NO. 2 BIRDS OF ISLA ESCUDO DE VERAGUAS — WETMORE 25 



Description. — Type, U.S.N.M. No. 469168, female, Isla Escudo de 

 Veraguas, Bocas del Toro, Panama, March 2, 1958, collected by- 

 Alexander Wetmore (original No. 22248). Crown mineral gray, with 

 a faint wash of gnaphalium green, which is stronger on hindneck ; 

 back and scapulars dull greenish glaucous-blue, changing to light 

 glaucous-blue on rump ; upper tail coverts bluish gray-green, washed 

 with greenish glaucous-blue at tips; shoulder patch formed by lesser 

 and middle coverts, grayish violaceous blue ; primaries and secondaries 

 dusky neutral gray, with outer webs, except for the tips of the 

 primaries, dull Venetian blue ; outer webs of scapulars dark gobelin 

 blue; central rectrices and outer webs of others dark gobelin blue, 

 with inner webs of all but the central pair dark neutral gray; median 

 under surface between court gray and gnaphalium green, with center 

 of abdomen faintly whitish ; sides gnaphalium green ; edge of wing 

 glaucous-blue ; under wing coverts light gull gray to white. Bill dull 

 black, except for a wash of hair brown toward base of gonys ; tarsus, 

 and toes dusky neutral gray (from dried skin). 



Measurements. — Females (3 specimens), wing 87.5-90.1 (88.4), 

 tail 60.1-62.8 (62.3), culmen from base 16.4-18.0 (17.1), tarsus 20.4- 



20.7 (20.6) mm. 



Type, female, wing 90.1, tail 62.8, culmen from base 18.0, tarsus 

 20.4 mm. 



Range. — Isla Escudo de Veraguas, at sea off the base of the 

 Valiente Peninsula, Bocas del Toro, Panama. 



Remarks. — The fact that this widely distributed tanager was repre- 

 sented by a distinct form on this small island was not detected until 

 I began examination of specimens in the preparation of the present 

 report. The three specimens, all females, were taken merely as a 

 matter of routine during my visit. Comparison has been made with a 

 series of recently collected skins, consisting of 15 females of Thraupis 

 virens diaconus, and 21 of T. v. cana. In none of these is there dupli- 

 cation of the characters on which the race caesitia is based. Attention 

 was first drawn to the island form by the large bill, this measuring 



13.8 to 15.7 (14.6) mm. in the 15 diaconus, and 13.7 to 15.7 (14.7) 

 mm. in the 21 cana. 



Hellmayr (1936, p. 214) expressed doubt as to the validity of the 

 race diaconus, and recently Blake (1958, p. 566) has combined this 

 form with cana. In comparing an extensive series taken throughout 

 the range of the two subspecies in question I find, however, that while 

 the two are similar in general, diaconus is darker on the back, and 

 slightly duller blue on the rump, in addition to averaging somewhat 



