FAMILY FORMICARIIDAE 235 



flanks olive-brown ; under tail coverts black basally, tipped with pale 

 buff or cinnamon-buff ; tibia subterminally black, tipped with buff. 



Juvenile, side of head around eye more heavily feathered than in 

 adult ; crown and upper hindneck black, tipped broadly with gray ; 

 upper surface with buff edgings broader ; breast feathers tipped 

 narrowly with black ; lower abdomen plain olive-brown. 



This strikingly patterned species is a bird of the forest under- 

 growth, seen most often over ant swarms in company with the Bi- 

 colored and Spotted Ant-birds, but in lesser number, usually only two 

 to four in company. It is identified immediately on sight from its 

 companions by larger size, slender form, darker color, and especially 

 the longer tail which is vibrated regularly up and down as the birds 

 move about. Usually they forage slightly higher in the undergrowth 

 than the smaller companion species, clinging sideways, with needle- 

 sharp claws, to erect stems and branches. They are timid and at any 

 alarm slip quietly away. Their chattering calls suggest the notes of 

 their companions, but in general they seem less vociferous. 



This is another species in which the neck is slender in contrast to 

 the expanded diameter of the skull so that in preparing specimens 

 it is usually necessary to split the skin in order to free the head. 



PHAENOSTICTUS MCLEANNANI SATURATUS (Richmond) 



Phlegopsis saturata Richmond, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 18, August 12, 1896, 

 p. 65. (Rio Escondido, 80 kilometers above Bluefields, Nicaragua.) 



Characters. — Darker, more reddish brown ; crown and hindneck 

 darker, more brownish gray. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Bocas del Toro, Nicaragua, and 

 Costa Rica), wing 89.5-96.3 (93.1), tail 78.9-88.6 (84.0), culmen 

 from base 22.8-25.4 (23.6), tarsus 30.7-33.3 (32.4) mm. 



Females (10 from Bocas del Toro, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica), 

 wing 84.5-90.1 (87.3), tail 73.7-81.9 (77.6), culmen from base 

 22.1-23.8 (22.8), tarsus 31.5-33.4 (32.2) mm. 



Resident. Rare, in forested areas of western Bocas del Toro. 



This form was first identified from Panama by James L. Peters 

 (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 322) from a male col- 

 lected March 21, 1928, by Hasso von Wedel at 400 meters elevation 

 on the trail leading from Chiriqui Grande to Boquete. The National 

 Museum has a female taken at 730 meters on the headwaters of the 

 Rio Changuena, Bocas del Toro, by R. Hinds, September 21, 1961. 

 These are the only records to date. The race, a Caribbean form, is 

 known from eastern Nicaragua and eastern Costa Rica (with a slight 



