FAMILY TYRANNIDAE 45I 



son found a female at Barriles, near the Rio Chiriqui Viejo, January 

 12, 1931, and one at Cerro Punta January 1 of the same year, the 

 specimens being in the California Academy of Sciences. Blake 

 (Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p. 539) reported a series in the 

 Monniche collection from above Boquete at elevations ranging from 

 1580 to 1880 meters. He reported birds in breeding condition from 

 May 13 to July 23. 



Skutch (Publ. Nutt. Orn. Club. no. 7, 1967, pp. 79-82) has given 

 details of life history from observations along the Cordillera Central, 

 near Vara Blanca, and on the northern face of Volcan Irazu in 

 Costa Rica. Here these flycatchers were around openings at the 

 borders in the forests, not in the heavy stands of the interior. Each 

 individual had favored, elevated perches where it watched for passing 

 insects. These were captured on the wing, with the bird returning 

 to its original perch. The usual call is "a rather loud, staccato wic, 

 which is usually repeated several times in succession." He heard also 

 a whistle that in the nesting season was combined with other sounds 

 in a clear dawn song. Three nests were open cups placed near the 

 outer ends of long branches. One contained a single egg (not de- 

 scribed), the other two. nestlings. The first nest was a "broad, 

 shallow cup that fitted like a saddle over the moderately thick branch. 

 . . . The massive outer wall was composed of green mosses, liver- 

 worts and lichens . . . bound together with cobweb. The cup was 

 thickly lined with fibrous rootlets and coarse vegetable fibers." Dur- 

 ing the nesting season the pewees became much excited when ap- 

 proached by Emerald Toucanets, well known as nest robbers. 



Slud (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 128, 1964, pp. 253-254) 

 in Costa Rica also reported the species common in mountain forests 

 where it was "the only abundant, high-perching, long-sallying fly- 

 catcher in the middle altitudes." 



On the slopes of Cerro Pando, near El Volcan, Chiriqui, March 

 1954, I found a pair resting on branches in the tops of tall dead 

 trees overlooking a valley. March 5, 1955, near Cerro Punta one 

 chose the summit of a tall bamboo as a lookout point. In form, size, 

 upright stance, dark coloration, and choice of lookout perches, these 

 flycatchers strongly suggest the Olive-sided Flycatcher. The dark 

 breast was a prominent mark even at some distance. 



Zimmer (Amer. Mus. Nov. no. 1042, 1939, p. 2) has combined 

 the three groups of large pewees. Contopus pertinax, ranging from 

 southwestern United States to northern Nicaragua. C. luguhris of 

 Costa Rica and western Panama, and C. fiiinigatus of South America, 



