FAMILY FORMICARIIDAE 239 



Peters (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 1931, p. 322) recorded male 

 and female taken at Almirante, November 1, 1928, by H. von Wedel. 

 The National Museum has a male presented by the Gorgas Laboratory 

 of Tropical Medicine collected September 11, 1961, on the upper 

 Rio Changuena by R. Hinds. These three birds are somewhat inter- 

 mediate toward michleri, especially in chestnut mixed with the black 

 in the cheeks, but are definitely darker. 



The subspecies is little known. M. A. Carriker, Jr. (Ann. Carnegie 

 Museum, vol. 6. 1910, pp. 626-627), collected a male and two fe- 

 males on the lower Rio Sixaola, Costa Rica in September and October 

 1904. He wrote "the alarm note is loud and harsh, of a very peculiar 

 tone. ... It is very shy, and not entirely terrestrial, as I have seen 

 it perched on low limbs at least six feet from the ground." 



PITTASOMA MICHLERI MICHLERI Cassin 



Pittasoma Michleri Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 14, 1860, 

 p. 189. (Rio Truando, Choco, Colombia.) 



Characters. — Somewhat paler ruf escent color on back and wings ; 

 side of head below eye rufous with little or no black; throat with 

 lines or spots of white ; slightly smaller. 



A male, collected at Arniila, San Bias, February 21, 1963, had the 

 iris dark brown ; mandible and cutting edge of maxilla, expanding 

 anteriorly to include all of tip, ivory-white ; rest of maxilla black ; 

 tarsus and toes neutral gray ; claws light mouse brown, whiter on 

 under surface ; inside of mouth including tip of tongue, and inner 

 surface of maxilla and mandible black ; rest of tongue and posterior 

 area of mouth dull orange-yellow. 



Measurements. — Males ( 10 from Canal Zone, Province of Panama, 

 Darien, and San Bias), wing 92.3-99.8 (96.8), tail 31.5-36.3 (33.0), 

 culmen from base 28.9-31.7 (30.4), tarsus 48.7-54.2 (52.0) mm. 



Females (10 from Canal Zone, Province of Panama, and San 

 Bias), wing 93.4-99.4 (95.6), tail 32.0-35.0 (33.2), culmen from 

 base 27.2-30.8 (29.1, average of 9), tarsus 48.1-52.2 (50.3) mm. 



Weight, d" 99 grams (G. V. N. Powell). 



Resident. Local, in small number, in heavy forest in the Tropical 

 Zone, on the Pacific side from Santa Fe, Veraguas ; Cerro Campana, 

 and Cerro Azul, east through Darien ; on the Caribbean side from 

 Calovevora, northern Veraguas; Cascajal, northern Code; and the 

 Canal Zone, east through San Bias. 



These large ant-pittas live in the undergrowth in heavy forest, 

 mainly on the ground, but occasionally higher when curious regard- 



