FAMILY TYRANNIDAE 579 



Females (10 from Chiriqui, Canal Zone, Darien, and northwestern 

 Colombia), wing 46.0-49.5 (47.4), tail 34.5-38.8 (37.5), culmen 

 from base 7.0-8.9 (7.9), tarsus 11.3-13.3 (12.3) mm. 



Resident. Locally common in the tropical lowlands, where suitable 

 tree cover is found. On the Pacific slope from western Chiriqui 

 (Puerto Armuelles, Divala) east through the lowlands (David, San 

 Felix, Las Lajas) to \^eraguas (Puerto Vidal, Sona), Los Santos 

 (Tonosi), Code (El Valle), the Province of Panama, and the Canal 

 Zone to Darien (El Real). On the Caribbean slope from northern 

 Code (El Uracillo) and western Colon (Rio Indio) through the 

 Canal Zone to eastern Colon and western San Bias (Mandinga). 



These tiny birds are found singly or in pairs, often in the border 

 trees along the side of cultivated lands, even where this shelter may 

 be comparatively low and open. Scrub growth scattered through 

 pastures may be attractive to them ; they may come into trees beside 

 open roadways, into the shade of a suburban garden, or along the 

 edge of larger stands of forest. Their haunt may vary from rather 

 open growth to heavier, denser, more humid stands. They often rest 

 motionless and then, because of their tiny size, may not be seen 

 through the cover of leaves around them even though this may be 

 fairly open. I have heard their calls on a few occasions in scattered 

 shade trees in urban areas, as around army quarters, or once even 

 from spreading branches over a parking lot adjacent to a Panama 

 City restaurant. 



Their main coloration is plain and inconspicuous, and only occa- 

 sionally may one display the brightly colored crest. Rarely I have 

 seen the male of a pair dart in twisting flight through the trees, 

 swinging in a circle without pause, with much show of color, ap- 

 parently a mating display. It was not until I had identified the quiet, 

 whistled call, pray teer, that I realized that in many localities they 

 were fairly common. 



While they capture small insects regularly, small berries, including 

 those of mistletoes, are a standard food supply. I have collected birds 

 in breeding condition in early January. On Barro Colorado Island, 

 Dr. Eisenmann found adults feeding young out of the nest on July 3 

 and 30, 1950. And on August 22, 1954, found an occupied nest in 

 the edge of the laboratory clearing in a Cecropia tree, about 10 meters 

 above the ground. He described it as a shallow cup, placed where six 

 leaf stems sprouted from a twig, and made of fine twigs and hairlike 

 filaments, some hanging below the narrow branch on which the nest 

 was saddled. 



In Panama, there is no certain record at present for this bird in 



