FAMILY TROCHILIDAE 319 



lected 1 on Isla Gobernadora, and 1 on February 26, 1957, at En- 

 senada Venado, on the southern end of the Azuero Peninsula. 



One of the very early records is by Lawrence (Ann. Lye. Nat. 

 Hist. New York, vol. 7, 1862, p. 465) of 1 forwarded by McLeannan 

 when he was stationed at Lion Hill on the Panama Railroad. Jewel 

 collected a male at Gatun, Canal Zone, July 28, 1912. There are 

 numerous sight records at the flowering shrubs near the laboratory 

 on Barro Colorado Island. Elsewhere this hummingbird has been 

 recorded only on the Pacific slope. 



On Cerro Chucanti, in eastern Panama, I found 1 male at 500 

 meters, and secured another lower down. A third was collected 

 at Charco del Toro on the Rio Maje. One that I took along the 

 Quebrada Fundeadero near Jaque, Darien, on April 4, 1946, marked 

 a considerable extension of the known range. My main experience 

 with them was on Isla Coiba in January and early February, 1956, 

 as there they were common. 



The goldentail is a forest inhabitant that seeks shaded haunts to 

 perch, usually on the lower branches. On Coiba they ranged also 

 in mangroves and in swampy woodlands near the mouths of the 

 rivers. However, they came constantly to flowering shrubbery in the 

 open, especially to the guayabos. There they were continually 

 pugnacious to other species of the family, as well as among them- 

 selves. As they move about, the light, reddish base of the bill identifies 

 them, for it shows prominently even in the shadowed depths of the 

 forest. In the sun a glint of reflected light from the tail is seen. 



A female taken on Isla Coiba, January 24, 1956, was laying. 



HYLOCHARIS GRAYI HUMBOLDTII (Bourcier and Mulsant) : 

 Blue-headed Sapphire, Zafiro Cabeci-azul 



Trochilus humboldtii Bourcier and Mulsant, Ann. Sci. Phys. Nat. Agr. Industr., 

 Soc. Roy. Agr. Lyon, ser. 2, vol. 4, 1852, p. 142. (Rio Mira, Esmeraldas, 

 Ecuador.) 



Medium size ; base of maxilla and mandible reddish ; crown and 

 throat bright blue ; female underneath white. 



Description. — Length 100-105 mm. Male, crown, lores, and upper 

 throat deep blue; rest of upper surface rather dark metallic green, 

 somewhat bronzy on lower back ; tail dark green, blackish at end, 

 with lateral feathers tipped with light gray; wings dusky, with a 

 faint purplish tinge ; auricular region indistinctly dark brownish gray ; 

 center of lower breast, abdomen, and under tail coverts pure white; 

 rest of under surface, including under wing coverts, glittering, some- 



