6 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 3 



San Bias, February 26, 1963, had the iris light mouse brown ; culmen 

 dull greenish neutral gray ; rest of bill black ; tarsus and toes dark 

 neutral gray ; claws dusky neutral gray. A female at El Real, Darien, 

 January 23, 1964, had the iris mouse brown; gonys neutral gray; 

 rest of bill dull black ; tarsus and toes bluish neutral gray ; claws 

 dusky neutral gray. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Panama), wing 104.0-109.8 

 (106.9). tail 84.3-93.5 (87.0), culmen from base 28.2-32.6 (30.5), 

 tarsus 24.0-25.6 (24.8) mm. 



Females (10 from Panama), wing 99.5-103.7 (100.8), tail 82.4- 

 87.1 (84.9). culmen from base 27.3-30.5 (28.8), tarsus 23.1-24.3 

 (23.8) mm. 



Weight, J" 40 grams (Cerro Campana, November 1, 1966, G.V.N. 

 Powell). 



Resident. Common, in forested areas in the Tropical and Sub- 

 tropical zones; on the Pacific side from eastern Veraguas (Chitra), 

 and Cerro Campana (at 850 meters), western Province of Panama, 

 east through the Province of Panama and Darien (to 600 meters on 

 Cerro Pirre. and 1430 meters on Cerro Mali) ; on the Caribbean 

 side from the Costa Rican boundary in Bocas del Toro to eastern 

 San Bias (Puerto Obaldia). 



This species has not been found in Chiriqui, and on the Pacific 

 side of \'eraguas is known only from one male in the British 

 IVluseum, collected at Chitra by Arce in 1868. It is found on Cerro 

 Campana in the western sector of the Province of Panama, and is 

 common from the southern side of Cerro Azul eastward throughout 

 Darien. One banded near the Navy pipeline back of Gamboa, Canal 

 Zone, by F. L. Chapman and E. Tyson, in January 1964, was captured 

 again in the same area by J. R. Karr in late 1968. 



A usual encounter with the Brown Woodcreeper is to see it hover- 

 ing over one of the moving ant swarms found regularly in the forests. 

 Here a pair of the birds, less often one alone, may come low down 

 over the ants, attracted by escaping insects, sometimes clinging, less 

 often perching briefly. When lines of the marauders climb vines, 

 shrubs, or small tree trunks the birds briefly may become quite active. 

 After feeding they may rest quietly in typical clinging posture on 

 some vertical trunk. While they fly about quickly among other birds 

 attendant on the ants, sometimes calling briefly, they are not aggres- 

 sive. Willis (Univ. California Publ. Zool., vol. 79, 1967, p. 44) 

 found that usually they gave way to threats from companion bi- 



