FAMILY FURNARIIDAE 1 19 



tail 397-45.0 (42.2), culmen from base 22.7-23.2 (22.8), tarsus 

 23.1-23.8 (23.4) mm. 



Female (1 specimen), wing 64.7, tail 41.1, culmen from base 22.4, 

 tarsus 23.2 mm. 



Resident. Rare, on the higher levels of Cerro Pirre, Cerro Mali, 

 and Cerro Quia, Darien. 



This species, ranging in small numbers in the Andes of South 

 America from Colombia to Bolivia, in the mountains of northern 

 Venezuela, and in lowland areas from Brazil to Paraguay, Uruguay, 

 and northern Argentina, was first found in Panama by E. A. Gold- 

 man. He collected three males at elevations ranging from 1375 to 

 1525 meters on Cerro Pirre, near the head of Rio Limon, two of them 

 on April 27 and May 1, and one on June 7, 1912. Goldman's notes 

 record only that the one on May 1 was found "near the ground along 

 the stream in the canyon. ... It was giving some sharp notes, and 

 seemed to have the same jerky erratic flight as Sclerurus mexicanus." 

 In the stomach of the one collected June 7 (preserved by the collector 

 in alcohol) I have identified fragments of beetles, including a carabid, 

 and beetle larva, jaws of an orthopteran with four eggs of this group, 

 caterpillar remains, and bits of a millipede. 



Another specimen record is of a female caught by Charles O. 

 Handley, Jr., in a mist net set over a small stream at 1250 meters on 

 the slope of Cerro Mali, a spur of Cerro Tacarcuna. This bird was 

 preserved in alcohol, and later was made into a study skin by Mrs. 

 Roxie Laybourne. On March 2, 1971, Dr. Pedro Galindo collected a 

 male at 72S meters on Cerro Quia. 



Dr. John Aldrich named this race for Dr. Edward W. Nelson, 

 former Chief of the Bureau of Biological Survey, in recognition of 

 his studies of the Goldman collections from Panama. 



The race of Panama differs from L. n. sororia of northern South 

 America in being darker, less rufescent above, more grayish brown 

 on the under surface, with the white spots reduced, and the entire 

 size somewhat smaller. Lochmias n. obsciirata of the southern 

 mountains is darker and more heavily spotted with white. The 

 nominate subspecies is lighter colored and more heavily spotted below, 

 the chin and upper throat being almost wholly white. 



The nominate form {Lochmias n. nemattira) , according to Goeldi 

 (Ibis, 1894, pp. 492-494) nests in tunnels in earthen banks where it 

 builds a rounded structure of small roots and twigs lined with leaves. 

 In this two white eggs are laid. One egg, collected by Goeldi, that I 

 have examined in the British Museum, is dull white, without mark- 



