184 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 3 



Females (10 from islas San Jose, Pedro Gonzalez, and Rey), wing 

 50.6-54.0 (52.6), tail 41.5-45.6 (43.8), culmen from base 15.4-17.1 

 (16.1), tarsus 20.8-21. 5 (21.2) mm. 



Resident. Recorded from islas San Jose, Pedro Gonzalez, Rey, 

 Saboga, and Viveros, Archipielago de las Perlas. 



The first published record of this subspecies is that of Bangs (Auk, 

 1901, p. 30) of two adult males collected by W. W. Brown, Jr., near 

 San Miguel on Isla del Rey April 30 and May 1, 1901. The following 

 year Bangs described these birds as a form new to science. In a 

 second visit from the end of February to the latter part of April 

 1904, Brown secured a further series of 13 birds, including females 

 and one juvenile male (Thayer and Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 

 vol. 46, September 1905, p. 150). An earlier specimen taken by 

 Dr. Carl Bovallius April 7, 1882 on Isla Viveros, in the Zoological 

 Museum of the University of Uppsala, Sweden, was brought to at- 

 tention by H. Rendahl (Ark. Zool., vol. 13, 1920, pp. 41-42). It is the 

 only report for that island. Eugene Eisenmann recorded it on Isla 

 Saboga. Another male in the British Museum (Natural History) was 

 collected June 24, 1924, at Bahia Santelmo in the south of Isla del 

 Rey. In February and March 1944, I found them common on Isla 

 San Jose, and on March 9 and 11 of that year equally common on 

 Isla Pedro Gonzalez. In a second visit to San Jose from March 7 to 

 9, 1947, these birds were especially abundant in the northern end of 

 the island. 



This interesting bird, known locally as the pavita, the most com- 

 mon of the smaller birds on Isla San Jose, was found under cover 

 from the borders of the coastal mangrove swamps inland to the high 

 forest and to the dense mats of vines that covered many of the more 

 open slopes. They ranged warbler-fashion through the undergrowth 

 into the lower areas of the tree crown. In these heavily shaded areas 

 their dark dorsal coloration was protective, but if I moved about 

 quietly, frequently they came near at hand. Then the flashes of white 

 in flanks and under surface, and their steady flitting of wings and tail, 

 attracted the eye. Xear the ground in tangles of vines they tended to 

 hide, and then were seen with difficulty. In such circumstances their 

 presence was indicated by their low call, terp terp terp. In early 

 March, males began to sing a steadily repeated note suggestive of 

 that of the Barred Ant-shrike, the Pavita Rayada. Enlargement of 

 the gonads at this season indicated the beginning of nesting. 



They seem to be less common on Isla del Rey, judging from the 

 few that have been collected there. I did not find them in an area 



