220 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 2 



Chiriqui" according to the label on the type in the British Museum. 

 Salvin (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 177) in his account of the 

 collections made by Arce writes that they "were formed on the south- 

 ern slope of the Volcano, the highest point reached being about 6500 

 feet above sea-level." It is doubtful that the species occurs at that 

 low elevation (about 2,000 meters) at the present time. The next 

 specimen from Panama appears to be a female in the Monniche 

 collection, recorded by Blake (Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p. 515). 

 This was collected on the volcano at about 3,100 meters on August 31, 

 1937. Three in our collection were taken in 1965, male and female, 

 prepared by E. Tyson, secured February 16 and 19, and a male shot 

 by George Barrett February 24. All 3 were collected near a camp at 

 2,300 meters elevation on the trail that ascends the west face of 

 Volcan Barii above the settlement of El Volcan. No others were seen 

 there during work that continued to March 12 when the camp was 

 closed. 



In Costa Rica this species, according to Slud (Bull. Amer. Mus. 

 Nat. Hist., vol. 128, 1964, p. 138), is found through the central high- 

 lands, where locally it may be common. Slud describes it as "a non- 

 forest species that enters clearings, openings, and park-like pastures at 

 night and rests in thickets and along woodland borders during the day." 

 He speaks of it as perching and foraging from branches several 

 meters above the ground, which agrees with the reports that I received 

 of the bird in Chiriqui. Its call Slud says is "an unmistakable whip- 

 poor-will with an introductory chick or chip." 



In a recording made by Irby Davis, which he kindly played for me, 

 the song was repeated steadily as it is in the familiar northern species. 

 In the recording there was no indication of the low preliminary note, 

 usual in the northern bird, which however is described by Slud. In a 

 technical analysis of his spectrogram Davis (Texas Journ. Sci., vol. 

 14, 1962, pp. 81-84) has found a somewhat slower, less abrupt utter- 

 ance in the first note, so that he renders the song as che-e-er-poor-will. 



It is possible that the population of Panama, known at present only 

 from Barii, is isolated from that of Costa Rica, since Dr. Slud informs 

 me that he did not record this species during a journey along the 

 Cordillera de Talamanca, toward the Panamanian border at a season 

 when the birds should have been calling. 



CAPRIMULGUS CAYENNENSIS ALBICAUDA (Lawrence): 

 White-tailed Nightjar, Dormilon Chico 



Stenopsis albicauda Lawrence, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. 11, February 

 1875, p. 89. (Talamanca, Costa Rica.) 



