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, pi. 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). 



Fig. 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 



