FAMILY TYRANNIDAE 387 



England Zool. Club. vol. 3, 1902, p. 40) reported that W. W. Brown, 

 Jr., collected it only at 600 meters elevation below Boquete. Blake 

 (Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p. 536) listed it at about 1600 meters 

 above this point in collections made by Monniche between 30 and 40 

 years later. They appear regularly in suburban areas in towns and 

 about country houses, where the projecting spikes of royal palms 

 and telephone wires are favored lookout points. 



On Isla Coiba I found them common on dead limbs and other 

 prominent perches in the low brush back of the beaches, and also in 

 the extensive pastures behind the convict camps. Here it was one 

 of the few bird species seen regularly in this comparatively new 

 open habitat made by clearing large areas of forest. 



In a survey of the birdlife on Isla San Jose in the Perlas group in 

 early 1944 I found this kingbird in small numbers mainly along the 

 beaches and casually elsewhere. In that year there was extensive 

 clearing for roadways over the island. In a second visit in 1946 I 

 noted a slight increase in abundance, apparently due to the more open 

 range available. 



These birds, with long, pointed wings are accomplished aerialists, 

 so that it is a pleasure to watch when they are engaged in active feed- 

 ing on passing insects. From a commanding perch the bird may rise 

 directly upward for a meter or so to a much greater distance, seize 

 some insect and then drop vertically back to its original resting 

 place with marvelous precision and a minimum of wing movement 

 to control the rise and descent. With agile prey, it moves in swift 

 pursuit following the twisting, turning course of the insect in its 

 attempt to escape. Or the bird may pitch forward in a tight, rolling 

 loop following some unusuedly active prey. Often they circle through 

 swarming termites, or clouds of gnats, sometimes high above the 

 ground. They come regularly also with other birds to the ripened 

 berries of feeding trees. 



The nesting season begins in January and continues through June, 

 or later. Eisenmann recorded three full grown young being fed at 

 Fort San Lorenzo on August 28, 1958. In an attractive early season 

 display males at sunrise may spiral up high in the air and then, with 

 many twists and turns, fly across pastures or other open lands until 

 they are mere specks in the distance, coming finally to rest in some 

 tall dead tree. In another display I have seen a pair rise with rapidly 

 fluttering wings high in air and then descend rapidly with one bird 

 directly above the other but not quite in contact. 



The voice is a high-pitched repetition of a twittering call, without 



