388 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 3 



great carrying power, that to me is a pleasing sound. At sunrise the 

 males may sing for several minutes in repetition of these notes. 



While often flying out toward passing hawks, tropical kingbirds in 

 the main are not aggressive toward smaller birds except when the 

 latter chance to pass too near the nests. 



Skutch (Proc. Linn. Soc. New York, nos. 63-65, 1954, p. 26) 

 records that the nest is built by the female alone, with the male merely 

 a spectator. It is a broad, shallow, open cup made of plant material, 

 placed from 2 to 5 meters above the ground, rarely higher, in a bush 

 or tree standing in the open. The walls may be so thin that the out- 

 lines of the eggs are seen from below. Often it is untidy with bits of 

 the material dangling loosely. The eggs, two or three in number, are 

 "whitish or pale buff, more or less heavily blotched with reddish- 

 brown, pale brown, and pale lilac, the markings most crowded on the 

 thicker end. At times there are a few fine, black spots." Size in 

 twelve varied from 22.2-26.6x17.5-19.1 mm. Kreuger (Ool. Rec, 

 vol. 42, 1968, pp. 73-74) gives measurements of two eggs collected 

 in British Honduras as 25.7 X 18.0, and 27.1 X 17.6 mm. Three taken 

 by Jewel at Gatun. Canal Zone. March 20, 1912 (.Stone, Proc. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 70, 1918, p. 268) measured 25.1x17.8, 

 24.9 X 18.0, and 24.9 X 18.3 mm. 



The female incubates alone, with the male resting nearby. While 

 he may fly out at some intruder, usually small birds are not molested 

 when they perch nearby. At hatching the young have scanty gray 

 down. The male assists in feeding them and guards the nest, but 

 does not cover them. 



Only seldom does the kingbird descend to the ground and there it 

 hops slowly and awkwardly. In bathing they come quickly down to 

 the surface of a pool, splash the breast in the water, and then rise to a 

 perch. Here the feathers are fluttered to shake out the water and the 

 birds preen. 



LEGATUS LEUCOPHAIUS (Vieillot) : Piratic Flycatcher, 

 Papamoscas Ladron 



Rather small ; dusky above, with light line over eye ; heavily 

 streaked below. 



Description. — Length 135-145 mm. Adult (sexes alike), a dull 

 white line from the forehead back above eye united with a similar 

 band across the hindneck ; crown sooty brown to nearly black, with a 

 partly concealed central spot of yellow ; back, scapulars, and upper 

 rump olive to grayish brown, with indistinct brownish edgings ; lower 



