FAMILY PIPRIDAE 333 



more open stands of trees, or in thickets through abandoned fields 

 and pastures. As human settlement has cleared heavy forest this 

 manakin has spread into newer areas where thickets and second 

 growth are allowed to develop. While the species ranges widely 

 and may be encountered singly, it is found usually in small groups, 

 often separated by a considerable distance from others. Or indi- 

 viduals may come from some distance to berry-bearing trees as these 

 ripen. While this manakin is absent in areas that seem suited to it. it 

 is encountered widely east to the Rio Mamoni and the lower Rio 

 Bayano near Chepo. The only report to date for Darien is from near 

 Garachine. In extensive travel through the great valley of the Rio 

 Tuira and its tributaries from 1959 to 1964 I did not record it, nor 

 did I find it earlier near the Rio Jaque and the coastal area adjacent. 

 On the Caribbean slope it has been reported casually in the Canal Zone 

 near Gamboa and the Navy Pipeline area. On Barro Colorado Island 

 in March 1946, I found one female, and E. O. Willis recorded a male 

 in February and March 1964. E. S. Morton collected a male near 

 Gamboa July 10, 1966 (specimen in the Northern Illinois University 

 Museum). 



Usually the birds remain under cover, except for an occasional 

 male that may appear briefly on some open perch. More rarely, in 

 display, two males may rest side by side with bodies horizontal, the 

 head extended, and wings quivering, so that frequently they make the 

 branch shake. Again, they posture with tail cocked up, or call and 

 drive at one another with flitting wings in harmless threats of combat. 

 In these displays often the skin across the back of the neck is dis- 

 tended through an air sac that fills the space between the shoulders 

 and the back of the head, so that this area appears greatly enlarged. 

 At such times of excitement a whistled imitation of their musical 

 notes may call them out to open view. 



The birds feed regularly on berries, which they flutter out to seize, 

 and swallow entire. 



Through its musical calls the species is widely known among 

 country residents, who call it toledo from imitation of its notes, 

 torero or soldado from the colorful pattern of the males, or more 

 rarely pasa monfe or cantimplora (the latter of uncertain derivation). 



Beyond Panama this species has a wide range along the Caribbean 

 coast across northern Colombia, and an even more extensive distribu- 

 tion through northern Venezuela, including Isla Margarita. Oc- 

 casional trade skins in older collections were labeled Trinidad in error 

 as the species is not found on that island. The uniformity in size and 



