324 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA — PART 2 



Small ; like A. amabilis, but bill longer ; male, with glittering crown 

 cap extended over nape. 



Description. — Length 96-104 mm. Male, entire crown from fore- 

 head to nape shining metallic green ; sides of head, back, and wing 

 coverts metallic bronze-green ; rump darker, more bronze ; upper 

 tail coverts olive-bronze; central rectrices dull olive-bronze (blacker 

 than in A. amabilis) ; lateral tail feathers dusky, faintly bronze ; 

 wings dusky, with a purplish sheen ; chin sooty, tipped faintly with 

 green ; lower f oreneck bright metallic blue ; upper breast, sides, and 

 under wing coverts dull metallic green ; lower breast dull green, with 

 the feathers margined with brownish gray ; abdomen and middle line 

 of breast light brownish gray ; under tail coverts olive-gray margined 

 with white. 



Female, like that of A. amabilis, but crown brighter, more shining 

 bluish green than rest of upper surface ; rump, upper tail coverts, and 

 central rectrices darker. 



Juvenile, crown concolor with back; green of under surface duller. 



An adult male, collected at Puerto Armuelles, Chiriqui, Febru- 

 ary 11, 1966, had the iris dark brown; maxilla and tip of mandible 

 black; basal two-thirds of mandible pinkish white; tarsus and toes 

 fuscous ; claws black. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from western Panama and Costa Rica), 

 wing 53.5-55.7 (54.6), tail 26.5-31.8 (29.6), culmen from base 21.5- 

 24.4 (22.7) mm. 



Females (10 from western Panama and Costa Rica), wing 50.0- 

 52.8 (51.7), tail 25.7-29.0 (27.5), culmen from base 22.5-25.7 

 (23.4) mm. 



Weight, 7 males, 4.74 ±0.14 grams (Hartman, Auk, 1954, p. 468.) 



Resident. Fairly common in western Chiriqui from the lowlands 

 to 1,580 meters in the mountains. 



Like the companion species Amazilia amabilis, this is a forest 

 inhabitant, found feeding at flowers, but quietly, as usually they 

 are not conspicuous. 



The first specimens reported from Panama were collected by 

 Arce on the southern slopes of Volcan de Chiriqui and at Bugaba, 

 but for many years these birds were confused with the more common 

 amabilis. Following the description of decora by Salvin, W. W. 

 Brown, Jr., secured a small series at Divala in November 1900 

 (Bangs, Auk, 1901, p. 359). Batty also collected it near Boqueron 

 the following year. A series in the California Academy of Sciences 

 was taken by Mrs. Davidson at Puerto Armuelles in November 1929, 



