238 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 2 



drographic Station, Charco del Toro. Darien: Cana, Boca de Paya, 

 Rio Tacarcuna, Cerro Mali, Jaque. San Bias: Mandinga, Perme, 

 Armila, Puerto Obaldia. 



The small, spine-tailed swifts seen so frequently in Panama are a 

 constant puzzle in identification. In the eastern half of the country 

 it is always pleasing, as one circles past, to have it turn so as to show 

 the light, whitish rump of the present species, a mark that is dupli- 

 cated in none of the others. Often I have found them in bands of 20 

 or more, occasionally in groups of double that number. In Darien and 

 San Bias these flocks, identified when the pale rump is seen through 

 binoculars, range regularly above the forests. Occasionally they have 

 come lower down over clearings or along rivers where it has been 

 possible to shoot one or two for specimens. When the flocks have 

 mingled with Chaetura vauxi the banded swifts appear slightly 

 smaller, with narrower wings. Usually also the body seems more 

 tapered, as they hold the tail feathers folded. Their flight is fast but 

 frequently more direct for longer distances, with fewer abrupt, erratic 

 turns. Their notes, heard somewhat indistinctly, are low and chatter- 

 ing. Occasionally I have heard a higher pitched call, but also in a 

 low tone that did not carry far. 



The nesting season seems to come at the end of February and in 

 early March as some of the birds taken then have been in breeding 

 condition. On several occasions I have seen them join high in the air, 

 and remain with feet clasped while they fell nearly to the ground. A 

 fully grown immature bird was taken at Charco del Toro, March 28. 



Above Boca de Paya on the Rio Tuira I found one open stretch of 

 quiet water where they came to drink. Goldman (in a manuscript 

 note) noted them drinking from a ditch of the Darien Gold Mining 

 Company near Cana. Once during a rainstorm I watched several 

 flying slowly, evidently drinking and undoubtedly also bathing in the 

 downpour. They appear to come to water less often than the Vaux 

 swifts. 



The only reference that I have seen to nesting in this species relates 

 to Trinidad where Snow (Zoologica, vol. 47, 1962, p. 134) during 

 July found a pair feeding young in a natural cavity in a tree 10 meters 

 from the ground. He also noted 1 roosting with short-tailed swifts in 

 a manhole in a cement drain in an abandoned wartime camp. 



CHAETURA ANDREI MERIDIONALIS Hellmayr: 

 Andre's Swift, Vencejo de Andre 



Chaetura andrei mcridionalis Hellmayr, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 19, March 

 30, 1907, p. 63. (Santiago del Estero, Argentina.) 



