244 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA — PART 2 



PANYPTILA CAYENNENSIS CAYENNENSIS (Gmelin) : 

 Cayenne Swift, Vencejo Gargantiblanco 



Figure 38 



Hirundo cayenmnsis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 1024. (Cayenne.) 



A small swift with white throat, collar, and flanks; tail deeply 

 forked. 



Description. — Length 122-130 mm. Tarsus and toes feathered. 

 Adult (sexes alike), 2 spots on either side of forehead, throat, fore- 

 neck, a narrow collar around the hindneck and a spot on flanks clear 

 white ; a narrow line around nape, above white collar, light mouse 

 brown ; inner primaries and secondaries edged narrowly with mouse 

 brown, and tipped with white ; rest of plumage deep black. 



Measurements. — Males (11 from Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador, 

 Guyana, and Cayenne), wing 116.5-122.4 (119.0), tail 52.4-58.8 

 (55.3), culmen from base 6.0-8.4 (7.0) mm. 



Females (17 from Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Trinidad and 

 Guyana), wing 116.3-124.6 (119.1), tail 52.0-59.3 (56.4), culmen 

 from base 5.8-8.4 (7.1), tarsus 8.0-9.8 (9.0) mm. 



Weight 15.75-23.5 grams (data from Charles T. Collins, recorded 

 in Trinidad.) 



Resident. Tolerably common, ranging widely throughout the Re- 

 public from the lowlands to the lower edge of the Subtropical Zone. 



The Cayenne swift is elusive as it feeds high in air, over forest or 

 open country indifferently. Most of the present records are from the 

 Canal Zone and adjacent areas in the Province of Panama. The birds 

 appear at intervals over Barro Colorado Island, and I have recorded 

 them occasionally at Juan Mina. On March 28, 1955, at the base of 

 Cerro Chame, Panama, I saw a nest attached to a tree trunk about 

 15 meters from the ground. Other nests were noted in forest near 

 Utive at the base of Cerro Azul, March 25, 1949, and on the slopes of 

 Cerro Carbunco, Panama, April 14 of the same year. Armaguedon 

 Hartmann found a nest in November 1960, in his coffee finca at 

 1,250 meters above Santa Clara, Chiriqui. The only other report at 

 present for this province is of a pair that I noted at Puerto Armuelles, 

 February 13, 1966. Griscom (Amer. Mus. Nov., no. 282, 1927, p. 4) 

 saw 1 at Cabo Garachine, Darien, February 25, 1927, the only report 

 from eastern Panama. 



Like some other swifts this species in the Canal Zone has accepted 

 the buildings erected by man as suitable shelter. Dr. Herbert Clark 

 of the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory showed Greenway (Auk, 1934, 

 p. 377) nests suspended from the ceilings of the piazzas in the hos- 



