FAMILY PIPRIDAE 355 



F. Chapman, and James Karr. R. S. Ridgely banded one at Rio 

 Piedras, eastern Colon, February 22, 1969. It appears that the 

 species ranges locally in Panama from the Canal Zone eastward. 

 In Colombia it now is known from the upper Sinu Valley in Cordoba 

 westward, along the Pacific slope from the Serrania de Baudo (Rios 

 Jurubida and Nuqui) south to Narifio, continuing south into northern 

 Ecuador. 



This interesting bird, like a flycatcher in general appearance and 

 habits, I have found mainly in hill country, usually near small 

 streams that flow through forest. The birds range through the tops 

 of the undergrowth and the lower branches of the trees, where the 

 subdued light so masks their soft shades of color that close scrutiny 

 may be required to distinguish them from a common dull-colored 

 flycatcher of equal size and somewhat similar in its actions, the 

 Olivaceous Flat-bill (Rhynchocychis olivaceus). The shorter legs 

 of Sapayoa that give it a somewhat different stance, with the body a 

 little lower against the twigs on which it rests, may attract the eye, and 

 its duller coloration and unmarked wings serve to identify it. The 

 birds may range in pairs, singly, or with moving bands of other small 

 forest birds. Occasionally I found them among chattering flocks of 

 Olive Tanagers {Chlorothraupis carmioli). In the latter case, while 

 they suggest the tanagers in dull color, they differ in posture and 

 smaller form. Sapayoa may move quickly, but then pauses with tail 

 hanging down while it peers about, suggesting then the duller 

 colored Schiffornis turd inns. Those that I have seen have been 

 silent. Karr describes their calls as resembling somewhat those of the 

 Blue-crowned Manakin but less musical. 



In the hand, the short legs and the large wings, broad for the size 

 of the body, attract attention, as does the rather long and fairly dense 

 body plumage. In preparing specimens I have noted in the pterylosis 

 a narrow, elongated apterion in the lower half of the expanded 

 dorsal tract that continues down into the narrowed distal line on the 

 upper rump. In the skull the cranium is rounded, elevated, and firm. 

 The nest and eggs have not been recorded, except that Hartert in the 

 original description (p. 118) wrote that the bird collector had two 

 eggs, which however were not forwarded with the specimen. 



The small series here in Washington from the base of the Serrania 

 de Baudo in central Choco. Colombia, averages very faintly more 

 olive than that from Panama, a difference that appears too slight to 

 warrant a name. 



The true family relationship of this species is still to be established. 



