FAMILY TROCHILIDAE 295 



male green, black on throat and breast ; female, white underneath, 

 with a black median line. 



Description. — Length 115-120 mm. Adult male, bronze-green (in 

 some coppery green) above, on sides, and on upper and under wing 

 coverts ; crown darker, often bluish green ; foreneck, and center of 

 breast and abdomen deep black, with a faint bluish sheen ; rictal area, 

 lower cheeks, and a broad band along the black throat and breast 

 deep blue ; femoral and lumbar tufts white ; middle pair of rectrices 

 dusky with a greenish gloss varying to greenish bronze ; others deep 

 maroon, edged with dark blue, in some dull brown at tips ; wings 

 brownish slate, with a faint purplish gloss ; under tail coverts blackish, 

 tipped irregularly with metallic green or metallic bluish green. 



Adult female, above and on sides metallic green to coppery green, 

 like male; below, a central stripe of black from chin to abdomen, 

 broader on the throat, bordered broadly with white on either side; 

 under tail coverts green, tipped with white or gray ; tail with a broad 

 blackish subterminal band, tipped narrowly with white; femoral and 

 lumbar tufts as in male. 



Juvenile, white underneath, with a faint black line on upper throat ; 

 crown dull cinnamon banded narrowly with black ; lower back, rump, 

 and secondaries tipped lightly with dull cinnamon-buff. In a succeed- 

 ing stage the black median line from chin to abdomen is developed, 

 when the young resemble the adult female except for the barring 

 and tipping above. 



An adult female taken at Pucro, Darien, February 10, 1964, had 

 the iris brown ; bill black ; tarsus and toes fuscous ; claws black. 



Measurements. — Males (12 from Panama), wing 65.0-68.2 (66.2), 

 tail 32.7-37.7 (35.0), oilmen from base 22.2-25.7 (24.1) mm. 



Females (12 from Panama), wing 62.0-66.7 (65.0), tail 31.8- 

 36.8 (33.7), oilmen from base 22.9-27.5 (25.2) mm. 



Weight, 2 males 6.5, 7.22 grams ; 2 females, 7.2, 7.47 grams. (Hart- 

 man, Auk, 1954, p. 468.) 



Resident. Found locally in small numbers in the lowlands from 

 southern Veraguas (Santiago), southern Code (Aguadulce), and 

 the Canal Zone on both Pacific and Atlantic slopes to eastern Darien 

 and eastern San Bias. 



These birds live around thickets of false banana, and in clearings 

 and open lands where there is ground cover of low bushes or small 

 trees, less often in forest, where ordinarily they range near the 

 borders. They feed at flowers and also are adept at taking small 

 diptera from swarms dancing in the air. Some that I have handled 



