FAMILY PIPRIDAE 347 



crown ; lower surface dull reddish brown, grayer on throat and 

 lower abdomen. 



This is a forest species, found widely in the Tropical Zone, ranging 

 in mountain areas to subtropical elevations, from southern Mexico 

 through Central America and northern South America to Peru, 

 Bolivia, and central Brazil. Through this vast area, variation in color, 

 although limited in total extent, is so clearly evident that twelve 

 geographic races have been recognized, three of them found in 

 Panama. 



These birds live in undergrowth in forest in pairs or as scattered 

 individuals. While encountered regularly they are never abundant. 

 Usually they are not wild, but through their dull coloration and quiet 

 habits may remain unnoticed, as they rest on low perches, often 

 partly hidden among leaves. When flushed they fly rather quickly 

 through or above the undergrowth and disappear, seldom going 

 higher into the taller trees. Flight is direct and fairly rapid. Their 

 food is partly of insects, seized as they move among leaves, and 

 partly of berries, found ripening in the undergrowth, or in the feed- 

 ing trees attractive to many other birds. 



As the nests and eggs of the subspecies of Panama are as yet not 

 known, data from other races may indicate what is probable for 

 those that live in the Republic. Skutch (Pac. Coast Avif. no. 35, 

 1969, pp. 148-157) in Costa Rica found that S. t. vcraepacis, the 

 form immediately adjacent to dumicola of Chiriqui, builds a bulky 

 nest mainly of large leaves, placed from 1 to 2 meters from the 

 ground amid branches and vines that support it. The deep cup is 

 lined with fine rootlets and similar materials. Three nests held two 

 eggs each, with a single egg in a fourth. These were oval, pale buff 

 in color, with a high gloss. They were "marked with large and small 

 blotches and roundish spots of black and dark brown, or black and 

 pale lilac, which are concentrated in a wreath around the thick end, 

 with a few scattered over the remaining surface." Extreme measure- 

 ments in the seven seen were 25.4x19.1, 23.0x17.5, and 24. 2x 

 15.9 mm. The female alone built the nest, incubated, and reared the 

 young. The latter when hatched were covered with long grayish 

 down. 



For the race S.t. veraepacis, Smithe (Birds of Tikal, 1964, p. 157) 

 lists a nest in a cavity in the top of a palm stump with "two whitish 

 eggs." He cites another, on the authority of E. O. Willis, of similar 

 location in British Honduras, "made of skeletonized dead leaves with 

 a thin lining of fine rootlets" also with two eggs. Alvarez del Toro 



