FAMILY FURNARIIDAE 95 



Characters. — Crown maroon-brown, back tawny-brown, wings 

 darker; throat cinnamon-rufous; breast and abdomen cinnamon- 

 tawny. 



Measurements. — Males (4 from Chiriqui). wing 91.5-95.1 (93.2), 

 tail 78.7-82.3 (81.2), culmen from base 26.1-27.6 (27.0, average 

 of 3), tarsus 27.4-28.1 (27.8) mm. 



Females (3 from Chiriqui), wing 84.0-84.7 (84.2), tail 75.8-78.2 

 (76.8), culmen from base 26.8-27.3 (26.9), tarsus 26.4-27.7 

 (26.9) mm. 



Resident. Rare in Subtropical Zone forests on the southern and 

 western base of Volcan Chiriqui. 



This well-marked form, definitely darker than the populations of 

 farther north in Central America, is one that is known from few 

 records. 



The type, and for a period the only known specimen, was taken by 

 Enrique Arce in the last of the collections that he made for Salvin, at 

 Bibalaz on the southern base of the great volcano. At this period 

 Arce's activities centered around Bugaba (below Concepcion). As 

 the bird is one of the Subtropical Zone it is supposed to have come 

 from the higher country to the north of Concepcion. The type speci- 

 men, which I have examined in the British Museum, is marked as a 

 male, but from the wing measurement of 83.3 mm apparently was a 

 female. Griscom in 1935 knew of only four specimens. 



Mrs. M. E. McLellan Davidson (Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 

 1932, p. 167) collected a female January 28, 1931, at Barriles, near 

 the Rio Chiriqui \^iejo in Chiriqui, which through lack of comparative 

 material she believed was distinct and so named it Xanthippe, as 

 indicated in the heading above. The next report was of a male col- 

 lected by Dr. Frank Hartman, taken February 24, 1949, on Cerro 

 Pando, beyond El Volcan, west of the Rio Chiriqui Viejo. In work 

 in this area in March 1954, I had occasional glimpses of them but 

 they were shy so that it was March 7 before I secured my only speci- 

 men, a male. The birds ranged low down in undergrowth in the 

 forest, their presence known from their curious whistled call, 

 ka-kiveek, a note easily imitated. They seemed curious and regularly 

 came near, but always under cover of leaves so they were hidden. 

 They were heard on several occasions here and also farther west at 

 Santa Clara through the rest of the month, but we were never able 

 to see another. The following year I heard the calls on February 10, 

 in dense cover along the Rio Chiriqui Viejo, and again on February 17 

 near Santa Clara, but from birds that remained concealed in heavy 



