FAMILY TROCHILIDAE 3II 



black ; wings dusky wtih a purple sheen ; throat centrally brilliant 

 orange-red, changing to bronze-green on the sides; a spot of violet 

 on center of breast, changing laterally to deep blue; rest of under 

 parts bluish green. 



Immature, similar to adult but colors duller. 



A male, taken on Volcan Baru, March 2, 1965, had the iris dark 

 reddish brown ; maxilla and tip of mandible black ; base of mandible 

 dull pinkish red ; tarsus and toes fuscous-black, claws black. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Costa Rica and Chiriqui), wing 

 63.0-69.2 (67.0), tail 38.0-45.4 (42.5), culmen from base 21.8-23.8 

 (22.9, average of 9) mm. 



Females (10 from Costa Rica and Chiriqui), wing 60.2-64.6 (62.4), 

 tail 37.7-42.8 (39.9), culmen from base 20.2-23.2 (21.4) mm. 



Resident. Found locally in the mountains between 1,800 and 3,000 

 meters in far western Panama, mainly in Chiriqui, but also on the 

 higher levels on the Caribbean slope in Bocas del Toro. Recorded on 

 the summit of Cerro Picacho. 



Little is known of this beautiful species in Panama other than the 

 specimens in museum cabinets. I saw it for the first time as I came 

 out on the open, rocky ridge on the summit of Cerro Picacho, when 

 excited, chattering calls and a loud humming of wings drew my eyes 

 to one of these hummingbirds that was feeding around the open 

 branches of a flowering shrub. In March 1965, on the western face 

 of El Baru several were collected between 2,300 and 2,600 meters in 

 the shrubbery scattered across the steep slopes. 



The series taken by Monniche above Boquete, as recorded by Blake 

 (Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, p. 517), includes male and female 

 from the northern slope of the Cordillera near the Holcomb Trail in 

 Bocas del Toro. Bangs (Proc. New Engl. Zool. Club, 1902, p. 29) 

 recorded the species earlier from this slope from 1 taken by W. W. 

 Brown, Jr. Slud (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 128, 1964, p. 

 152) writes that in Costa Rica he had heard them utter "A rapid set of 

 two or three snaps, not unlike those of a manakin" in addition to the 

 usual twittering calls. 



Published records from Veraguas are in error, taken from older 

 specimens marked "Veragua" a term which in early days covered all 

 of western Panama. The bird is found in the Republic only in the 

 higher mountains in the west. 



The species is common on the volcanoes of Costa Rica, where it 

 ranges in the shrubbery of the parklike areas of the higher slopes. 



