FAMILY ARDEIDAE III 



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 Choco, 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 Choco, 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 Darien ; recorded from Bocas del 

 Toro (Rio Changena, 750 meters elevation) ; the Caribbean slope 

 of Code (El Uracillo) ; Colon, in the upper Chagres Valley (Sala- 

 manca and Peluca hydrographic stations) ; Darien (Tacarcuna 

 village and head of Rio Pucro on Cerro Tacarcuna) ; and San Bias 

 (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 Code. 

 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 Boqueron ranged along the gravel 

 bars in the river, and sheltered in the trees above when alarmed. 



