely scattered high in air over Albrook Field,
evidently hawking for flying insects, probably termites.

The greatest concentrations during the winter months are in the
Gulf of Panama, where they range down to Punta Mala and shift
about with changes in wind and tide. Many join the pelicans,
cormorants, and frigatebirds as they feed on the great schools of
sardinelike fishes. When these appear gulls may be observed in
flight toward them from considerable distances. After feeding small
groups may raft in fairly close formation, but it is more common to
find them spread singly, or 2 or 3 together, over wide spaces of the
sea. As passing launches disturb them, or as the waves increase, they
rise and straggle off, flying into the wind. Such groups fly regularly
and easily if disturbed on the darkest nights, seemingly without being
troubled by the lack of light. Flocks that may number 1500 to 2000
birds appear regularly in the Bay of Panama from the entrance of
the Canal around to Panama Viejo.

Laughing gulls cross the Isthmus through Gatun Lake and also
appear at times on such smaller bodies as the Miraflores lakes and
water impoundments in the old banana farms near Changuinola.
They come also with regularity over the wide reaches of the Chagres
above Gamboa toward Madden Dam, but the lake above does not
seem attractive, probably through its lack of easily accessible food.
Once in early January I saw 4 walking over short cut grass opposite
the old Balboa railroad station, but this appears to be unusual.

In launch travel during March, when anchored in some protected
bay, at sunrise I have seen flocks of up to 200 or more swing in
suddenly from the sea, turn and gyrate wildly for several minutes in
wind currents high in air, and then disappear. On one trip in the
little steamer Pirre, while crossing the Gulf of San Miguel toward
the mouth of the Tuira, an immature gull with a band on one leg
appeared among the following flock and came repeatedly close at
hand. The numerous records in Panama of birds banded between

FAMILY LARIDAE 445

Maine and Florida on the eastern coast of the United States, indicate
a heavy mortality among first year birds, as only 2 among 64 had
lived beyond the first winter. The reports of these returns cover
the entire range in the Republic.

The laughing gull is probably the principal species concerned in the
account of Lionel Wafer (Voy. and Descript. Isthm. Amer., 1699,
p. 121) whose observations made in 1681 are as follows: “There are
a great many Sea-Gulls and Sea-Pies on that Coast; both of them
much like ours, but rather smaller. The Flesh of both these is eaten
commonly enough, and ’tis tolerable good Meat, but of a Fishy Tast,
as Sea-fowl usually are. Yet to correct this Tast, when we kill’d any
Sea-Gulls, Sea-Pies, Boobies, or the like, on any Shore, we us’d to
make a Hole in the hot Sand, and there bury them for eight or ten
Hours, with their Feathers on, and Guts in them: And upon dressing
them afterwards, we found the Flesh tenderer, and the Tast not so
rank nor fishy.”

LARUS PIPIXCAN Wagler: Franklin’s Gull; Gaviota de Franklin
Ficure 70

Larus Pipixcan Wagler, Isis von Oken, vol. 24, heft 5, (May) 1831, col. 515.

(México. )

Middle toe with claw about equal in length to culmen. In flight,
adult, wing appears light gray to white, with a prominent sub-
terminal black band and white tip, tail white. Immature, wing wholly
dark at tip like laughing gull; markings on back of head blacker,
more definite ; tail with subterminal black band and distinct white tip.

Description—Length 330-380 mm. Adult, in summer dress, head
and upperneck slaty black; a white spot on eyelid; back, scapulars,
and wings neutral gray, with tertials and secondaries broadly tipped
with white; 5 outer primaries with a subterminal black band, and
white tip, bordered above by white of central part of wing; tail white,
with middle rectrices tinged with gray ; lower neck (front and back),
rump, upper tail coverts, and lower surface white.

Winter dress, head and neck white, with back and side of head
dusky gray.

Immature, like winter adult, but outer primaries black like laugh-
ing gull; tail with a broad black subterminal bar and distinct white
tip. Differs from laughing gull in smaller size, particularly of bill.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 642).—Males, wing 280-295
(289.6), tail 97-109 (103.9), culmen 30-34 (32.6), tarsus 38-42.5
(40.8) middle toe 31.5-33 (32.4) mm.

446 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Females, wing 270-293 (282), tail 94-105 (99.7), culmen 30-34.5
(32.5), tarsus 39-41 (39.9), middle toe 31.5-34 (32.2) mm.

Migrant from the north. Fairly common along both coasts;
recorded on Gatun Lake.

Adult Franklin’s gulls, easily identified by the prominent black
and white markings on the end of the wing, are observed with fair
regularity among the hundreds of laughing gulls along the coasts,
but I have yet to detect one among the flocks that range the open
Gulf of Panama. It is probable that their pattern of migration is
like that of the related species, but at present there is no definite
information on this. Some nonbreeding individuals remain in
Panama through the period of northern summer. They are seen
occasionally on Gatun Lake, but have not been recorded elsewhere
in the interior.

The only specimen I have examined is an immature bird in the
U. S. National Museum, taken at Panama City by Dr. George
Suckley, on December 28, 1855. There is a further record of one
banded in South Dakota in June 1940 that was found on the Pacific
coast of Panama in the vicinity of the Golfo de Montijo on July 8 of
the following year. In my own observations I have seen these birds at
Panama Viejo, recording 15 to 20 on December 28, 1955, one at the
Miraflores Locks December 29, 1963, and have found an occasional
one among the many laughing gulls at Fort Amador.

CREAGRUS FURCATUS (Néboux): Swallow-tailed Gull;
Gaviota Rabihorcado
Larus furcatus Néboux, Voy. “Venus,” Atlas, Zool., Ois., 1846, pl. 10.
(Galapagos Archipelago.)

A large, gray-backed gull, with dark head, and forked tail.

Description.—Length 550 to 600 mm. Tail deeply forked. Adult,
in breeding dress, head and neck slate gray, with a white spot on the
forehead at the base of the bill, and a smaller one on the feathers
adjacent to the side of the lower mandible; back, rump, and lesser
wing coverts gray, with the scapulars edged with white; outer webs
of primaries black; inner webs, rest of wing coverts, secondaries,
and tail white; sides of breast and lower foreneck pale gray; rest
of under surface white.

Nonbreeding dress, head white, streaked with gray; space around
eyes and over ears grayish black.

Immature, brown above; head white streaked as in nonbreeding
dress of adult ; below white.

FAMILY LARIDAE 447

Iris brown; edge of eyelids and edge of gape bright red; tip of
bill greenish ; base black ; tarsus and toes pink.

Measurements (from Murphy, l.c., p. 1086).—Males, wing 405-
433 (414.8) ; tail 184-202 (191.1), culmen 47-55 (52), tarsus 45-55
(52.1) mm.

Females, wing 393-414 (404.1), tail 181-197 (189.7) culmen 49-
52 (50.9), tarsus 47-54 (51) mm.

Visitor from the south. Casual.

The only record is that of Robins (Condor, 1958, p. 302) who
recorded one seen at a deep reef northwest of Bahia Pinas, July 18,
1957. I have found no basis for the statement by Swarth (Occas.
Papers California Acad. Sci., vol. 18, 1931, p. 66) that “one or two
stragglers have been found on the coast of Panama.”

The fork-tailed gull breeds at the Galapagos Islands, and after
the breeding season it is found at sea as far as the coasts of Ecuador
and Pert. It nests also on Isla de Malpelo, approximately 500
kilometers west of Buenaventura, on the coast of Colombia, and about
400 kilometers due south of Isla Coiba.

XEMA SABINI (Sabine): Sabine’s Gull; Gaviota de Sabine

Larus sabini J. Sabine, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol, 12, pt. 2, 1819, p. 522,
pl. 29. (Sabine Islands, near Melville Bay, west coast of Greenland.)

A small gull, with a deeply forked tail.

Description—Length, 300 to 350 mm. Adult, summer dress, head
slate-colored, with a narrow black ring around the neck; back, lesser
wing coverts, secondaries, scapulars, and tertials dark gray; outer
webs of outer primaries black, tipped with white; inner primaries,
tips of secondaries, tail, upper tail coverts, and under parts white;
edge of wing black.

Winter dress, head and neck mainly white, with occiput, nape,
and auricular region brownish gray.

Immature, grayish brown above, with feathers edged with dull
white to grayish buffy white; tail white, with a broad subterminal
band of black, and a white or grayish tip.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 664).—Males, wing 265-
286 (277.2), tail 114.5-130 (122.4), culmen 25.5-28.5 (27.4), tarsus
31.5-34.5 (33.1) mm.

Females, wing 260-276 (267.5), tail 111-114.5 (112.2), culmen
25-27 (26.2), tarsus 30-32 (31.5) mm.

Migrant from the north. Casual.

448 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The only reports are those of Robert Cushman Murphy (Vert.
SCOPE, Nov. 7-Dec. 16, 1956, p. 137, mimeograph, and in litt.)
who says that this species was seen occasionally southward to the
latitudes of Panama but far at sea between long. 88° and 100° W.

In 1941, during the cruise of Askoy, however, he saw 8 Sabine’s
gulls close along the coast of southern Darién, and later, on May 11,
1941, he collected two to the southward in Bahia Cuevita, below
Cabo Corrientes, on the northwestern coast of Colombia.

The species nests in the far north, and in migration moves south
off the Pacific coast of America as far as Peru.

CHLIDONIAS NIGER SURINAMENSIS (Gmelin): Black Tern;
Gaviotin Negro

Sterna surinamensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 604. (Surinam.)

A small tern; adult in breeding dress, black on head and lower sur-
face; immature and winter adult, tail dark gray (white, or mainly
white, in other terns) ; bill, tarsi, and feet black.

Description —Length, 230 to 250 mm. Adult, breeding dress, en-
tire head and under surface back across abdomen sooty black; anal
region and under tail coverts white; back, rump, wings, and tail dark
gray.

Winter dress and immature birds, anterior half of crown, fore
neck, and under surface white; spot on either side of breast dusky ;
rest of upper surface as in summer.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 533).—Males, wing 192-213
(203.2), tail 73-87.5 (79.8), culmen 26-29.5 (27), tarsus 14.5-16
(15.4) mm.

Females, wing 191-215 (199.6), tail 73.5-82 (77.8), culmen 25.5-
27 (26.2), tarsus 14-16.5 (15.6) mm.

Migrant from the north. Common along the coast, and in the
Gulf of Panama; ranges regularly over Gatun Lake, and other larger
inland bodies of open water.

The flight from the north comes in September and continues
through October. Northward movement appears to begin in April
and to extend well into May. On May 13, 1953, at sunrise I found
many passing toward the north across the dry savannas near Rio
Hato in the Province of Coclé on a course that would carry them
over the low divide to the Caribbean west of the Canal Zone. Two
that I shot, male and female, were in worn plumage and were molting
the wing and tail feathers but did not show any of the black body
plumage of the nesting season. Considerable numbers of nonbreed-

FAMILY LARIDAE 449

ing birds in immature dress remain in Panama through the period
of northern summer, when they are found especially in tidal areas
on the lower courses of rivers of the Pacific side. In June 1953
I recorded many on the lower Rio San Pablo, below Sona, where
they moved back and forth with the tides from the head of the Gulf
of Montijo. Hundreds more ranged the shallow waters of the head
of the Gulf itself between Isla Leones and Isla Verde. They come
inland also when rains fill the channels in the swamps of the La
Jagua marshes.

A principal haunt here at the northern edge of their wintering area
is in the Gulf of Panama, where I have found them regularly as far
down as Punta Mala and also to the eastward toward Colombian
waters. They range in flocks of 30 or 40 to 200 or more, sometimes
rafting in fairly close formation, sometimes spread over wide areas.
A floating board or stick may have one or two standing on it, and
a log of driftwood may support several. They join other larger
birds in hovering over the great schools of sardines to snatch at
the smaller ones as the rush of predatory fish below drives them to
break at the surface. I have seen black terns at various points in
the Archipiélago de las Perlas, but they are found more commonly
in the open sea. It is interesting to compare this winter habit with
that of their breeding grounds, which lie entirely in fresh waters
inland.

GELOCHELIDON NILOTICA ARANEA (Wilson): Gull-billed Tern;
Gaviotin Piquigordo
Sterna aranea Wilson, Amer. Orn., vol. 8, 1814, p. 143, pl. 72, fig. 6. (Cape May,
New Jersey).

A tern of medium size with strong, heavy bill like that of a gull;
tail notched, not deeply forked.

Description.—Length, 330 to 355 mm. Bill short and stout. Adult,
breeding plumage, crown and nape black; back, wings, and tail light
gray ; entire under surface white.

Winter dress, head and neck white, with the auricular region and
a crescent in front of the eye dusky gray; otherwise as in summer.

Measurements——Males (9 from Maryland, Virginia, Bahamas,
Cuba, Haiti, and Veracruz), wing 285-304 (295), tail 108-122.8
(113.7), culmen from base 38.2-42.5 (39.7), tarsus 29.5-32.7 (30.8)
mm.

Females (8 from Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Bahamas, and Haiti),
wing 286-297 (292), tail 105.6-118.8 (110.4), culmen from base
35.6-40.6 (38.2), tarsus 28.3-31.9 (30.5) mm.

450 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Migrant from the north. Fairly common in the Gulf of Panama;
one report from the Caribbean coast.

The first record of this tern is found in 2 skins in the American
Museum of Natural History, an immature male and another male,
apparently adult in winter dress, taken by Rex Benson near Agua-
dulce, Coclé, September 24, 1927. In crossing from Balboa to
Isla San José on February 7, 1944, I observed several hundred feed-
ing over the sea from 50 to 15 kilometers off the island. Other
sight records are for occasional birds seen near Panama Viejo, where
Eisenmann (Wilson Bull., 1951, p. 182) reported one, considered
to be a nonbreeding, summering individual, on July 16, 1950, and
I have recorded others April 3 and December 18, 1955. With this
scanty information it was of considerable interest to me to find
gull-billed terns fairly common in January 1963 over the channels
and mud flats of the Bahia Parita area below Aguadulce, Coclé.
January 16 and 17 I shot five from small groups coursing in a strong
wind at Gallo and on January 25 recorded 40 resting in a close
flock at low tide, on a sandspit on the shore of the bay. Two of those
taken had eaten shrimp, two others fiddler crabs, and the fifth a
small fish. As this is the general area where Benson secured his
specimens it appears that this tern may be regular here in occurrence.

The record for the Atlantic side is of one seen by Eugene Eisen-
mann, August 28, 1958, near Coco Solo, Canal Zone. (I know
of no basis for the statement by Hellmayr and Conover, Cat. Birds,
Amer., pt. 1, no. 3, 1948, p. 299, that includes the Caribbean side
of Panama in the winter range.) The race aranea breeds along
the Atlantic coast from southeastern Maryland and Virginia to
eastern Florida, the Bahamas, and the Virgin Islands, and is found
in winter from the Gulf coast of the United States south along
Central America, to northern South America.

The gull-billed tern as a species ranges throughout the world, ex-
cept in the colder regions and the islands of the central Pacific. While
all are closely similar in appearance, several races are recognized,
two of them in North America, viz, the one discussed above and
a western one, Gelochelidon nilotica vanrossemi Bancroft (described
in Trans. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 5, Dec. 10, 1929, p.
284; type locality Salton Sea, Imperial County, California). Its
known breeding grounds are on islands in Salton Sea and along
the coast of Sinaloa, with other records not wholly definite from
the head of the Gulf of California (Isla Monteague), and the
coast of Sonora (Bahia Tobari). This subspecies is separated from
G. n. aranea by slightly larger size, stronger, heavier bill, and slightly

FAMILY LARIDAE 451

longer tarsus. The following measurements are taken from speci-
mens in the Museum of Comparative Zoology and the U. S. Na-
tional Museum.

Measurements.—8 males, wing 287-295 (291.4), tail 102.5-119.0
(111.6), culmen from base 41.4-46.5 (43.8), tarsus 32.0-35.2 (33.2)
mm.

3 females, wing 287-298 (292), tail 98.7-115.0 (104.4), culmen
from base 42.9-44.5 (43.6), tarsus 32.9-33.3 (33.1) mm.

Wing and tail measurements are difficult to ascertain, since many
specimens show much wear, even breakage in the slender tips of
the longer feathers. Also, immature birds in their first winter do
not appear to develop full bill and tarsus size until they have been
for some time on the wing.

The specimens now known from Panama (including the two col-
lected by Benson) all agree in size with the race aranea. It appears,
therefore, that these birds, like the laughing gull, in southward mi-
gration cross in part to winter on the Pacific side of Panama.

HYDROPROGNE CASPIA (Pallas): Caspian Tern; Gaviotin Piquirojo
Sterna caspia Pallas, Novi Comm. Acad. Sci. Petrop., pt. 1, 1770, p. 582, pl. 22.

(Caspian Sea, southern Russia.)

Differs from the royal tern in red bill, tail only slightly forked,
and elongated crest feathers rounded, with the free ends smoothly
blended.

Description—Length, 480 to 540 mm. Adult (sexes alike) in
breeding dress, crown including upper half of lores and side of head
immediately behind eye, black; rest of upperparts light gray, be-
coming white on upper tail coverts, and pale grayish white on tail;
line on lower eyelid, and under surface, including under wing
coverts, white; inner webs of primaries dark gray.

Winter plumage, crown, including forehead and side of head,
dusky black streaked with white.

Immature, upperparts paler, with a few dusky spots; crown with
more white.

Iris dark brown; bill deep red, with the tip orange or yellowish
orange; legs and feet black.

Measurements.—(from Ridgway, l.c., p. 462).—Males, wing 400-
422 (411.1), tail 130-150 (137.9), exposed culmen 65-75 (69.4),
tarsus 40.5-46 (43.2) mm.

Females, wing 404-423 (416), tail 135-148 (140.2), exposed cul-
men 64-70 (67.5), tarsus 40-44 (42.4) mm.

Migrant from the north. One record at Aligandi, San Blas.

452 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

The Caspian tern breeds locally throughout the Northern Hemis-
phere. In the New World in winter it is found from central Cali-
fornia, the Gulf of Mexico, and North Carolina, south along both
coasts of México, and in the Greater Antilles east to Haiti. To the
southward it is regular in northern Colombia along the Caribbean
coast and on the lower Rio Magdalena but is not reported elsewhere
in South America.

The only record for Panama is of a bird banded by L. Tyler on
South Limestone Island, Georgian Bay, southeastern Ontario, on
June 11, 1955, that was found wounded at Aligandi, San Blas, on
the evening of November 12 of that year. It died the following
morning, according to the report forwarded by Dr. Alcibiades Igle-
sias.

It seems probable that the species may come in small numbers
along the eastern coast of the San Blas, as it is recorded from Puerto
Colombia and Cartagena, Colombia. The red bill is the most definite
mark of the species during flight.

In Spain the Caspian tern is known as pagasa piquirojo.

STERNA HIRUNDO HIRUNDO Linnaeus: Common Tern;
Gaviotin Comin

Sterna Hirundo Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 137. (Sweden.)

Gray above, with the back of the head and shoulder black.

Description—Length, 290 to 320 mm. Outer tail feathers with
outer web dark, and inner web white. Breeding dress, crown and
nape black; rest of upper surface light gray; outer primaries with
outer web black; outer webs of others gray ; lower surface white.

Winter plumage, forepart of crown white; space around eye, rest
of crown and nape black; lesser wing coverts dusky; otherwise as
in summer. In many the silvery gray of the outer webs of the pri-
maries wears thin to show black beneath.

Immature, like winter adults, but tertials with a dusky subterminal
bar, and white tip.

Measurements. (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 494).—Males, wing 256-
273 (265.6), tail 128-174 (148.9), culmen 33-39 (37.2), tarsus 18-
20.5 (19.2) mm.

Females, wing 235-273 (257.7), tail 132.5-161.5 (147.4), culmen
32-40.5 (35.7), tarsus 17.5-20 (18.9) mm.

Migrant from the north. Fairly common on both coasts; occasional
on Gatun Lake and other large inland waters.

The main flight from the north appears to come in October and

FAMILY LARIDAE 453

November, and the return northward is mainly in April. Numbers
of nonbreeding individuals, in immature (or winter) plumage, re-
main through the months of northern summer. In 1953, on June
11, I collected one on the lower Rio San Pablo, near Guarumal in
southern Veraguas. Others were recorded later in this month at
Riomar, Playa Coronado, and Nueva Gorgona along the Pacific
coast and on the Rio Chagres above Gamboa in the Caribbean drain-
age. Eisenmann (Condor, 1957, p. 252) recorded them in Almirante
Bay, Bocas del Toro, June 29, 1956. There are numerous other sum-
mer records. These terns range regularly through Gatun Lake, and
less commonly over the broad reaches of the Chagres between Gam-
boa and Juan Mina.

In 32 records for Panama of birds banded on their northern nest-
ing grounds the majority were marked in Ontario, with others from
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. Only four came from
east coast colonies in Massachusetts, New York and Maryland. Of
the total returns 30 are of birds that died during their first winter.

Common terns range alone or in small groups, usually in flight
a few meters above the water, which they scan with bills pointed
downward. When small fishes appear they dive instantly in attempt
to seize them. Near Isla Taboga in December I have recorded flocks
of 30 to 40 resting in company on calm water, and off the Balboa
entrance of the Canal I have seen 20 or more crowded together on
the base of a buoy. Near Punta Mala I have observed one in com-
pany with black terns, resting on a stick of driftwood 5 kilometers
or so offshore. And in Almirante Bay I have seen them with royal
terns standing on snags stranded in shallow water. One that I shot
here February 20, 1958, was in very badly worn plumage on the
wing coverts and the whole upper surface.

[It is probable that Sterna paradisaea Pontoppidan, the Arctic tern,
gaviotin drtico, which includes the eastern Pacific in its migrations
from northern breeding grounds may come casually into offshore
Panamanian waters. The nearest record to date is an adult female
in the British Museum (Natural History) taken during the St.
George Expedition on October 4, 1924, “at sea 300 m. S. of Panama.”
As the ship was en route to Isla Gorgona this would have been ap-
proximately 200 kilometers from the coast of Colombia. The species
has been found in considerable numbers at sea off Pert and Chile,
and is reported casually on the coast of the latter country.

The Arctic tern differs from the common tern in grayer color
on the ventral surface and in the shorter tarsus, which measures
13:5 to’ 16. mm;]

454 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

STERNA ANAETHETUS NELSONI Ridgway: Bridled Tern;
Gaviotina Monja

Sterna anaetheta nelsoni Ridgway, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 8, June 26,

1919, pp. 487 (in key), 514. (Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, México.)

In life, in general appearance like Sterna fuscata, but dark gray
on the back, and with a grayish white ring on the hindneck.

Description—Length, 375-400 mm. Adult, crown, hindneck, and
a heavy line through the lores to the eye deep black; base of hind-
neck grayish white, forming a distinct collar; upper back, rump,
and upper tail coverts dark gray; wing coverts, tertials, and middle
of back dark grayish brown; primaries, primary coverts, and.second-
aries black; tail feathers white basally; outer pair with outer
web white and inner web dusky toward tip; forehead, and sides of
crown back past the eyes, and under surface white, with the breast
and abdomen tinged strongly with pale gray.

Immature, crown and upper hindneck dusky, with the feathers
bordered with plain gray; back, rump, and upper tail coverts grayish
brown, barred indefinitely with grayish white; wings dusky, with
the coverts edged with grayish white; under surface white, tinged
very slightly with gray on the lower breast and abdomen.

Iris brown; bill, tarsi, and feet black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, L.c., p. 514).—Males, wing 260-274
(267.7), tail 163-178 (170), exposed culmen 41.5-44.0 (42.0), tarsus
20.0-21.5 (20.7) mm.

Females, wing 260-270 (265), tail 169-170 (169.5), exposed cul-
men 36.0-40.5 (38.2), tarsus 20 mm.

Believed to nest on Los Frailes, off Punta Mala.

The first record of this tern for Panama was an immature female
sent to me by Charles L. Fagan, wireless operator on the Grace Line
S.S. Santa Elisa, a bird that came aboard his ship at midnight on
September 24, 1922, when the ship was abeam of Punta Mala. To
date this is the only specimen recorded for Panamanian waters.

On February 6, 1956, as the Air Force crash boat on which I
returned from Isla Coiba passed the two rocks of Frailes del Sur,
scores of terns appeared over the sea, with hundreds more over
the larger of the two islets. They continued in numbers near the
boat as far as Isla Iguana, and occasional individuals were noted
north nearly to Isla Otoque. A few that came near were identified
as the present species, but I believe now that part were Sterna fuscata
crissalis. None were seen when I had passed on the trip outward on
January 6, so that I believed that those observed on the return voy-
age had come in recently from the sea.

FAMILY LARIDAE 455

Apparently these terns may follow a breeding schedule that is
not based on a 12-month annual cycle, as on a trip on the launch
Sea Raider with Capt. Richard E. Parker, on February 25 and 26,
1957, that I made especially to look for them, no terns were found.

Robert Cushman Murphy (Nat. Hist., 1938, p. 177) in September
1937 found numbers of bridled terns around Cabo Marzo and the
Octavia Rocks, on the Coast of Chocd, a short distance south of
the Panamanian boundary. Robins (Condor, 1958, p. 302) re-
corded them in July 1957 from Punta Garachiné to beyond Bahia
Pifias. And Dennis R. Paulson, on the yacht Argosy, saw a num-
ber south of Isla San José September 7, and others near Bahia Pifias,
September 12, 1961.

It is probable that the race Sterna anaethetus recognita Mathews,
which has nested in Caribbean waters on islands off British Honduras,
and at a number of islands in the West Indies, will be found even-
tually on the northern shore of Panama. It differs from S. a. nelsoni
in having the under surface of the body pure white and, with the
wing ranging from 251 to 263 mm., averages slightly smaller.

STERNA FUSCATA Linnaeus: Sooty Tern; Gaviotin de Dorso Negro

Medium size; black above, white below.

Description —Length, 340 to 390 mm. Adult, line from gape to
around eye and entire upper surface black; forehead, side of fore
crown back above eye, and undersurface white, tinged faintly with
gray on posterior area; outer rectrix white basally and on outer
web; inner web black at tip.

Immature, in first plumage, above, including side of neck, wings,
and tail sooty black; wing coverts, back, rump, and tail tipped with
dull buff or white; under surface dusky gray; abdomen partly
white; flanks and under tail coverts tipped with dull cinnamon-
buff.

Iris dark brown; bill black; tarsus and toes dusky black.

This is a tern of worldwide range in tropical and subtropical seas
that is littl known in Panama. Two races are recorded, one on
the Pacific side of the Isthmus and one on the Atlantic.

STERNA FUSCATA FUSCATA Linnaeus
Sterna fuscata Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 228. (Hispaniola.)

Characters——More distinctly white on the lower surface, with the
gray wash faint, and only on the abdomen and under tail coverts.

456 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50

Measurements (from Murphy, l.c., p. 1123).—Males (from Ba-
hamas, Fernando Noronha, Rocas, South Trinidad, and St. Helena),
wing 285-310 (300), tail 162-177 (168.8), exposed culmen 42-47.6
(44.5), tarsus 22.1-25.2 (23.6) mm.

Females (from Bahamas, Fernando Noronha, South Trinidad, and
St. Helena), wing 292-306 (297.1), tail 152-185.5 (171.3), exposed
culmen 41.2-43 (42.3), tarsus 22-24 (23) mm.

Accidental in occurrence.

Inclusion of the typical race is based on two specimens that I
have examined in the British Museum (Natural History), both well-
marked examples of this subspecies. One was sent by Arcé to Salvin,
who recorded it as from “Santiago de Veragua.” As the locality is
inland, and in the Pacific lowlands, the birds must have been a wan-
derer, perhaps storm-blown, as so often happens with these birds.
The second was forwarded to Salvin by McLeannan and has no
locality data other than “Panama.” Presumably it is from the Carib-
bean side since that is where this collector obtained nearly all of his
birds.

All published records are based on these two skins. Griscom, and
Hellmayr and Conover, recorded the Santiago bird under the name
crissalis through the assumption that it would be the Pacific race be-
cause of the locality.

STERNA FUSCATA CRISSALIS (Lawrence)

Haliplana fuliginosa var. crissalis Lawrence, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol.
14, 1871 (Apr. 1872), p. 285. (Isla Socorro, Islas Revilla Gigedo, México.)

Characters——Similar to Sterna f. fuscata, but with underparts
more strongly gray, a color that extends forward on the breast.

Measurements.—Males (five from Tres Marias, Socorro, and
Panama), wing 278-292 (287), tail 135-174 (150), exposed culmen
40.0-43.5 (41.5), tarsus 21.0-24.0 (22.6) mm.

Females (7 from Tres Marias, Galapagos, and Panama), wing
271-298 (286), tail 124-174 (153), exposed culmen 41.0-43.5 (41.8),
tarsus 21.0-23.0 (22.1) mm.

Breeds on Islas Frailes del Sur, off Punta Mala; ranges the adja-
cent waters of the Gulf of Panama and the open sea.

My second visit to the rocky islets known as Los Frailes off Punta
Mala was made on the launch Barbara II with Captain George Edg-
ington. We came out of a rough overnight anchorage at Isla Iguana
on the morning of March 18, 1962, with a strong wind blowing. As
we approached Los Frailes del Sur I made out circling terns, and

FAMILY LARIDAE 457

to my surprise as we came nearer these proved to be the sooty,
instead of the bridled tern that I had expected, an identification easily
evident since a number of the dark-plumaged immature individuals
were on the wing flying among the adults. The birds circled swiftly
in the strong wind, ranging out for some distance. On watching
we noted that occasionally a group came to the lee of the rocky
islets where the sea was a bit quieter, so that Captain Edgington cir-
cled in this area. Shooting was difficult because of the bucking of
the launch in the rough water, while the force of the wind made
the birds fly so wildly that only occasionally one came within 60
meters when a successful shot was due more to chance than to skill
in marksmanship. I secured 3 adults and 1 juvenile in due course
before the birds would no longer come near, so that we turned away
to head through the rough sea for a sheltered anchorage at Playa
Venado on the southern end of the Azuero Peninsula. It was my
estimate that there were approximately 100 pairs of the terns around
the larger of the two islets of the Frailes del Sur. Young birds, so
far as I could tell, were all on the wing, and the 3 adults taken, two
males and a female, were all past breeding. On the return journey
from the Veraguas coast 12 days later we passed the Frailes before
dawn so that I had no other opportunity for observations.

This is the only specimen record to date for this race of the
sooty tern in Panamanian waters. Their breeding on Los Frailes
apparently is not based on the 12-month cycle of the calendar year,
since none were present when I visited these rocks at the end of
February 1957.

Dennis R. Paulson, traveling on the yacht Argosy, A. Glassell
owner, recorded one seen resting on a bit of driftwood off Isla Pedro
Gonzalez, September 7, 1961.

STERNA ALBIFRONS Pallas: Least Tern; Charrancito

Sterna albifrons Pallas, in Vroeg, Cat. Adumbr., 1764, p. 6. (Maasland, Nether-
lands.)

Smallest of the terns.

Description —Length 210 to 230 mm. Adult, breeding dress, fore-
head, sides of crown back to level of eyes, and entire under surface
white ; a narrow line from lores around eye, crown, and upper hind-
neck black; rest of upper surface, including tail, light neutral gray ;
outer webs of outermost primaries slate black, with inner webs
white.

458 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Winter plumage, lores, forehead, and crown grayish white; a cres-
cent mark around back of head, extended forward to eyes blackish.
In breeding season bill yellow, usually tipped with black; tarsus and
feet orange-yellow ; in winter, bill blackish ; legs and feet dull yellow.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 522).—Males, wing 163-
178 (168.1), tail 70-93 (81.2), culmen 26-31 (28.8), tarsus 14-15.5
(14.5) mm.

Females, wing 160-167 (162.9), tail 61-85.5 (72.9), culmen 25.5-30
(27.5), tarsus 14-16 (14.7) mm.

Migrant from the north. Status uncertain.

The only report for this species is a sight record by Eugene Eisen-
mann, who saw 3 at Coco Solo, Canal Zone, on August 28, 1958, in
company with larger terns.

Two races may be concerned in this species should it be found
regularly in Panama, the subspecies antillarum, paler gray above, of
the eastern United States, and one darker gray, found in the western
Mississippi Valley. The latter has been recognized as a distinct sub-
species, S. a. athalassos, but its separation from the subspecies browni
of California and southward is not certain.

THALASSEUS MAXIMUS MAXIMUS (Boddaert): Royal Tern;
Gaviotin Real

Sterna maxima Boddaert, Table Planch. Enlum., 1783, pl. 58. (French Guiana.)

Largest of the terns found regularly in Panama, larger than the
laughing gull; with orange or yellow bill.

Description.—Length, 460 to 530 mm. Feathers on back of head
elongated, pointed, forming a crest. Adult, in breeding dress with
crown and crest deep black; otherwise as in nonbreeding plumage.

Nonbreeding plumage, forehead, lores, and forepart of crown
white; rest of crown and space around eye streaked with black; crest
sooty black; back and wings light gray; tail pale gray centrally,
with lateral feathers darker; primaries in fresh plumage silvery gray
on the surface of the outer web, black underneath, with the gray
disappearing with wear to leave the feathers dull black.

Iris dark brown; bill orange to yellowish orange; tarsus and toes
black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 468).—Males, wing 360-
382 (371), tail 147.5-192 (171.9), exposed culmen 59-68 (64.1),
tarsus 29.5-34.5 (31.8) mm.

Females, wing 357-393 (374) ; tail 130-196.5 (167.5), exposed cul-
men 57.5-67 (62.7), tarsus 30-34.5 (32.6) mm.

Migrant from breeding grounds outside Panamanian waters. Com-

FAMILY LARIDAE 459

mon on both coasts, with individuals present throughout the year;
found regularly over Gatun Lake.

The royal tern is known to breed on the Pacific coast from San
Diego Bay and Baja California to Sonora and the Islas Tres Marias ;
in Atlantic waters along the shores of Texas and Louisiana, on Cayos
Arcas in the Bahia de Campeche, and from Maryland to Georgia, the
Bahamas, on scattered West Indian islands south to the Grenadines,
on Curacao and Bonaire, and at Islas Los Roques and Las Aves,
Venezuela. Many range to Panamanian waters in the resting period
of their life cycle, the majority found there having the light colored
crown that indicates nonbreeding dress. While they seem most abun-
dant in the period of Northern Hemisphere winter, the information
available does not indicate a clearcut schedule of migratory move-
ments, as they are fairly common at all seasons. It is possible that this
is due to their arrival and departure in Panama from both northern
and tropical centers, where breeding comes at different periods of the
year. They are found in greatest number along the Pacific coast and
in the Chiriqui Lagoon.

Frequently royal terns are seen fishing over the open sea in small
groups of 3 to 6 or so, and at other times they are found in flocks
that rest on sand beaches. I have seen 20 together at La Honda
on the coast of Los Santos in late March, 30 to 40 at Venado Beach,
and 25 to 30 at the Rio Chico in February. Many come to Isla Coiba
where as many as 50 may congregate in Bahia Damas. Here frigate-
birds sometimes pursued them, but the terns seemed to have little
difficulty in avoiding these attacks. There are usually a number about
the Pacific entrance of the Canal, and a few come regularly to Gatun
Lake. At sea they often rest on floating logs or boards, and in the
Chiriqui Lagoon it is common to see them perched on poles standing
in shallow water.

There is much variation in size among them, some of the females
being quite small.

THALASSEUS SANDVICENSIS ACUFLAVIDUS (Cabot):
Sandwich Tern; Gaviotin Patinegro

Ficure 71

Sterna acuflavida Cabot, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, 1847 (1848),
p. 257. (Tancah, Quintana Roo, México.)

A crested tern of medium size, with slender black bill tipped with
yellow.

Description —Length, 320 to 355 mm. Adult, in nesting season with
crown and crest black; at other times crest, nape, and narrow space

460 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

around eye dull black; back of crown gray bordered with white;
forehead, forecrown, lores, and lower hind neck white; rest of
upper surface light gray; primaries in fresh plumage with outer
webs silvery gray, which disappears with wear, leaving this area
black; tail white to light gray centrally; tip gray to dark gray; under
surface white.

Iris brown; bill black, with yellowish tip ; tarsus and toes black.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., pp. 476-477). —Males, wing
259-302 (278.2), tail 122-130 (126.2), exposed culmen 52-54.5
(53.3), tarsus 25-27 (26) mm.

Females, wing 270-294 (283.5), tail 99-121 (111.8), exposed cul-
men 49,5-53.0 (50.9), tarsus 25-26 (25.5) mm.

Fic. 71.—Head of Sandwich tern, gaviotin patinegro, Thalasseus sandvicensis
acuflavidus.

Migrant from the north. Fairly common along the Pacific coast
to the Gulf of Panama; recorded from Permé, San Blas, on the
Caribbean side; found occasionally over Gatun Lake.

This species is seen with fair regularity along the Pacific coast,
mainly in the Gulf of Panama. While most of the reports have been
in the months of northern winter, some nonbreeding individuals may
be found throughout the year. I shot one on June 11, 1953, op-
posite Isla Verde at the head of Golfo Montijo, and Imhof (Auk,
1950, p. 256) has recorded one July 31, 1942, on the coast of Cocle,
below Rio Hato.

My notes include records of 2 near Isla Cébaco, March 20 and
29, 1962. On March 16 and 17, 1958, at Riomar, on the coast near

FAMILY LARIDAE 461

San Carlos, in extreme west Panama Province, 40 or more came
along shore in late afternoon in pursuit of a school of minnows.
I took 3 here. They appear at times at Farfan Beach and off the
causeway near Fort Amador, in the Canal Zone, and also at Panama
Viejo. I have seen one over the wide arm of the Rio Chagres op-
posite Gamboa, and there is record of one on Gatun Lake at Barro
Colorado Island.

The only report for the Caribbean coast is of one taken by Wedel
at Permé, San Blas, on November 30, 1929. Griscom in recording
this (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 322) wrote, “I am
aware of only one previous capture .. . in Panama,” a statement
that I have been unable to verify.

ANOUS STOLIDUS (Linnaeus): Brown Noddy; Cervera
Figure 72
A tern of medium size, dusky brown throughout.

Description —Length, 360 to 385 mm. Adult, plain grayish brown
to sooty brown, somewhat lighter on under surface; nape paler, with

eS “ecw

“
St
— |

——
~~

Fic. 72.—Brown noddy, cervera, Anous stolidus.

a gray wash on the back of the head that becomes progressively lighter
over the crown to the forehead, which may be nearly white.

Immature, usually with less gray on the crown.

Iris dark brown; bill black ; tarsi and toes fuscous; claws black.

These are terns of the oceans that nest on small islands and range
over the open sea. Two of the recognized subspecies are recorded
from Panamanian waters, where, however, they are little known.

462 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

ANOUS STOLIDUS STOLIDUS (Linnaeus)
Sterna stolida Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 137. (West Indies.)

Characters.—General color lighter, and browner ; crown paler gray,
becoming definitely white on the forehead; average size slightly
smaller.

Measurements (from Ridgway, l.c., p. 547).—Males, wing 261.5-
273 (268.1), tail 139-148 (144), exposed culmen 41-44.5 (43.4),
tarsus 23.5-25.5 (24.4) mm.

Females, wing 259-266 (263.3), tail 137.5-140 (138.2), exposed
culmen 39.5-42 (40.5), tarsus 23-24.5 (23.6) mm.

The only records are of a male in the American Museum of Natural
History, taken by R. R. Benson at Cocoplum, Bocas del Toro, No-
vember 2, 1927, and of an immature male in the Herbert Brandt Col-
lection secured by Wedel at Puerto Obaldia, San Blas, August 10,
1934.

The nearest breeding colony that has been recorded is at Serrana
Bank in the Caribbean northeast of Isla de San Andrés.

ANOUS STOLIDUS RIDGWAYI Anthony

Anous stolidus ridgwayi Anthony, Auk, vol. 15, no. 1, 1898, p. 36. (Isla Socorro,
Islas Revilla Gigedo, México.)

Characters—General color darker, with the crown darker gray ; bill
somewhat heavier through the gonydeal angle.

Measurements—Males (4 from Cocos Island), wing 279-292
(286), tail 155-167 (163), exposed culmen 40.2-42.5 (41.3), tarsus
25.0-26.9 (25.8) mm.

Females (6 from Clipperton Island), wing 265-281 (270), tail
146-162 (154), exposed culmen 38-42 (39.6), tarsus 24-24.5 (24.1)
mm.

Apparently breeds on Los Frailes. Status uncertain.

Mrs. Sturgis (Field Book Birds Panama Canal Zone, 1928, p. 105)
has written that she saw many noddies flying off Isla Chepillo, in
Panama Bay, in March 1926. Fleming (Emu, vol. 49, Jan. 1950,
p- 177) recorded a noddy in the Gulf of Panama, resting on floating
drift, on July 20, 1948. The only other report is from an interesting
photograph, given to me by Harry L. Peck of Tonosi. This was made
on May 6, 1949, by a party from the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory
during a journey by launch to the southern end of the Province of
Los Santos. The picture shows a swarm of terns leaving one end
of the larger rock of Frailes del Norte south of Punta Mala. Though

FAMILY RYNCHOPIDAE 463

the birds were at a distance, there is no question that those near at
hand are brown noddy terns. It is also evident that they seemed to
be at a nesting ground. It appears, therefore, that in addition to the
sooty terns that I found at Los Frailes del Sur, two other species,
the bridled tern and the brown noddy, may come to breed on these
two groups of rocks.

The records cited are placed under the name ridgwayi in accordance
with current usage. No specimens from Panamanian waters are
available, but those that I have examined from Cocos Island appear
darker over the body and darker gray on the crown than our series
from along the west coast of México that represent the typical popu-
lation of ridgwayi. In fact, the few seen from Cocos in darker color
show a definite approach to the race galapagensis that nests at the
Galapagos. Birds from Clipperton Island to the north of Cocos also
are somewhat different from the Mexican series.

Murphy (Nat. Hist., vol. 41, 1938, p. 177) has reported many
brown noddies around Cabo Marzo and Octavia Rocks on the coast
of Colombia, a short distance south of boundary with Panama, and
there is record of one taken at Isla de Malpelo, Colombia. In the
collections of the British Museum (Natural History) I have ex-
amined a noddy of this group taken on June 13, 1925, by naturalists
on the St. George Expedition at a point approximately 350 kilometers
west of Isla de Malpelo.

Family RY NCHOPIDAE: Skimmers ; Rayadores

The members of this family in general form of wings and body
resemble large terns, but in detail differ widely. The bill, compressed
laterally from base to tip to a knifelike form, has the lower mandible
considerably longer than the upper. This curious development allows
a peculiar habit of feeding in which the birds fly low with the breast
barely above the water, the head slightly lowered, and the mouth
opened wide so that the lower mandible cuts below the surface to
pick up small fish and crustaceans. It is this habit that gives them
the spanish name of rayador, varied sometimes to arador, or plow-
man, as they seem to draw lines over the surface. Another peculiarity
is found in the eye, in which the pupillar opening, when contracted,
forms a vertical slit, like that in the eye of a cat (see Wetmore, Proc.
Biol. Soc. Washington, 1919, p. 195.) Three species are known, one
in the Americas, another in tropical Africa, and the third in south-
eastern Asia.

464 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

RYNCHOPS NIGRA Linnaeus: Black Skimmer; Rayador
Ficure 73

Like a large tern in form, with a laterally compressed, knifelike
bill, in which the lower mandible is much longer than the upper.

Description—Length, 410 to 460 mm. Adult, in breeding plumage,
sooty black above; wing coverts somewhat browner; secondaries
tipped narrowly with white; tail dark gray edged with white; fore-
head and lower surface white ; under wing coverts pale gray.

Postbreeding adults and immature, browner above, with a white,
or grayish white band on the hindneck.

We

Y.J.JUL

ee

Fic. 73.—Head of black skimmer, rayador, Rynchops nigra.

The black skimmer in the north is mainly a bird of ocean beaches
and salt-water inlets, but in South America it also ranges widely along
the larger rivers. As the few reports for Panama come from both
coasts, two geographic races probably are represented, though only
one from the Caribbean side to date has been verified by a specimen.

RYNCHOPS NIGRA NIGRA Linnaeus
Rynchops nigra Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 138. (Coast of

South Carolina.)

Rynchops nigra oblita Griscom, Ibis, ser. 13, vol. 5, no. 3, July 1, 1935, p. 545.

(Laguna Acapam, Pacific coast of Guatemala.)

Characters——White edgings on secondaries broader ; tail more ex-
tensively white; underwing coverts usually white, though in some
tinged with gray ; somewhat smaller.

Measurements.—Males, wing 364-401 (380), tail 112.0-128.1
(120.4), culmen 63.7-73.8 (69.5), tarsus 30.8-37.8 (34.8) mm.

FAMILY RYNCHOPIDAE 465

Females, wing 331-362 (342), tail 102.6-112.8 (108.4), culmen
51.8-64.8 (56.4), tarsus 26.6-33.7 (30.1) mm.

Presumed to be migrant from the north. Casual in occurrence.

Griscom (Ibis, 1935, p. 545, and also in his check-list) gives a
sight record for the Pacific coast of Veraguas, which must have been
made in the early part of 1924 during a trip out from the Wilcox
camp on the Rio San Lorenzo, west of the entrance of the Golfo de
Montijo. He refers also to “skimmers seen but not collected” by
Arcé, a report that may have been a slip of the pen, as I have not
found any authority for such a record.

In recent years nesting colonies of the black skimmer that have
been found on the western coast of México, in Sonora, Sinaloa, and
Nayarit, are the evident source of the birds reported in the nonbreed-
ing season south to El Salvador. Griscom, on the basis of a small
series of these northern migrants taken on the coast of Guatemala,
described a race oblita. Recent studies indicate that the Pacific popula-
tions do not differ from those of the Atlantic area so that the proposed
form is a synonym of typical nigra.

RYNCHOPS NIGRA CINERASCENS Spix
Rynchops cinerascens Spix, Avium Spec. Nov. Bras., pt. 2, 1825, p. 80, pl.

102. (Rio Amazonas, Brazil.)

Characters.—Differs from typical nigra in lesser extent of the
white edgings on the ends of the secondaries ; tail, in adult, with dark
colors predominating, especially on the inner webs of the feathers;
under wing coverts neutral gray in the adult, sometimes almost white
in immature birds.

Measuremenits.—Males, wing 380-416 (392), tail 111.5-130.3
(113.7), culmen 75.0-87.7 (86.6), tarsus 32.2-38.5 (34.8) mm.

Females, wing 333-375 (353.7), tail 100.3-119.0 (108.8), culmen
59.4-66.8 (64.0), tarsus 28.4-31.5 (30.2) mm.

Casual in occurrence on the Caribbean coast.

A male in the American Museum of Natural History, taken by
R. R. Benson at Cocoplum, Bocas del Toro, October 28, 1927, is a
typical example of this race. Eugene Eisenmann has informed me
that on June 28, 1952, in company with John Bull he saw two
skimmers flying at Fort San Lorenzo on the mouth of the Rio
Chagres. These are the only records.

The subspecies cinerascens of northern South America is common
on the larger rivers of northern Colombia including the Rio Atrato.
It is probable that these birds wander from time to time into
Panamanian waters.

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INDEX

(Spanish vernacular names are printed in italics.)

Abanico, 369
abbreviatus, Buteo albonotatus, 198
Accipiter bicolor bicolor, 174, 190
ruficaudus, 215
striatus velox, 174, 194
superciliosus fontainier, 173, 192
superciliosus superciliosus, 194
Accipitridae, 171, 172
Actitis macularia, 394, 402
macularia macularia, 405
macularia rava, 405
Actodromas Bairdii, 422
acuflavida, Sterna, 459
acuflavidus, Thalasseus sandvicensis,
440, 459
acuta, Anas, 130, 140
aequatorialis, Penelope purpurascens,
298, 302
aequinoctialis, Buteogallus, 230
affinis, Aythya, 130, 148
Fuligula, 148
Agachadiza, 393, 413
Agachona gris piquicorta, 410
Agachona gris piquilarga, 413
agami, Agamia, 78, 95
Ardea, 95
Agamia agami, 78, 95
Aguila blanca y negra, 244
Aguila crestuda negra, 240
Aguila mofiuda, 246
Aguila de penacho, 241
Aguila pescadora, 256
Aguila solitaria, 238
Aguilas, 171
Aguja moteada, 398
Ajaia ajaja, 122, 127
ajaja, Ajaia, 122, 127
Platalea, 127
alba, Crocethia, 393, 416
Scolopax, 125
(alba), Trynga, 416
Albatros cabecigris, 32
Albatros errante, 33
Albatros galapagiienio, 34
Albatroses, 31
Albatross, Galapagos, 32, 34
Gray-headed, 32
Wandering, 32, 33
Albatrosses, 31

albifrons, Sterna, 439, 457
albigularis, Corethrura, 353
Laterallus, 339, 351
Laterallus albigularis, 353
albonotatus, Buteo, 174, 197
Buteo albonotatus, 198
albus, Eudocimus, 122, 125
Alcatraz, 51
alia, Rupornis magnirostris, 216
alius, Buteo magnirostris, 216
americana, Anas, 146
Fulica americana, 339, 363
Mareca, 129, 146
Mycteria, 120
americanus, Daptrius americanus, 259,
276
Falco, 276
Amaurolimnas concolor guatemalensis,
339
Anade real, 139
Anas acuta, 130, 140
americana, 146
autumnalis, 132
bicolor, 131
clypeata, 145
collaris, 150
cyanoptera septentrionalium, 130,
144

discors, 130, 141
discors discors, 142
discors orphna, 144
dominica, 150
moschata, 134
platyrhynchos platyrhynchos, 130,
139
viduata, 130
Anatidae, 129
anatum, Falco peregrinus, 260, 280
Anhinga, 69
Anhinga anhinga anhinga, 72
anhinga leucogaster, 69
anhinga minima, 72
Anhingidae, 69
Anous stolidus, 439, 461
stolidus galapagensis, 463
stolidus ridgwayi, 462
stolidus stolidus, 462

467

468

Anseriformes, 129
antarcticus, Podiceps, 27
Podilymbus podiceps, 27
anthracinus, Buteogallus, 174, 230, 231,
232
Buteogallus anthracinus, 235
Falco, 235
antillarum, Podilymbus podiceps, 26
Aphriza virgata, 394, 407
Aramidae, 334
Aramides axillaris, 339, 346
cajanea, 339, 341
cajanea cajanea, 344, 347
cajanea latens, 345
cajanea morrisoni, 345
Aramus guarauna, 335
guarauna dolosus, 338
guarauna guarauna, 337
pictus dolosus, 338
aranea, Gelochelidon nilotica, 439, 449
Sterna, 449
Ardea, 78
Agami, 95
caerulea, 91
cayennensis, 102
cocoi, 78, 81, 82
crythromelas, 113
Egretta, 88
exilis, 113
herodias, 78, 80
herodias fannini, 82
herodias herodias, 80, 82
herodias lessonii, 81
Hoactli, 99
Ibis, 93
lentiginosa, 112
lineata, 106
pileata, 97
ralloides, 95
striata, 86
Thula, 89
violacea, 101
virescens, 84
Ardeidae, 78
Ardeola, 95
Arenaria interpres morinella, 394, 408
arguta, Rupornis magnirostris, 213
argutus, Buteo magnirostris, 213
Astur mirandollei, 264
Asturina nitida costaricensis, 201
ruficauda, 215
athalassos, Sterna albifrons, 458
atratus, Coragyps, 154
Coragyps atratus, 161

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOL. 150

atricilla, Larus, 439, 442
audubonii, Caracara plancus, 273
Polyborus, 273
aura, Cathartes, 154, 161
Cathartes aura, 165
Vultur, 165
australis, Rhynchortyx cinctus, 333
autumnalis, Anas, 132
Dendrocygna autumnalis, 129, 132
Aves del trépico, 48
Avetoro pasajero, 112
Avocetas, 427
Avocets, 427
axillaris, Aramides, 339, 346
Aythya affinis, 130, 148
collaris, 130, 150
azarae, Buteogallus urubitinga, 230

Bairdii, Actodromas, 422
bairdii, Erolia, 395, 422
balzarensis, Geranospiza caerulescens,
255
Ischnosceles caerulescens, 253, 255
bancrofti, Nyctanassa violacea, 101
Bandurria comin, 126
bangsi, Buteogallus anthracinus, 234,
235, 236
Urubitinga anthracina, 236
Bartramia longicauda, 394, 395
beldingi, Charadrius wilsonia, 392
Pagolla wilsonia, 392
Belonopterus chilensis, 382
chilensis cayennensis, 383
bendirei, Falco columbarius, 290
bicolor, Accipiter bicolor, 174, 190
Anas, 131
Dendrocygna bicolor, 129, 131
Sparvius, 190
bidentatus, Harpagus bidentatus, 184,
186
Bittern, American, 79, 112
Least, 79, 113
blakei, Buteo nitidus, 174, 199
Boba blanca, 63
Boba borrega, 60
Bobas, 55
Bobwhite, 316
Crested, 311
bonapartei, Nothocercus, 6
Boobies, 55
Booby, Blue-faced, 56, 60
Blue-footed, 56, 61
Brown, 56
Red-footed, 55, 63

INDEX

borealis, Buteo jamaicensis, 215
Botaurus lentiginosus, 79, 112
pinnatus, 113
Bougainvillii, Carbo, 65
bougainvillii, Phalacrocorax, 65
brachypterus, Colymbus dominicus, 28
Podiceps dominicus, 28, 31
brachyurus, Buteo, 174, 202
brasiliensis, Cathartes, 157
Coragyps atratus, 157
brevirostre, Tigrisoma salmoni, 112
brewsteri, Egretta thula, 91
browni, Sterna albifrons, 458
brunneiventris, Tinamus major, 12
brunnescens, Penelope purpurascens,
302
Bubulcus, 95
ibis ibis, 78, 92, 93
buffoni, Circus, 272, 273
Buitres Americanos, 153
bulleri, Diomedea, 33
burrovianus, Cathartes, 154
Cathartes burrovianus, 168
Busarellus nigricollis nigricollis, 173,
227
Buteo albicaudatus hypospodius, 174,
195
albonotatus, 174, 197
albonotatus abbreviatus, 198
albonotatus albonotatus, 198
brachyurus, 174, 202
Harrisi, 226
jamaicensis, 174, 206
jamaicensis borealis, 215
jamaicensis calurus, 208
jamaicensis costaricensis, 201, 206
magnirostris, 174, 211
magnirostris alius, 216
magnirostris argutus, 213
magnirostris griseocauda, 216
magnirostris insidiatrix, 214, 215,
217
magnirostris magniplumis, 216
magnirostris petulans, 214, 215,
216
melanoleucus, 244
nitidus blakei, 174, 199
platypterus platypterus, 174, 204
swainsoni, 174, 208
Buteogallus aequinoctialis, 230
anthracinus, 174, 230, 231, 232
anthracinus anthracinus, 235
anthracinus bangsi, 234, 235, 236
anthracinus rhizophorae, 237

469

Buteogallus anthracinus subtilis, 237
gundlachii, 231, 234
urubitinga, 173, 229
urubitinga azarae, 230
urubitinga ridgwayi, 231
urubitinga urubitinga, 232

Butorides striatus, 79, 84
striatus patens, 86, 87, 88
striatus robinsoni, 88
striatus striatus, 86
virescens, 79, 83
virescens maculatus, 85, 86, 88
virescens margaritophilus, 86
virescens virescens, 84

Buzo, 25

Cacao, 276
cachinnans, Falco, 260
Gallinula chloropus, 358
Herpetotheres, 259
Herpetotheres cachinnans, 260
caerulea, Ardea, 91
Florida, 79, 91
caerulescens, Ischnosceles, 173, 253
Ischnosceles caerulescens, 254
Sparvius, 253
Cairina moschata, 129, 134
cajanea, Aramides, 339, 341
Aramides cajanea, 334, 347
Fulica, 344
Calidris canutus rufa, 394, 415
californicus, Podiceps caspicus, 31
caliginis, Nyctanassa violacea, 101, 103
calurus, Buteo jamaicensis, 208
Camandy, 61
cancrivora, Urubitinga anthracina, 235
Cancroma Cochlearia, 116
maculata, 85
Capella, 415
gallinago delicata, 413
capnodes, Crypturellus soui, 21
Caracara, 259, 271
Caracara plancus, 259, 271
plancus audubonii, 273
plancus cheriway, 273
Red-throated, 259, 276
Yellow-headed, 259, 274
Caracaras, 259
Carancho, 259, 271
Carbo Bougainvillii, 65
Carnifex naso, 266
carolina, Porzana, 339, 350
carolinensis, Falco Haliaétos, 256
Pandion haliaetus, 256
Pelecanus occidentalis, 51

470

carolinus, Rallus, 350
Carrao, 334, 335
Carrasqueadora, 351
Casmerodius albus egretta, 78, 88
caspia, Hydroprogne, 440, 451
Sterna, 451
castaneiceps, Tinamus major, 10
castigatus, Odontophorus gujanensis,
321
castro, Oceanodroma, 43
Catharacta skua, 433
skua chilensis, 435
Cathartes aura, 154, 161
aura aura, 165
aura meridionalis, 165
aura ruficollis, 161, 166
aura teter, 165
brasiliensis, 157
burrovianus, 154
burrovianus burrovianus, 168
burrovianus urubitinga, 171
Cathartidae, 153, 154
Catoptrophorus semipalmatus inorna-
tus, 393, 406
semipalmatus semipalmatus, 407
caudatus, Scolopax, 126
Theristicus caudatus, 122, 126
cayanensis, Falco, 186
Leptodon cayanensis, 172, 186
cayannensis, Parra, 383
cayennensis, Ardea, 102
Belonopterus chilensis, 383
Mesembrinibis, 122
Nyctanassa violacea, 102
Tantalus, 122
centralis, Gallinula chloropus, 358, 359
Centropelma micropterum, 24
cerceris, Gallinula chloropus, 359
Cerceta ala-azul, 141
Cerceta colorado, 144
Cernicalo, 291
Cervera, 461
Chachalaca, Gray-headed, 293, 305
Chamaepetes unicolor, 293, 303
chapmani, Herpetotheres cachinnans,
263
Odontophorus guianensis, 319
Charadriidae, 382
Charadriiformes, 372
Charadrius collaris, 383, 387
Dominicus, 385
Mexicanus, 428
semipalmatus, 383, 386
vociferus, 383

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOL. 150

Charadrius vociferus vociferus, 390
wilsonia, 383, 391
wilsonia beldingi, 392
wilsonia wilsonia, 391
Charrancito, 457
cheriway, Caracara plancus, 273
Falco, 273
Chicuaco, 86
chihi, Plegadis, 124
chilensis, Belonopterus, 382
Catharacta skua, 435
Parra, 384
chimachima, Milvago chimachima, 276
Chimango, 274
Chlidonias niger surinamensis, 439, 448
Chloropus, Fulica, 357
chloropus, Gallinula, 339, 357
chlororhynchus, Puffinus pacificus, 42
chocoensis, Ortalis cinereiceps, 306,
307
Chondrohierax uncinatus
172, 188
Chorlitejo semipalmeado, 386
Chorlito canelo, 426
Chorlito de rompiente, 407
Chorlito dorado, 385
Chorlito gris, 384
Chorlito gritén, 390
Chorlito patilargo, 425
Chorlito piquigordo, 391
Chorlitos, 382
chrysostoma, Diomedea, 32
Ciconia mycteria, 120
Ciconiidae, 119, 120
Ciconiiformes, 78
Cigiiefias, 119
Cigtienuelas, 427
cinctus, Odontophorus, 330
Rhynchortyx, 311
Rhynchortyx cinctus, 330
cinerascens, Rynchops nigra, 465
cinereiceps, Laterallus albigularis, 354
Ortalida, 307
Ortalis, 293, 304, 305
Ortalis cinereiceps, 306, 307
Porzana, 354
cinnamomea, Tringa solitaria, 402
cinnamomeus, Totanus solitarius, 402
Circaétus solitarius, 238
Circus buffoni, 272, 273
cyaneus hudsonius, 173, 251
clypeata, Anas, 145
Spatula, 129, 145
Cocaleca cabecicastaiia, 346

uncinatus,

INDEX 471
Cocaleca gris, 341 Correlona, 395
Cocalecas, 338 costaricensis, Asturina nitida, 201

Cocalequita enana, 348
Cocalequita pasajera, 350
Cocalequita pechiceniza, 355
Cocalequita pintada, 364
Cochlearia, Cancroma, 116
Cochleariidae, 114
Cochlearius cochlearius, 115
cochlearius cochlearius, 116
cochlearius panamensis, 115, 117,
118
cochlearius zeledoni, 115
zeledoni panamensis, 118
Coco blanco, 125
cocoi, Ardea, 78, 81, 82
Cocolino, 229
Cocos, 122
Codornices, 310
Codorniz, 311
Codorniz nortena, 316
colchicus, Phasianus, 333
Colinus cristatus, 311
cristatus leucotis, 313
cristatus mariae, 315
cristatus panamensis, 314
cristatus sonnini, 313
leucopogon, 313
leucotis panamensis, 314
virginianus, 316
collaris, Anas, 150
Aythya, 130, 150
Charadrius, 383, 387
coloratus, Odontophorus
325, 326
columbarius, Falco, 260, 288
Falco columbarius, 289
Colymbus dominicus brachypterus, 28
fulica, 366
podiceps, 27
Coot, American, 339, 363
Coots, 338
Coragyps atratus, 154
atratus atratus, 161
atratus brasiliensis, 157
cordatus, Milvago chimachima, 259,
274
Corethrura albigularis, 353
Corethrura Gautemalensis, 339
Cormorant, Olivaceous, 65
Peruvian, 65
Cormorants, 64
Corocoro, 122
coronatus, Harpyhaliaetus, 239
Correlimos comin, 424

melanotis,

Buteo jamaicensis, 201, 206
Leucopternis albicollis, 173, 217
Leucopternis ghiesbreghti, 217
Cracidae, 293
Crake, Uniform, 339
Crax rubra, 293
rubra griscomi, 298
rubra rubra, 293
Creagrus furcatus, 439, 446
crissalis, Haliplana fuliginosa, 456
Sterna fuscata, 456
cristatus, Colinus, 311
Tetrao, 311
Crocethia alba, 393, 416
Crypturellus soui, 6, 17
soui capnodes, 21
soui modestus, 17, 20, 23
soui panamensis, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22
soui poliocephalus, 17, 18, 22, 24
Crypturus modestus, 20
soui harterti, 22, 23, 24
soui panamensis, 22
Crypturornis soui poliocephalus, 22
crythromelas, Ardea, 113
Cuervo de aguja, 69
Cuervo marino, 64, 65
Cuiscut, 211
Curassow, Central American, 293
Curassows, 293

dabbenena, Diomedea exulans, 34
dactylatra, Sula, 56, 60
Sula dactylatra, 60
Danzarina, 43
Daptrius americanus americanus 259,
276
americanus guatemalensis, 279
deiroleucus, Falco, 260, 281
delawarensis, Larus, 439, 441
delicata, Capella gallinago, 413
Scolopax, 413
Dendrocygna autumnalis autumnalis,
129, 132
autumnalis fulgens, 134
bicolor bicolor, 121, 131
viduata, 129, 130
dialeucos, Odontophorus, 311, 327
diodon, Harpagus, 186
Diomedea bulleri, 33
cauta salvini, 33
chrysostoma, 32
exulans, 32, 33
exulans dabbenena, 34

472 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 150

Diomedea irrorata, 32, 34
Diomedeidae, 31, 32
discors, Anas, 130, 141
Anas discors, 142
dolosus, Aramus guarauna, 338
Aramus pictus, 338
dominica, Anas, 150
Oxyura, 130, 150
Pluvialis dominica, 382, 385
Dominicus, Charadrius, 385
dominicus, Podiceps, 25
Podiceps dominicus, 31
Dowitcher, Long-billed, 394, 413
Short-billed, 394, 410
Duck, American comb, 129, 137
Black-bellied tree, 129, 132
Fulvous tree, 129, 131
Masked, 130, 150
Muscovy, 129, 134
Ring-necked, 130, 150
White-faced tree, 129, 130
Ducks, 129
Dunlin, 394, 424
durnfordi, Haematopus palliatus, 381

Eagle, Crested, 172, 246
Harpy, 172, 249
Solitary, 173, 238
Eagles, 171
Egret, Cattle, 78, 93
Common, 78, 88
Snowy, 78, 89
Egretta, 91
ruficollis, 92
thula brewsteri, 91
thula thula, 78, 89
Egretta, Ardea, 88
egretta, Casmerodius albus, 78, 88
Elanoides forficatus, 172
forficatus forficatus, 176
forficatus yetapa, 175
Ereunetes mauri, 395, 418, 419
pusillus, 395, 417
Erolia alpina pacifica, 394, 424
bairdii, 395, 422
fuscicollis, 394, 421
melanotos, 395, 423
minutilla, 395, 420
erythromelas, Ixobrychus exilis, 113
erythrorhynchos, Pelecanus, 51
etesiaca, Sula leucogaster, 58
Eudocimus albus, 122, 125
Eurypyga helias helias, 371
helias major, 369
Eurypygidae, 369

excisa, Sula nebouxii, 63
Ardea, 113
Ixobrychus, 79, 113
Ixobrychus exilis, 113, 114
Laterallus, 339, 355
Rallus, 355
extimus, regen mirandollei, 264,
26.
exulans, Diomedea, 32, 33

Faisén comin, 333

Faisana, 293, 305

Faisanes, 310

Falaropos, 429

falcinellus, Plegadis falcinellus, 122,

124

Falcinellus, Tantalus, 124

Falco americanus, 276
anthracinus, 235
cachinnans, 260
cayanensis, 186
cheriway, 273
columbarius, 260, 288
columbarius bendirei, 290
columbarius columbarius, 289
deiroleucus, 260, 281
femoralis femoralis, 260, 287
femoralis septentrionalis, 288
guianensis, 246
Haliaétos carolinensis, 256
hamatus, 182
hudsonius, 251
jamaicensis, 206
magnirostris, 211
meridionalis, 223
nigricollis, 227
peregrinus, 283
peregrinus anatum, 260, 280
Plancus, 271
plumbeus, 177
rufigularis petoensis, 260, 283
rufigularis rufigularis, 286
sparverius sparverius, 260, 291
uncinatus, 188
Urubitinga, 232
velox, 194

Falcon, Aplomado, 260, 287
Bat, 260, 283
Laughing, 259, 260
Orange-breasted, 260, 281
Peregrine, 260, 280

Falconidae, 259

Falconiformes, 153

Falcons, 259

fannini, Ardea herodias, 82

INDEX

fasciatus, Harpagus bidentatus, 172,
184

fedoa, Limosa, 393, 398
Fedoa, Scolopax, 398
femoralis, Falco femoralis, 260, 287
Finfoot, American, 366
Finfoots, 365
flavipes, Scolopax, 399
Totanus, 394, 399
flaviventer, Porzana flaviventer, 339,
348
Rallus, 348
Florida caerulea, 79, 91
fontainier, Accipiter superciliosus, 173,
192
Forest-falcon, Barred, 259, 268
Collared, 259, 266
Slaty-backed, 259, 264
Forest-falcons, 259
forficatus, Elanoides, 172
Elanoides forficatus, 176
frantzii, Nothocercus bonapartei, 14
Ortalida, 308
Ortalis cinereiceps, 307, 308
Tinamus, 14
frazari, Haematopus palliatus, 381, 382
Fregata magnificens, 73
magnificens lowei, 77
magnificens rothschildi, 77
minor palmerstoni, 77
minor ridgwayi, 77
Fregatidae, 72
Frigatebird, Magnificent, 73
Frigatebirds, 72
fulgens, Dendrocygna autumnalis, 134
fulica, Colymbus, 366
Heliornis, 366
Fulica americana americana, 339, 363
cajanea, 344
Chloropus, 357
martinica, 360
spinosa, 372
Fulicaria, Tringa, 430
fulicarius, Phalaropus, 430
Fuligula affinis, 148
furcatus, Creagrus, 439, 446
Larus, 446
fuscata, Sterna, 440, 455
Sterna fuscata, 455
fuscicollis, Erolia, 394, 421
Tringa, 421
fuscipennis, Tinamus major, 6, 10, 12

Gabdn, 120

473

galapagensis, Anous stolidus, 463
Haematopus palliatus, 382

galapagoensis, Oceanites gracilis, 45

galeata, Numida meleagris, 334

Galliformes, 293

Gallina de Guinea, 333, 334

Gallinago, 415

Gallinago, Scolopax, 415

Gallinazo, 157

Gallineta cenicienta, 363

Gallineta de agua, 338, 357

Gallinula chloropus, 339, 357
chloropus cachinnans, 358
chloropus centralis, 358, 359
chloropus cerceris, 359
chloropus pauxilla, 359

Gallinule, Common, 339, 357
Purple, 339, 360

Gallinules, 338

Gallito de agua barbudo, 376

Gallito de agua castaiio, 372

Gallito del monte fajeado, 327

Gallito del monte jaspeado, 311, 316

Gallito del monte menor, 330

Gallito del monte pechicastafio, 325

Gallito del monte pechinegro, 328

Gallito del monte pintado, 322

Gallitos de agua, 372

Gannets, 55

Garceta azul, 91

Garceta blanca, 89, 91

Garcilla bueyera, 93

garrula, Ortalis, 306, 307

Garza blanca, 88

Garza enana, 113

Garza paleta, 122, 127

Garza pechiblanca, 92

Garza pechicastaia, 95

Garza real, 97

Garza tigre oscura, 109

Garza tigre rayada, 106

Garzas, 78

Garzon cenizo, 80

Garzén moreno, 82

Garzon soldado, 120

Garzota cuchara, 114, 115

Gautemalensis, Corethrura, 339

Gavilan acanelado, 223

Gavildén andapié, 226

Gavildn azul, 221

Gavildn bidente, 184

Gavilan blanco, 217

Gavilan cabecigris, 186

Gavilén cangrejero, 232

Gavildn caracolero, 180

474

Gavilan cenizo, 220

Gavildn cola corta, 202

Gavilan de ciénaga, 227

Gavilan de paso, 204

Gavilan gris, 199

Gavilan negro, 197

Gavilan pantalén, 190

Gavilan piquidelgado, 182

Gavilan piquiganchudo, 188

Gavilén plomizo, 177

Gavilan rayado, 222

Gavildn sabanero, 251

Gavilan tejé, 195

Gavildn tijereta, 175

Gavilancito de paso, 194

Gavilancito enano, 192

Gavilanes, 171

Gaviota argentea, 441

Gaviota de Franklin, 445

Gaviota de pico anillado, 441

Gaviota de Sabine, 447

Gaviota garuma, 440

Gaviota rabihorcado, 446

Gaviota reidora, 442

Gaviotas, 438

Gaviotas salteadoras, 433

Gaviotin comin, 452

Gaviotin de dorso negro, 455

Gaviotin negro, 448

Gaviotin patinegro, 459

Gaviotin piquigordo, 449

Gaviotin piquirojo, 451

Gaviotin real, 458

Gaviotina monja, 454

Gaviotines, 438

Gelochelidon nilotica aranea, 439, 449
nilotica vanrossemi, 450

Geranospiza, 253
caerulescens balzarensis, 255

Godwit, Marbled, 393, 398

Golondrina de mar chica, 45

Golondrina de mar menuda, 45

Golondrina de mar negra, 47

gracilis, Oceanites, 43, 45
Thalassidroma, 45

granti, Sula dactylatra, 61

Grebe, Least, 25, 28
Pied-billed, 25

Grebes, 24

griscomi, Crax rubra, 298

grisea, Procellaria, 36

griseocauda, Buteo magnirostris, 216

griseus, Limnodromus, 394, 410
Limnodromus griseus, 411
Puffinus, 35, 36

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOL. 150

griseus, Scolopax, 411
Gruiformes, 334
Guala, 168
Guan, Black, 293, 303
Crested, 293, 298
Guanay, 65
Guans, 293
Guaraguao, 206
guarauna, Aramus, 335
Aramus guarauna, 337
Scolopax, 337
guatemalensis, Amaurolimnas concolor,
339
Daptrius americanus, 279
guerilla, Micrastur ruficollis, 270
guianensis, Falco, 246
Morphnus, 172, 246
Giiichichi, 132
Guineafowl, 333
Guinea-hen, 334
Guiio, 253
gujanensis, Odontophorus, 311, 316
Tetrao, 316
Gull, Franklin’s, 439, 445
Gray, 439, 440
Herring, 439, 441
Laughing, 439, 442
Ring-billed, 439, 441
Sabine’s, 439, 447
Swallow-tailed, 439, 446
Gulls, 438
gundlachii, Buteogallus, 231, 234
guttata, Ortyx, 322
guttatus, Odontophorus, 311, 322

Haematopodidae, 378

Haematopus ostralegus, 381
palliatus, 381
palliatus durnfordi, 381
palliatus frazari, 381, 382
palliatus galapagensis, 382
palliatus pitanay, 379
palliatus prattii, 381

Halcén Azulado, 287

Halcon cazamurciélagos, 283

Halcon de paso, 288

Halcoén del monte Collarejo, 266

Halcoén del monte rayado, 268

Halcon gateador, 264

Halcon pechicastafio, 281

Halcén peregrino, 280

Halcones, 259

Halcones del monte, 259

Haliplana fuliginosa crissalis, 456

Halocyptena microsoma, 42, 43, 45

INDEX

hamatus, Falco, 182
Helicolestes, 172, 182
Harpagus bidentatus bidentatus, 184,
186
bidentatus fasciatus, 172, 184
diodon, 186
Harpia, 249
Harpia harpyja, 172, 249
Harpyhaliaetus, 239
coronatus, 239
coronatus solitarius, 239
harpyja, Harpia, 172, 249
Vultur, 249
Harrisi, Buteo, 226
harrisi, Parabuteo unicinctus, 173, 226
harterti, Crypturus soui, 22, 23, 24
Hawk, Barred, 173, 222
Bicolored, 174, 190
Black-collared, 173, 227
Broad-winged, 174, 204
Crane, 173, 253
Gray, 174, 199
Greater Black, 173, 229
Harris’s, 173, 226
Large-billed, 174, 211
Lesser Black, 174, 232
Marsh, 173, 251
Pigeon, 260, 288
Plumbeous, 173, 221
Red-tailed, 174, 206
Savanna, 173, 223
Semiplumbeous, 173, 220
Sharp-shinned, 174, 194
Short-tailed, 174, 202
Sparrow, 260, 291
Swainson’s, 174, 208
Tiny, 173, 192
White, 173, 217
White-tailed, 174, 195
Zone-tailed, 174, 197
Hawk eagle, Barred, 173, 241
Black, 173, 240
Black-and-white, 172, 244
Hawks, 171
heermanni, Larus, 440
helias, Eurypyga helias, 371
Helicolestes hamatus, 172, 182
Heliornis fulica, 366
Heliornithidae, 365
hendersoni, Limnodromus griseus, 412
herodias, Ardea, 78, 80
Ardea herodias, 80, 82
Heron, Agami, 78, 95
Black-crowned night, 79, 99
Boat-billed, 114, 115

475

Heron, Capped, 78, 97
Cocoi, 78, 82
Great Blue, 78, 80
Green, 79, 83
Little Blue, 79, 91
Striated, 79, 86
Tricolored, 79, 92
Yellow-crowned night, 79, 100
Herons, 78
Herpetotheres cachinnans, 259
cachinnans cachinnans, 260
cachinnans chapmani, 263
cachinnans queribundus, 263
sociabilis, 180
Heterocnus mexicanus, 79, 103, 106
Heterospizias meridionalis meridion-
alis, 173, 223
meridionalis rufulus, 225
himantopus, Micropalama, 394, 425
Tringa, 425
Himantopus mexicanus, 428
hirundo, Sterna hirundo, 439, 452
Hoactli, Ardea, 99
hoactli, Nycticorax nycticorax, 79, 99
hudsonicus, Numenius phaeopus, 393,
396
hudsonius, Circus cyaneus, 173, 251
Falco, 251
Hurana, 100
Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis, 79, 92
Hydrobatidae, 42, 43
Hydroprogne caspia, 440, 451
hyperorius, Theristicus caudatus, 127
hypomelaena, Jacana jacana, 375, 376
Parra, 376
Hypomorphnus, 230
hypopius, Rhynchortyx cinctus, 330,
333
hypospodius, Buteo albicaudatus, 174,
195

Ibis, Ardea, 93
ibis, Bubulcus ibis, 78, 92, 93
Ibis, Cayenne, 122
Glossy, 122, 124
White, 122, 125
White-throated, 122, 126
Wood, 120
Ibises, 122
Ictinia misisippiensis, 179
plumbea, 172, 177
inornata, Symphemia semipalmata, 406

inornatus, Catoptrophorus semipalma-
tus, 393, 406

476

insidiatrix, Buteo magnirostris, 214,
215, 217
Rupornis magnirostris, 215

intercedens, Nothocercus bonapartei,
15

interstes, Micrastur ruficollis, 259, 268

TIrol, 208

irrorata, Diomedea, 32, 34
Ischnosceles caerulescens, 173, 253
caerulescens balzarensis, 253, 255
caerulescens caerulescens, 254
caerulescens livens, 254
caerulescens niger, 253, 255
Ixobrychus exilis, 79, 113
exilis erythromelas, 113
exilis exilis, 113, 114

Jabiru, 120

Jabiru mycteria, 120

Jacamillo, 130

Jacana, Northern, 372
Wattled, 376

Jacana jacana hypomelaena, 375, 376
spinosa lowei, 374
spinosa spinosa, 372

Jacanas, 372

Jacanidae, 372

Jaeger, Long-tailed, 433, 437
Parasitic, 433, 436
Pomarine, 433, 435

Jaegers, 433

jamaicensis, Buteo, 174, 206
Falco, 206
Laterallus, 365
Oxyura, 152
Rallus, 365

Jorrélico, 103

kelsalli, Oceanodroma tethys, 44
Thalassidroma tethys, 44

Killdeer, 383, 390

Kite, Cayenne, 172, 186
Double-toothed, 172, 184
Everglade, 172, 180
Hook-billed, 172, 188
Plumbeous, 172, 177
Slender-billed, 172, 182
Swallow-tailed, 172, 175

Knot, 394, 415

Lapwing, Southern, 382, 383
Laridae, 438, 439
Larus argentatus smithsonianus, 439,
441
atricilla, 439, 442

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOL. 150

Larus delawarensis, 439, 441
furcatus, 446
heermanni, 440
modestus, 439, 440
parasiticus, 436
pipixcan, 439, 445
sabini, 447
latens, Aramides cajanea, 345
Laterallus albigularis, 339, 351
albigularis albigularis, 353
albigularis cinereiceps, 354
exilis, 339, 355
jamaicensis, 365
melanophaius, 352
lentiginosa, Ardea, 112
lentiginosus, Botaurus, 79, 112
mi cayanensis cayanensis, 172,
18
cayanensis monachus, 188
lepturus, Phaethon, 51
lessonii, Ardea herodias, 81
Lestris pomarinus, 435
leucogaster, Anhinga anhinga, 69
Pelecanus, 58
Plotus, 69
Sula, 56
Sula leucogaster, 58
leucolaemus, Odontophorus, 311, 328
Leucophoyx, 91
leucopogon, Colinus, 313
Leucopternis albicollis
173,217
ghiesbreghti costaricensis, 217
plumbea, 173, 221
princeps, 173, 222
princeps zimmeri, 222, 223
schistacea, 237
semiplumbea, 173, 220, 222
leucotis, Colinus cristatus, 313
lherminieri, Puffinus, 35, 37
Puffinus lherminieri, 37
Limnodromus griseus, 394, 410
griseus griseus, 411
griseus hendersoni, 412
scolopaceus, 394, 413
Limosa fedoa, 393, 398
scolopacea, 413
Limpkin, 334, 335
lineata, Ardea, 106
lineatum, Tigrisoma lineatum, 79, 106,
109, 112
livens, Ischnosceles caerulescens, 254
lobata, Tringa, 432
lobatus, Lobipes, 430, 432
Lobipes lobatus, 430, 432

costaricensis,

INDEX

longicauda, Bartramia, 394, 395
Tringa, 395

longicaudus, Stercorarius, 433, 437

Loomelania melania, 42, 43, 47

lowei, Fregata magnificens, 77
Jacana spinosa, 374

loyemilleri, Puffinus lherminieri, 38

macularia, Actitis, 394, 402
Actitis macularia, 405
Tringa, 405
maculata, Cancroma, 85
maculatus, Butorides virescens, 85, 86,
88
Pardirallus, 364
Rallus, 364
magnificens, Fregata, 73
magniplumis, Buteo magnirostris, 216
magnirostris, Buteo, 174, 211
Falco, 211
major, Eurypyga helias, 369
Tetrao, 6
Tinamus, 6, 15
Mallard, 130, 139
Mareca americana, 129, 146
margaritophilus, Butorides virescens,
86
mariae, Colinus cristatus, 315
markhami, Oceanodroma, 48
marmoratum, Tigrisoma lineatum, 108
marmoratus, Odontophorus gujanensis,
319, 327
Ortyx, 319
Martinete, 83
martinica, Fulica, 360
Porphyrula, 339, 360
mauri, Ereunetes, 395, 418, 419
maxima, Sterna, 458
maximus, Thalasseus maximus, 440,
458
melania, Loomelania, 42, 43, 47
Procellaria, 47
melanoleucus, Buteo, 244
Scolopax, 400
Spizastur, 172, 244
Totanus, 393, 400
melanophaius, Laterallus, 352
melanotis, Odontophorus_ erythrops,
311323, 325
melanotos, Erolia, 395, 423
Tringa, 423
meridionalis, Cathartes aura, 165
Falco, 223
Heterospizias meridionalis,
223

173,

477

Mesembrinibis cayennensis, 122
mesonauta, Phaethon aethereus, 49
Mexicanus, Charadrius, 428
mexicanus, Heterocnus, 79, 103, 106
Himantopus, 428
Tigrisoma, 103
Micrastur mirandollei, 259, 264
mirandollei extimus, 264, 265
ruficollis guerilla, 270
ruficollis interstes, 259, 268
semitorquatus, 263
semitorquatus naso, 259, 266
semitorquatus semitorquatus, 268
Micropalama himantopus, 394, 425
micropterum, Centropelma, 24
microsoma, Halocyptena, 42, 43, 45
Milvago chimachima chimachima, 276
chimachima cordatus, 259, 274
Milvus yetapa, 175
minima, Anhinga anhinga, 72
minutilla, Erolia, 395, 420
Tringa, 420
mira, Ortalis cinereiceps, 306, 309
Ortalis garrula, 309
mirandollei, Astur, 264
Micrastur, 259, 264
misisippiensis, Ictinia, 179
modestus, Crypturellus soui, 17, 20, 23
Crypturus, 20
Larus, 439, 440
monachus, Leptodon cayanensis, 188
Sparvius, 188
morinella, Arenaria morinella, 394, 408
Morinella, Tringa, 408
Morito, 124
Morphnus guianensis, 172, 246
taeniatus, 248
morrisoni, Aramides cajanea, 345
moschata, Anas, 134
Cairina, 129, 134
murphyi, Pelecanus occidentalis, 55
mycteria, Ciconia, 120
Jabiru, 120
Mycteria americana, 120

naso, Carnifex, 266

Micrastur semitorquatus, 259, 266
nebouxii, Sula, 56

Sula nebouxii, 60, 61
nelsoni, Sterna anaethetus, 440, 454
niger, Ischnosceles caerulescens, 253,

255

nigra, Rynchops, 464

Rynchops nigra, 464

478

nigricollis, Busarellus nigricollis, 173,
227
Falco, 227
Noddy, Brown, 439, 461
Noneca, 161
Nothocercus bonapartei, 6
bonapartei frantzii, 14
bonapartei intercedens, 15
Numida meleagris galeata, 334
Numididae, 333
Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus, 393,
396
Nyctanassa violacea, 79, 100
violacea bancrofti, 101
violacea caliginis, 101, 103
violacea cayennensis, 102
violacea violacea, 101
Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli, 79, 99

oblita, Rynchops nigra, 464, 465
Oceanites gracilis, 43, 45
gracilis galapagoensis, 45
Oceanodroma castro, 43
markhami, 48
tethys, 42, 43
tethys kelsalli, 44
tethys tethys, 44
Odontophorus cinctus, 330
dialeucos, 311, 327
erythrops melanotis, 311, 323, 325
guianensis chapmani, 319
guianensis panamensis, 319
gujanensis, 311, 316
gujanensis castigatus, 321
gujanensis marmoratus, 319, 327
guttatus, 311, 322
leucolaemus, 311, 328
melanotis coloratus, 325, 326
rubigenis, 330, 333
smithians, 328
smithianus, 328, 329
spodiastethus, 330
strophium, 328
Veraguanensis, 322
veraguensis, 322, 323
Oestrelata phaeopygia, 35
olivacea, Ortalis garrula, 307
olivaceus, Pelecanus, 65
Phalacrocorax olivaceus, 65
ornatus, Spizaetus ornatus, 244
orphna, Anas discors, 144
Ortalida cinereiceps, 307
Frantzii, 308
Ortalis cinereiceps, 293, 304, 305
cinereiceps chocoensis, 306, 307

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VoL. 150

Ortalis cinereiceps cinereiceps, 306, 307
cinereiceps frantzii, 307, 308
cinereiceps mira, 306, 309
garrula, 306, 307
garrula mira, 309
garrula olivacea, 307
ruficrissa, 306
struthopus, 307
vetula, 306

Ortyx guttata, 322
marmoratus, 319

Osprey, 256

ostralegus, Haematopus, 381

Ostrero blanco, 379

Ostreros, 378

Oxyura dominica, 130, 150
jamaicensis, 152

Oystercatcher, American, 379

Oystercatchers, 378

pacifica, Erolia alpina, 394, 424
Pacifica, Pelidna, 424
pacificus, Puffinus, 35
Pagolla wilsonia beldingi, 392
Paiiios, 42
palliatus, Haematopus, 381
palmerstoni, Fregata minor, 77
panamensis, Cochlearius cochlearius
125,801 75106
Cochlearius zeledoni, 118
Colinus cristatus, 314
Colinus leucotis, 314
Crypturellus soui, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22
Crypturus soui, 22
Odontophorus guianensis, 319
Pandion haliaetus carolinensis, 256
Pandionidae, 256
papa, Sarcoramphus, 154
Papa, Vultur, 154
Parabuteo unicinctus harrisi, 173, 226
paradisaea, Sterna, 453
parasiticus, Larus, 436
Stercorarius, 433, 436, 438
Pardela chica, 37
Pardela del Pacifico, 42
Pardela sombria, 36
Pardelas, 35
Pardirallus maculatus, 364
Parra cayennensis, 383
chilensis, 384
hypomelaena, 376
patens, Butorides striatus, 86, 87, 88
Patico de agua, 366
Pato calvo, 146
Pato crestudo, 137

INDEX

Pato cuchara, 145

Pato de collar, 150

Pato pechiblanco, 148

Pato rabudo, 140

Pato real, 134

Pato tigre, 150

Patos, 129

pauxilla, Gallinula chloropus, 359

Pava cimba, 298

Pava negra, 303

Pavon, 293

Pavones, 293

Pawos reales, 310

Peacocks, 310

Pelecanidae, 51

Pelecaniformes, 48

Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, 51
Leucogaster, 58
occidentalis carolinensis, 51
occidentalis murphyi, 55
olivaceus, 65
Sula, 63

Pelican, Brown, 51

Pelicanos, 51

Pelicans, 51

Pelidna Pacifica, 424

Penelope purpurascens, 293
purpurascens aequatorialis,

302

purpurascens brunnescens, 302
purpurascens purpurascens, 302

Perdiz de arca, 6

Perdiz de rastrojo, 17

Perdiz serrana, 14

peregrinus, Falco, 283

petoensis, Falco rufigularis, 260, 283

Petrel, Black, 43, 47
Dark-rumped, 35
Galapagos, 43
Graceful storm, 43, 45
Least, 43, 45

Petrel de Rabadilla oscura, 35

Petreles, 35

Petrels, 35
Storm, 42

petulans, Buteo magnirostris, 214, 215,

216

phaeopygia, Oestrelata, 35
Pterodroma, 35
Pterodroma phaeopygia, 35

Phaethon aethereus mesonauta, 49
lepturus, 51

Phaethontidae, 48

Phalacrocoracidae, 64

298,

479

Phalacrocorax bougainvillii, 65
olivaceus olivaceus, 65
Phalarope, Northern, 430, 432
Red, 430
Wilson’s, 430, 431
Phalaropes, 429
Phalaropodidae, 429, 430
Phalaropus fulicarius, 430
Phasianidae, 310
Phasianus colchicus, 333
Pheasant, Ring-necked, 333
Pheasants, 310
pileata, Ardea, 97
pileatus, Pilherodius, 78, 97
Pilherodius pileatus, 78, 97
pinnatus, Botaurus, 113
Pintail, 130, 140
pipixcan, Larus, 439, 445
Piquero moreno, 56
Piqueros, 55
pitanay, Haematopus palliatus, 379
plancus, Caracara, 259, 271
Plancus, Falco, 271
Platalea Ajaja, 127
platypterus, Buteo platypterus, 174, 204
Sparvius, 204
platyrhynchos, Anas
130, 139
Playerito arenaro, 416
Playerito coleador, 402
Playerito de rabadilla blanca, 421
Playerito gractoso, 417
Playerito menudo, 420
Playerito occidental, 419
Playerito pectoral, 423
Playerito unicolor, 422
Playero aliblanco, 406
Playero chillén chico, 399
Playero chillon grande, 400
Playero gordo, 415
Playero solitario, 400
Playeros, 393
Plegadis chihi, 124
falcinellus falcinellus, 122, 124
Plotus leucogaster, 69
Plover, American golden, 382, 385
Black-bellied, 382, 384
Collared, 383, 387
Golden, 382
Semipalmated, 383, 386
Upland, 394, 395
Wilson’s, 383, 391
Plovers, 382
plumbea, Ictinia, 172, 177
Leucopternis, 173, 221

platyrhynchos,

480

plumbeus, Falco, 177
Pluvialis dominica dominica, 382, 385
podiceps, Colymbus, 27
Podilymbus, 25
Podilymbus podiceps, 27
Podiceps antarcticus, 27
caspicus californicus, 31
dominicus, 25
dominicus brachypterus, 28, 31
dominicus dominicus, 31
dominicus speciosus, 31
Podicipedidae, 24, 25
Podicipediformes, 24
Podilymbus podiceps, 25
podiceps antarcticus, 27
podiceps antillarum, 26
podiceps podiceps, 27
poliocephalus, Crypturellus soui, 17,
18, 22, 24
Crypturornis soui, 22
Polla sultana, 360
Pollito de mar boreal, 432
Pollito de mar rojizo, 430
Pollito de mar tricolor, 431
Polyborus, 272
Audubonii, 273
pomarinus, Lestris, 435
Stercorarius, 433, 435
Porphyrula martinica, 339, 360
Porzana carolina, 339, 350
cinereiceps, 354
flaviventer flaviventer, 339, 348
flaviventer woodi, 350
prattii, Haematopus palliatus, 381
princeps, Leucopternis, 173, 222
Procellaria grisea, 36
melania, 47
Procellariidae, 35
Procellariiformes, 31
Pterodroma, 35
phaeopygia, 35
phaeopygia phaeopygia, 35
Puffinus, 35
griseus, 35, 36
lherminieri, 35, 37
lherminieri lherminieri, 37
lherminieri loyemilleri, 38
lherminieri subalaris, 41
pacificus, 35
pacificus chlororhynchus, 42
tenuirostris, 36
purpurascens, Penelope, 293
Penelope purpurascens, 302
pusilla, Tringa, 417
pusillus, Ereunetes, 395, 417

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOL. I50

Quail, Banded wood, 311, 330
Black-breasted wood, 311, 328
Marbled wood, 311, 316
Rufous-breasted wood, 311, 325
Spotted wood, 311, 322
Tacarcuna wood, 311, 327

Quails, 310

queribundus, Herpetotheres

nans, 263

cachin-

Rabijunco, 49
Rail, Black, 365
Gray-breasted, 339, 355
Gray-necked wood, 339, 341
Rufous-crowned wood, 339, 346
Spotted, 364
White-throated, 339, 351
Yellow-breasted, 339, 348
Rails, 338
Rallidae, 338
ralloides, Ardea, 95
Rallus carolinus, 350
exilis, 355
flaviventer, 348
jamaicensis, 365
maculatus, 364
Rascon castajio, 339
rava, Actitis macularia, 405
Rayador, 464
recognita, Sterna anaethetus, 455
Recurvirostridae, 427
Rey gallinazo, 154
rhizophorae, Buteogallus anthracinus,
237
Rhynchortyx cinctus, 311
cinctus australis, 333
cinctus cinctus, 330
cinctus hypopius, 330, 333
ridgwayi, Anous stolidus, 462
Buteogallus urubitinga, 231
Fregata minor, 77
Urubitinga, 231
robinsoni, Butorides striatus, 88
Rostrhamus, 184
sociabilis sociabilis, 172, 180
rothschildi, Fregata magnificens, 77
rubigenis, Odontophorus, 330, 333
rubra, Crax, 293
Crax rubra, 293
rufa, Calidris canutus, 394, 415
Tringa, 415
ruficauda, Asturina, 215
ruficaudus, Accipiter, 215
ruficollis, Cathartes aura, 161, 166
Egretta, 92
Hydranassa tricolor, 79, 92

INDEX

ruficrissa, Ortalis, 306
rufigularis, Falco rufigularis, 286
rufulus, Heterospizias meridionalis,

Rupornis magnirostris alia, 216
magnirostris arguta, 213
magnirostris insidiatrix, 215

Rynchopidae, 463

Rynchops nigra, 464
nigra cinerascens, 465
nigra nigra, 464
nigra oblita, 464, 465

sabini, Larus, 447
Xema, 439, 447
salmoni, Tigrisoma, 79, 109
Salteador grande, 433
Salteador pardsito, 436
Salteador pomarino, 435
Salteador rabudo, 437
salvini, Diomedea cauta, 33
Sanderling, 393, 416
Sandpiper, Baird’s, 395, 422
Buff-breasted, 394, 426
Least, 395, 402
Pectoral, 395, 423
Semipalmated, 395, 417
Solitary, 394, 400
Spotted, 394, 402
Stilt, 394, 425
Western, 395, 419
White-rumped, 394, 421
Sandpipers, 393
Sarcoramphus papa, 154
Sarkidiornis sylvicola, 129, 137
saturatus, Tinamus major, 6, 10, 11,

Scaup, Lesser, 130, 148
schistacea, Leucopternis, 237
Urubitinga, 237
scolopacea, Limosa, 413
scolopaceus, Limnodromus, 394, 413
Scolopacidae, 393
Scolopax alba, 125
caudatus, 126
delicata, 413
Fedoa, 398
flavipes, 399
Gallinago, 415
griseus, 411
guarauna, 337
melanoleucus, 400
semipalmatus, Catoptrophorus
palmatus, 407
Charadrius, 383, 386

semi-

481

semiplumbea, Leucopternis, 173, 220,
222
semitorquatus, Micrastur, 263
Micrastur semitorquatus, 268
septentrionalium, Anas cyanoptera,
130, 144
septentrionalis, Falco femoralis, 288
serus, Spizaetus tyrannus, 173, 240
Shearwater, Audubon’s, 35, 37
Sooty, 35, 36
Wedge-tailed, 35, 42
Shearwaters, 35
sheffleri, Urubitornis solitaria, 239
Shoveler, 129, 145
Skimmer, Black, 464
Skimmers, 463
Skua, 433
skua, Catharacta, 433
smithians, Odontophorus, 328
smithianus, Odontophorus, 328, 329
smithsonianus, Larus argentatus, 439,

Snakebirds, 69
Snipe, 393
Snipe, Common, 413
sociabilis, Herpetotheres, 180
Rostrhamus sociabilis, 172, 180
solitaria, Tringa, 394, 400
Tringa solitaria, 401
Urubitornis solitaria, 173, 238
solitarius, Circaétus, 238
Harpyhaliaetus coronatus, 239
Somormujos, 24
sonnini, Colinus cristatus, 313
Sora, 339, 350
soui, Crypturellus, 6, 17
Tinamus, 17
sparverius, Falco sparverius, 260, 291
Sparvius bicolor, 190
caerulescens, 253
monachus, 188
platypterus, 204
Spatula clypeata, 129, 145
speciosus, Podiceps dominicus, 31
spinosa, Fulica, 372
Jacana spinosa, 372
Spizaetus ornatus ornatus, 244
ornatus vicarius, 173, 241
tyrannus serus, 173, 240
tyrannus tyrannus, 241
Spizastur melanoleucus, 172, 244
spodiostethus, Odontophorus, 330
Spoonbill, Roseate, 122, 127
Spoonbills, 122

482

squatarola, Squatarola, 382, 384
Tringa, 384
Squatarola squatarola, 382, 384
Steganopus tricolor, 430, 431
Stercorariidae, 433
Stercorarius longicaudus, 433, 437
parasiticus, 433, 436, 438
pomarinus, 433, 435
Sterna acuflavida, 459
albifrons, 439, 457
albifrons athalassos, 458
albifrons browni, 458
anaethetus nelsoni, 440, 454
anaethetus recognita, 455
aranea, 449
caspia, 451
fuscata, 440, 455
fuscata crissalis, 456
fuscata fuscata, 455
hirundo hirundo, 439, 452
maxima, 458
paradisaea, 453
surinamensis, 448
Stilt, Black-necked, 428
Stilts, 427
stolidus, Anous, 439, 461
Anous stolidus, 462
Storks, 119
striata, Ardea, 86
striatus, Butorides, 79, 84
Butorides striatus, 86
strophium, Odontophorus, 328
struthopus, Ortalis, 307
subalaris, Puffinus lherminieri, 41
subruficollis, Tringa, 426
Tryngites, 394, 426
subtilis, Buteogallus anthracinus, 237
Sula, Pelecanus, 63
sula, Sula, 55
Sula sula, 63
Sula dactylatra, 60
dactylatra dactylatra, 60
dactylatra granti, 61
leucogaster, 56
leucogaster etesiaca, 58
leucogaster leucogaster, 58
nebouxii, 56
nebouxii excisa, 63
nebouxii nebouxii, 60, 61
sula, 55
sula sula, 63
sula websteri, 64
Sulidae, 55
Sunbittern, 369
superciliosus, Accipiter superciliosus,

194

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOL. 150

Surfbird, 394, 407
surinamensis, Chlidonias niger, 439,
448
Sterna, 448
swainsoni, Buteo, 174, 208
sylvicola, Sarkidiornis, 129, 137
Symphemia semipalmata inornata, 406

taeniatus, Morphnus, 248
Tantalus cayennensis, 122
Falcinellus, 124
Teal, Blue-winged, 130, 141
Cinnamon, 130, 144
tenuirostris, Puffinus, 36
Tern, Black, 439, 448
Bridled, 440, 454
Caspian, 440, 451
Common, 439, 452
Gull-billed, 439, 449
Least, 439, 457
Royal, 440, 458
Sandwich, 440, 459
Sooty, 440, 455
Terns, 438
Teru-teru, 383
teter, Cathartes aura, 165
tethys, Oceanodroma, 42, 43
Oceanodroma tethys, 44
Tethys, Thalassidroma, 44
Tetrao cristatus, 311
gujanensis, 316
major, 6
Thalasseus maximua maximus, 440,
458
sandvicensis acuflavidus, 440, 459
Thalassidroma gracilis, 45
Tethys, 44
tethys kelsalli, 44
Theristicus caudatus caudatus, 122, 126
caudatus hyperorius, 127
Threskiornithidae, 122
Thula, Ardea, 89
thula, Egretta thula, 78, 89
Tiger-bittern, Banded, 79, 106
Bare-throated, 79, 103
Salmon’s, 79, 109
Tigrisoma lineatum lineatum, 79, 106,
109, 112
lineatum marmoratum, 108
mexicanus, 103
salmoni, 79, 109
salmoni brevirostre, 112
Tigua, 28
Tijereta de mar, 73
Tijeretas de mar, 72
Tinamidae, 5, 6

INDEX

Tinamiformes, 5
Tinamou, Great, 6
Highland, 6, 14
Little, 6, 17
Tinamous, 5
Tinamus frantzii, 14
major, 6, 15
major brunneiventris, 12
major castaneiceps, 10
major fuscipennis, 6, 10, 12
major saturatus, 6, 10, 11, 12
major zuliensis, 11
soui, 17
Totanus flavipes, 394, 399
melanoleucus, 393, 400
solitarius cinnamomeus, 402
tricolor, Steganopus, 430, 431
Tringa Fulicaria, 430
fuscicollis, 421
himantopus, 425
lobata, 432
longicauda, 395
macularia, 405
melanotos, 423
minutilla, 420
Morinella, 408
pusilla, 417
rufa, 415
solitaria, 394, 400
solitaria cinnamomea, 402
solitaria solitaria, 401
squatarola, 384
subruficollis, 426
virgata, 407
Tropicbird, Red-billed, 49
Tropicbirds, 48
Trynga (alba), 416
Tryngites subruficollis, 394, 426
Turillo, 387
Turnstone, Ruddy, 394, 408
tyrannus, Spizaetus tyrannus, 241

uncinatus, Chondrohierax uncinatus,
172, 188

Falco, 188

unicolor, Chamaepetes, 293, 303

urubitinga, Buteogallus, 173, 229
Buteogallus urubitinga, 232
Cathartes burrovianus, 171

Urubitinga, Falco, 232

Urubitinga anthracina bangsi, 236
anthracina cancrivora, 235
ridgwayi, 231
schistacea, 237

Urubitornis solitaria sheffleri, 239
solitaria solitaria, 173, 238

483

vanrossemi, Gelochelidon nilotica, 450
Vaquero, 260
velox, Accipiter striatus, 174, 194
Falco, 194
Veraguanensis, Odontophorus, 322
veraguensis, Odontophorus, 322, 323
vetula, Ortalis, 306
vicarius, Spizaetus ornatus, 173, 241
viduata, Anas, 130
Dendrocygna, 129, 130
violacea, Ardea, 101
Nyctanassa, 79, 100
Nyctanassa violacea, 101
virescens, Ardea, 84
Butorides, 79, 83
Butorides virescens, 84
virgata, Aphriza, 394, 407
Tringa, 407
virginianus, Colinus, 316
Viuda, 428
vociferus, Charadrius, 383
Charadrius vociferus, 390
Vuelvepiedras, 408
Vultur Aura, 165
harpyja, 249
Papa, 154
Vulture, Black, 154, 157
King, 154
Turkey, 154, 161
Yellow-headed, 154, 168
Vultures, American, 153

websteri, Sula sula, 64

Whimbrel, 393, 396

Widgeon, American, 129, 146

Willet, 393, 406

wilsonia, Charadrius, 383, 391
Charadrius wilsonia, 391

woodi, Porzana flaviventer, 350

Xema sabini, 439, 447

Yaguaso colorado, 131

Yellowlegs, Greater, 393, 400
Lesser, 394, 399

yetapa, Milvus, 175
Elanoides forficatus, 175

Zambullidores de agua, 365

Zarapito trinador, 396

zeledoni, Cochlearius cochlearius, 115

zimmeri, Leucopternis princeps, 222,
223

Zorro de agua, 99

zuliensis, Tinamus major, 11

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