20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



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. ZZ7) 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 SOTJI 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. 



