FAMILY ARDEIDAE 85 



tail 60.0-667 (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 Mexico. Dates of 

 occurrence based on specimens range from September 8, 1932, at 

 Puerto Obaldia, San Bias 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) 

 Cancronia 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 Archipielago de las Perlas ; most 

 abundant from the provinces of Panama and Colon westward, but 

 ranging east to Darien, in the lower Rio Tuira drainage (Yavisa near 

 the mouth of the Rio Chucunaque), and to Perme and Puerto Obal- 

 dia, San Bias, 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 Lim6n, Costa Rica, and a few of this style are recorded as 

 far east as the eastern part of the Comarca de San Bias. 



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 cienaga 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, 



