FAMILY DENDROCOLAPTIDAE T.'J 



Juvenile, like adult but markings less definite and under tail 

 coverts brighter rufous. 



These are true birds of the forest, quiet and retiring in habit, that 

 are found most often moving over raiding ant swarms. Here they 

 come low down in the undergrowth to capture insect prey flushed by 

 the ants, and then retire to higher perches on nearby tree trunks. 

 Often they are seen alone, less frequently two together. At other 

 times single individuals have come when I have been calling in forest 

 cover to attract the smaller birds. In their foraging away from 

 ant swarms they normally rest low down on a tree trunk and then 

 climb slowly upward, with movement and posture that of a wood- 

 pecker, as they cling with strong feet and braced tail to the bark. Their 

 search is for small insects and spiders, occasionally uncovered by 

 scaling off projecting fragments of bark, or found in growths of moss 

 or epiphytes. The upward climb may be continued out on larger 

 branches, when the bird loops down to another low perch on a trunk. 

 Stomachs examined have held fragments of beetles, hemiptera, 

 and spiders. 



Usually they are quiet birds from which I have heard only low 

 chattering calls. Dr. Thomas R. Howell (Condor, 1957, p. 87) 

 collected a male in breeding condition on July 9, 1954, at El Recreo, 

 Nicaragua, that "uttered scolding notes and loud song . . . tew-wee, 

 tew-wee." This individual also had a brood patch. I have seen 

 nothing more regarding their breeding, except that they are believed 

 to place their nests in natural cavities in trees. 



In its widespread range in the forests of Central America from 

 southern Mexico through Panama the species shows slight geo- 

 graphic variation, which is masked in part by color changes due to 

 foxing in the older examples in museum collections. In the con- 

 siderable series that I have examined, including both fresh and 

 older material, I have found that (except for a limited area in 

 Quintana Roo) those from southern Veracruz south through Hon- 

 duras (to the Rio Coco on the southern boundary) are slightly paler 

 bufif on the lower surface, and somewhat less heavily barred with 

 black on the back. These may be separated as D. c. sancti-thomae. 



In southwestern Costa Rica in the Rio Terraba Valley and the 

 Golfo Dulce area, and on the base of the Burica Peninsula in far 

 southwestern Province of Chiriqui, Panama, the barring on the 

 under surface and crown is narrower, and the bulT duller. This is 

 the race hcspcrius described by Bangs. With this exception, through 

 Costa Rica and all of Panama birds are brighter, more pale cinnamon- 



