FAMILY TROCHILIDAE 3OI 



Immature male, like female, but lower foreneck more heavily 

 spotted with green. 



A female that I collected near Puerto Armuelles, Chiriqui, March 4, 

 1966, had the iris dark brown ; base of mandibular rami and bare 

 skin between the two dull reddish brown; rest of bill black; end of 

 tarsus, toes, and claws black. 



Measurements. — Males (13 from Costa Rica and Chiriqui), wing 

 38.3-41.0 (39.8), tail 24.7-29.9 (26.9), culmen from base 11.1-12.8 

 (11.9, average of 12) mm. 



Females (10 from Costa Rica and Chiriqui), wing 36.7-39.7 

 (37.9), tail 19.9-20.6 (20.3, average of 9), culmen from base 11.7- 

 12.9 (12.4) mm. 



Resident. Rare; recorded in Chiriqui from the slopes of the 

 volcano, and the lowlands near Bugaba, Bibalaz, and Puerto Armuelles. 



This handsome species is known in Panama to date mainly from 

 the collections made by Enrique Arce. Salvin, in the original descrip- 

 tion, writes that "the first specimen obtained by Arce was a female, 

 which though evidently belonging to a distinct species I hesitated to 

 describe. This specimen was shot at Bugaba. The last collection in- 

 cludes a male, which Arce tells me his brother David obtained high 

 up on the southern slope of the volcano of Chiriqui." It is evidently 

 this male that is to be regarded as the type. Salvin and Godman (Biol. 

 Centr.-Amer., Aves, vol. 2, 1892, p. 365) in addition to these 2 list 

 1 from Bibalaz. This latter specimen, a male from the Gould col- 

 lection, is in the British Museum. When I examined it in 1964 it had 

 no catalog number. Another report of the species in Panama is by 

 Salvadori and Festa (Bol. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp. R. Univ. Torino, 

 vol. 14, no. 339, 1899, p. 7) who list a skin from Chiriqui, obtained 

 from Arce. 



The main range of this beautiful little bird is to the north in 

 central and southwestern Costa Rica, where locally it may be common, 

 mainly on the Pacific slope. Slud (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 vol. 128, 1964, pp. 150-151) says that it ranges in "scrubby wood- 

 land, in shrubby openings with scattered trees, and at partially cut- 

 over borders mixed with second growth." Skutch (Wilson Bull., 

 1961, pp. 5-10) gives an interesting account of its life history, 

 illustrated by a plate in color by Don Eckelberry. The birds feed 

 at flowers, often those of the trees that shade coffee plantations. 

 Nests, built in the early part of the dry season, were tiny cups of 

 plant down and cobweb, covered externally with lichens. They were 

 placed from 5 to nearly 20 meters from the ground on "slender twigs 



