FAMILY FORMICARIIDAE 167 



MYRMOTHERULA FULVIVENTRIS (Lawrence) : Fulvous 

 Ant-wren, Hormiguerito Leonado 



Myrmethcrula fidviventris Lawrence, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. 7, 

 1862, p. 468. (Line of Panama Railroad, Atlantic Slope, Canal Zone, Panama.) 



Small ; brown, grayer above ; wing coverts dull black with three 

 rows of spots producing wing bars ; male, foreneck white with black 

 bases of feathers showing to produce a spotted appearance. 



Description. — Length 93-103 mm. Bill relatively stronger, heavier 

 than others of the genus in Panama. Adult male, above olive ; feathers 

 of crown from the eyes forward faintly edged with dusky, and 

 obscurely spotted with dull gray, often lighter, grayer on forehead 

 adjacent to the nostrils ; primaries and secondaries edged with dull 

 reddish brown ; distal area of lesser coverts and all of middle and 

 greater coverts dull black, tipped with cinnamon-buff to form three 

 narrow wing bars ; upper tail coverts cinnamon ; tail dull cinnamon- 

 brown ; side of head dull grayish white ; throat basally black, each 

 feather tipped with a broad spot of white, to produce a mottled 

 pattern ; chin white ; rest of under surface buffy olive, duller on the 

 breast, lighter on the abdomen ; under tail coverts dull cinnamon- 

 brown ; sides and flanks more olive-brown ; under wing coverts and 

 edging of inner webs of primaries and secondaries brownish buff. 



Adult female, usually lighter brown above ; wing coverts blackish 

 brown, tipped with cinnamon-buff as in the male ; chin white ; throat, 

 foreneck, and sides of neck buff ; otherwise like the male. 



Juvenile, male and female, chin and upper throat white to buffy 

 white; rest of under surface dull buff; foreneck and upper breast 

 with indefinite center lines of white ; sides and flanks grayish brown. 



The Fulvous Ant-wren is a forest bird with wide distribution in 

 the Republic wherever forest cover remains, from the tropical low- 

 lands of both slopes to the lower border of the Subtropical Zone. It 

 is found singly or in pairs, less often half a dozen or so in loose 

 company, in undergrowth, also regularly higher in the trees. In 

 addition it is a regular member of the mixed flocks of small birds that 

 are encountered moving quietly through the leaves. In this they 

 associate regularly with Myrmotherula axillaris and Microrhopias 

 quixensis. Groups of these three species often have small tanagers 

 and honey-creepers added as well as a miscellany of other birds of 

 this size. Among the three ant-wrens thus grouped it is interesting 

 to note that the eye in the present species is light in color, while in 

 the other two it is dark brown. 



The species is found widely from eastern Honduras south through 



