124 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA — PART 2 



the addition of berries. One that I examined held several large 

 seeds of a species of euphorbia. They eat small lizards also. Their 

 quick movements often suggest those of an active predator on any 

 prey small enough to be swallowed. 



Nests, like those of the common ani, but larger, are built of twigs 

 and bits of vine, with a deep cup of finer, blacker materials, lined 

 with green leaves. Fresh leaves are added during the period of 

 incubation. Eggs vary from 3 to 10, supposed to be laid by 2 or 

 more females, as nesting is believed to be communal on the part of 

 the pairs that compose the flock. Belcher and Smooker (Ibis, 1936, 

 pp. 11-12) describe the eggs as subspherical to broadly oval, blue 

 in color, covered with a chalky deposit that during incubation be- 

 comes scratched and partly worn away. Size is variable, the usual 

 range being 42.6-49.0x35.0-40 mm., with a minimum of 39.1x31.3 

 recorded. 



The acrid odor common to cuckoos is especially strong in this 

 species, a scent that to me is definitely disagreeable. Among country 

 dwellers it is said that cats will not eat an ani because of it. 



In 1952 I found a few along the lower Rio Indio, west of Salud 

 near the coast of the western sector of the Province of Colon, which 

 is the most western record for them at present. While they are 

 widely distributed in the lowlands the only point at which I have 

 found them abundant is in the marshy lands back of El Real in 

 Darien. Beyond Panama they range in suitable country through 

 South America (including Trinidad) to northern Argentina. Though 

 a species of tropical lowlands, in Colombia they are reported from 

 the open savannas of the Bogota area at 2,600 meters elevation. 



CROTOPHAGA ANI Linnaeus: Smooth-billed Ani, 

 Garrapatero Comun 



Figure 16 



CrotopJiaga Ani Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 105. (Jamaica.) 



Of slender form, long tail, and black color, with compressed, 

 strongly arched bill. 



Description. — Length 310-350 mm. The elevated, smooth-sided 

 ridge of the upper mandible, thin as the blade of a knife, rises in a 

 rounded arch from the tip of the bill to end on the forehead. Adult 

 (sexes alike), dull brownish black throughout, with a slight bluish 

 sheen; feathers of head, and of the sides and back of the neck 

 margined with dull bronze ; back and wing coverts tipped indistinctly 

 with dull greenish blue. 



