FAMILY TYRANNIDAE 445 



As this is a forest inhabitant, in western Panama it seems to have 

 been reduced in number with the clearing that has come with increase 

 in human population. In Chiriqui, Mrs. M. E. Davidson collected 

 two at Puerto Armuelles November 19 and 24, 1929, but I did not 

 find it between January and March 1966. Specimens in the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology were taken by W. W. Brown, Jr., near 

 Boquete in 1901, and by H. J. Watson at El Banco in 1903, but the 

 species is not listed by Blake in the collection assembled by Monniche 

 in that area from 1932 to 1952. In Veraguas, Arce one hundred 

 years ago sent specimens to Salvin from Santa Fe and Chitra. It is 

 not recorded from the Azuero Peninsula. I collected one at 450 

 meters on the south face of Cerro Campana, western Province of 

 Panama, March 7, 1957. From Cerro Azul east through Darien it is 

 fairly common. On the Caribbean side it is found in Bocas del 

 Toro, northern Code, the northern Canal Zone, and the lower 

 Chagres Valley. A male in the Field Museum was taken at Puerto 

 Obaldia, Comarca de San Bias, April 21, 1931. by H. von Wedel. 



Rufous Mourners are seen mainly on open branches below the 

 high tree crown. At times they have exhibited some curiosity when I 

 have been calling other birds. I have noted them also as they fed ac- 

 tively at berries in forest trees with other birds. In this they fly out 

 and hover as they seize the drupes on the wing. Occasionally, I have 

 seen as many as three in company, when they may give low, whistled 

 calls, but usually they have been alone and silent. It is certain that 

 concealed in heavy leaf cover they have regularly escaped attention. 

 A pair collected March 3, 1959, where the Rio Paya enters the Rio 

 Tuira in Darien were near breeding. I have no report of the nest and 

 eggs. 



In examination of stomachs I have identified seeds of berries 

 ( Melastomaceae ) , and a variety of insect remains. Among these 

 orthoptera, cicadas, and membracids have been common, with numer- 

 ous remains of caterpillars, ants, and a variety of beetles, with oc- 

 casional bits of spiders. 



The roughened surface on the posterior face of the upper end of 

 the tarsus at first glance seems to suggest the heel pads found in 

 some nestlings, but on examination the condition differs in that it is 

 absent in young, immature individuals, and only becomes slightly 

 evident as the birds become older, reaching its maximum in full adults. 

 From examination of a series of skins, though it is present and 

 evident in females, it attains its major development in males. In its 

 final form the roughened scutes appear also above the joint on the 



