428 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 3 



Coiba, along the streams back of Chiman and Maje in eastern 

 Province of Panama, and also along the Rio Indio in western Colon, 

 and the Caribbean slope of northern Code. 



The usual call is a high-pitched zvhee-ee-ee, a sound with little 

 carrying power, though in the dawn-song this may become faster, 

 louder, and somewhat more prolonged. They take wing quickly to 

 seize passing insects, and also move about in search of such food. 

 On Isla Coiba I saw one fly out at a passing butterfly, possibly in play 

 as the insect was not seized. They also feed extensively on berries, 

 being regular visitors to feeding trees. Though usually not wary, 

 they may remain unseen except to a keen eye, as they are quiet in 

 movement. On one occasion on Isla Taboga where they were common, 

 in careful watching I located eight perched within a radius of 60 

 meters from where I stood. 



The nest is placed in cavities in trees, usually somewhat concealed 

 so that it is not easily seen. At the La Jagua Gun Club, in the savanna 

 east of Pacora, Panama, for years a pair has used a box placed for 

 them on the side of the building. On March 24, 1964, I flushed a 

 female from another nest site on a beam under the ceiling of the club- 

 house, and collected the two fresh eggs. The nest material was a 

 rather bulky mass of rootlets, slender bits of vine, and fragments of 

 leaves, bound loosely with cobweb, approximately 140 by 120 mm, and 

 70 mm high. In one side the bird had shaped an open cup with the 

 cavity 55 mm in diameter and 35 mm deep. The eggs were pale 

 greenish white, marked heavily and irregularly with dark brown. 

 One egg, short subelliptical in form, measured 21.6x16.9 mm; the 

 other, subelliptical, was 23.1 X 16.3 mm. A nest found April 20. 1941, 

 at Summit, Canal Zone, by Major-General G. Ralph Meyer was 

 placed in the upper end of a 4-inch metal pipe set at an angle in the 

 ground. The three eggs rested in a soft hollow of opossum fur and 

 balsa down, with a length of shed snakeskin beside them. The form, 

 ground color, and markings are more variable in these three than 

 usual in eggs of the same set. In one, the shape is slightly long 

 subelliptical, the ground color somewhat dull cream, with heavy mark- 

 ings of dark and light reddish brown, varying from tiny dots to ir- 

 regular blotches. These coalesce in a wreath with irregular outline 

 on the larger end. The second egg is somewhat elongated oval, with 

 heavier markings of the colors found in the first. These coalesce to 

 cover most of the larger end, with irregular, projecting points around 

 the lower margin. The third is slightly pointed subelliptical, marked 

 heavily with similar colors, but largely in elongate array parallel to 



