8 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 2 



Description. — Length 295-335 mm. Male, forehead and anterior 

 crown drab-purple; occiput and nape gray, glossed with bronze and 

 metallic green; hindneck, upper back, scapulars, and smaller wing 

 coverts reddish brown, washed more or less with gray ; greater wing 

 coverts and inner secondaries grayish brown ; alula, primaries, and 

 outer secondaries fuscous, edged narrowly with grayish white ; lower 

 back, rump, and upper tail coverts neutral gray ; tail brownish gray ; 

 throat grayish white ; side of head and upper f oreneck gray ; breast 

 reddish brown, washed more or less with purple, these colors in some 

 specimens extending to the flanks and abdomen ; lower abdomen (usu- 

 ally), flanks, and under tail coverts grayish white to pale gray ; axillars 

 and under wing coverts bluish gray. 



Female, coloration duller, with reddish brown of upper and lower 

 surface usually less extensive. 



Immature, much duller colored ; crown gray, or brownish gray ; 

 hindneck without metallic gloss. 



Adult females in full plumage, taken at Isla Cebaco, March 27, 

 1962, and at Aguadulce, Code, January 18, 1963, had the iris from 

 orange to reddish orange ; bare skin around eye dark to bluish neutral 

 gray ; edge of eyelids, and a line above and below, reddish brown ; bill 

 black ; tarsus and toes dull red ; claws black. 



Measurements. — Males (12 from Panama), wing 179-192 (184.3), 

 tail 104.5-116.7 (110.9), culmen 15.3-20.0 (17.7), tarsus 24.2-28.7 

 (26.8) mm. 



Females (7 from Panama), wing 173-180 (177.1), tail 102.9-111.0 

 (105.6), culmen 15.5-18.4 (16.7), tarsus 25.0-27.3 (26.3) mm. 



Resident. Common mainly in the lowlands throughout the Repub- 

 lic, ranging regularly to 600 meters elevation in hill country, less 

 commonly to 1,200 meters. Isla Parida ; Isla Bolanos ; Isla Brincanco ; 

 Isla Canal de Afuera ; Isla Coiba; Isla Cebaco; Isla Taboga ; and 

 throughout the Archipielago de las Perlas. 



The torcasa, the common pigeon of its group of species, usually is 

 found in areas broken by clearings, but may be encountered also in 

 heavy forest. Many range in mangrove swamps, and others come 

 about suburban homes where tree growth is abundant. They are seen 

 in small parties of half a dozen, or fewer, in flight high in air, or at 

 rest singly in the sun in tall dead trees. At other times they remain con- 

 cealed among the leaves of the high forest crown. Except that they 

 come to drink on gravel bars of streams, it is not common to see them 

 on the ground as they feed mainly on drupes borne on leafy shrubs 

 or trees. The flight, swift and direct, ends often on perches concealed 



