3/6 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA — PART 3 



Code, the southern Canal Zone, and both sectors of the Province 

 of Panama, to the lower Rio Bayano (El Llano) ; recorded on the 

 Caribbean side in the northern Canal Zone as migrants or wanderers ; 

 from late August to the middle of September ; sight records for 

 Puerto Obaldia, eastern Comarca de San Bias, and Isla Coiba. 



On the Pacific slope as a whole these birds are present throughout 

 the year, with seasonal variation in occurrence and abundance. Mat- 

 ing display may be noted in January ; nesting is recorded from 

 February to May and June. The period may vary locally according 

 to the season. Near the La Jagua Gun Club east of the Rio Pacora, 

 Province of Panama, on February 22, 1957, I noted two occupied 

 nests and collected one with three eggs in which incubation had begun. 

 Two years later on April 11. 1959, in this same area the birds were 

 present but there was no sign of nesting activity as there had been 

 no rain and the savannas were very dry. Eisenmann and J. R. Karr 

 recorded two nests, with two and three eggs respectively, on March 

 12, 1969, at the old La Joya airstrip in this same area. A male col- 

 lected in northern Herrera March 18, 1948, was in breeding condition. 

 West of Penonome, Code, on April 6, 1954, Mrs. Gladys Barnard 

 watched a nest being built with both male and female bringing straws 

 for construction. Eisenmann and the Barnards in this area on June 

 20, 1953, found many fledglings still showing down. Near Sona, 

 Veraguas, on May 18 and 22, 1953, I noted immature individuals 

 recently on the wing. 



The nests that I have examined have been shallow cups of plant 

 fibers padded with flufify down. Leaves may be woven into the outer 

 edge. In location they have ranged from less than a meter to 10 meters 

 from the ground. At one collected near the La Jagua Gun Club, 

 Panama, February 22 , 1957, elevated about 3 meters, when I stood 

 on the jeep hood directly underneath, the brooding female did not 

 leave her post until I began to pull the branch with the nest toward 

 me. The three eggs are oval in form, somewhat glossy white, spotted 

 irregularly with small markings of chocolate and lilac, mainly in a 

 circlet on the large end, but with a few scattered at random elsewhere. 

 They measure 21.2 X 16.2, 21. 6 X 16.2 and 21.9 X 16.5 mm. 



Males in mating display are an attractive sight as they hover or 

 fly slowly with tail widely spread and quickly fluttering wings. Eisen- 

 mann described a display seen February 14, 1960, near Tocumen in 

 which two males perched in the top of a low bush, while a third bird, 

 possibly a female, rested below. The two above fanned their tails and 

 raised them almost vertically, while fluttering the wings and calling. 



