212 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA — PART 3 



Females (10 from Canal Zone, Darien, and San Bias), wing 87.8- 

 93.2 (90.6), tail 34.2-37.4 (35.7), culmen from base 23.0-24.9 

 (24.0), tarsus 23.7-25.5 (24.4) mm. 



Resident. Rare in northern Canal Zone (Pipeline Road, Gamboa) ; 

 rare and local in forested areas in foothill country in eastern Province 

 of Panama, Darien, and San Bias. 



The first specimens from Panama were taken by E. A. Goldman 

 at an elevation of 1060 meters above Cana, on Cerro Pirre, May 30, 

 1912. Anthony and Richardson, from March to May 1915, collected 

 a series in Darien, at Cituro, Tapalisa, and the Tacarcuna village 

 site at the base of Cerro Tacarcuna. In the Canal Zone, J. R. Karr 

 and others have recorded them regularly (1969) above Gamboa. 



The first published record for the Republic is that of Bangs and 

 Barbour (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 65, 1922, p. 209) of eight 

 adults taken on Cerro Sapo, Jesucito, and on the Rio Esnape, Darien, 

 in April 1922. They noted that these birds from Darien were not 

 separable from those of Nicaragua. Soon after, Griscom (idem, 

 vol. 69, 1929, p. 169) listed a male collected in February 1928 by 

 Benson at Tigre on the Rio Cupe, and later (idem, vol. 72, p. 345) 

 reported a small series from Perme, Ranchon, and Puerto Obaldia, 

 San Bias. 



On March 9, 1950, at 330 meters on the slopes of Cerro Chucanti 

 in eastern Province of Panama, the chattering calls of birds attracted 

 my attention. As I moved toward them, a male of this species ap- 

 peared on a low perch in the undergrowth, where it continued calling, 

 with flitting wings. The bird in life impressed me as generally simi- 

 lar to the Spotted Ant-bird, though much larger. James R. Karr has 

 noted that as they move on the forest floor they throw fallen leaves 

 about like a leaf -scraper {Sclerurus). At the old Tacarcuna village 

 site at 575 meters on the Rio Tacarcuna, B. Feinstein collected a 

 female on January 26, 1959, Dr. Pedro Galindo a male on June 25, 

 1963, and on March 8, 1964, I secured a pair there as they ranged 

 in undergrowth near the ground. Dr. Galindo collected others some- 

 what higher at La Laguna in June 1963. 



Stomachs of those I have examined have held fragments of roaches, 

 beetles, caterpillars, and other insects, spiders, isopods, and millipedes. 

 In one there was a small ball of spider web and in another a seed. 



The birds, found usually in pairs, are highly interesting but elusive, 

 and little is known of them. The present race, described from 

 Nicaragua, is as yet unknown in Costa Rica and western Panama. 

 It ranges beyond Darien and San Bias across northern Colombia. 



