FAMILY COTINGIDAE 283 



other birds. The stomach of one taken by Goldman at Portobelo held 

 bits of an earwig and other insects, and a fragment of caterpillar skin, 

 but mainly was crammed with the remains of berries. Males have a 

 pleasant song of a single whistled note, given in rapid repetition. 



Skutch (Auk, 1954, pp. 113-129, plate 9) in an interesting account 

 describes the habits of this bird, mainly as observed in Costa Rica. 

 According to his observations both sexes sing, the notes of the male 

 being stronger. During the nesting season from March to September 

 the male has an especially clear dawn-song, that may be repeated 

 steadily for an hour or more. The nest, built by the female alone, is 

 a bulky, rounded mass of fibrous inner bark, palm and banana leaf 

 fibers, and similar stringy material, mixed with leaves, moss, and 

 dried threadlike inflorescences. The entrance is a rounded opening 

 in one side. One nest measured 15x18 centimeters, with the 

 entrance 3.8 centimeters in diameter. During the incubation period 

 the female on return from brief absences usually brings a bit of leaf 

 or other material to add to the structure, either externally or in the 

 lining. The eggs usually are covered with loose leaves during such 

 absences. The male, attentive to his mate on the nest, may perch and 

 sing nearby, often answered by the hidden female. He does not enter 

 the nest however until finally he joins his mate in bringing food to the 

 nestlings. 



The eggs, three or four in number are "pale gray, mottled all over 

 with brown, most heavily in a wreath about the larger end." One 

 set of two measured 20.2x15.1 and 19.8x14.3 mm. The newly 

 hatched young have pink skin and are without down. Young were 

 fed on insects alone. Fledglings when grown leave the nest and do 

 not return to use it as a sleeping shelter. Some nests were built in 

 close proximity to hives of stinging wasps, an excellent protection. 

 Regular enemies were toucans that pulled open the nests and ate eggs 

 and young. The parasitic flycatcher {Legatns leucophaius) frequently 

 took finished becard nests for their own use. and on occasion the 

 common small black bees also claimed finished nests before the birds 

 could use them. 



The species P. polychopterus ranges widely in tropical America 

 from Honduras southward through Colombia, Venezuela, and Trini- 

 dad to eastern Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Uruguay. Variation 

 geographically is considerable, confused by individual range in depth 

 of color, especially in the males, so that decision as to subspecies 

 to be recognized is difficult. Currently, the birds of Central America 

 and Colombia have been united as a single race under the name 



