336 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 2 



in full molt at Pedasi, Los Santos, March 8, and on islas Bolafios 

 and Parida February 1 and 2. 



In agreement with the condition found in other of the smaller 

 resident species on Isla Coiba, birds of both sexes o[ Rieffer's hum- 

 mingbird average faintly darker when compared with specimens from 

 the mainland. The deeper color is seen in the gray of lower breast 

 and abdomen in all of the dozen specimens examined. While the 

 average from elsewhere is paler there are numerous specimens equally 

 dark so that the difference is not sufficiently clearcut to warrant 

 separation by name. 



The typical race Amasilia tzacatl tzacatl ranges from Tamaulipas 

 in eastern Mexico south through Central America to northern 

 Colombia and northwestern Venezuela. The birds of southwestern 

 Colombia, including Gorgona Island, and western Ecuador have the 

 under tail coverts and tail paler brown, and are recognized as a separate 

 form under the name A. t. jucunda. 



AMAZILIA HANDLEYI Wetmore: Escudo Hummingbird, Colibri 

 Escudeno 



Amasilia handleyi Wetmore, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 145, no. 6, December 

 16, 1963, p. 3. (Isla Escudo de Veraguas, Bocas del Toro, Panama.) 



Like Amasilia tzacatl but much larger, and darker in color. 



Description. — Length 118-123 mm. Adult (sexes alike), crown, 

 back, lesser and middle wing coverts deep green, with dull russet 

 iridescence ; upper tail coverts liver-brown ; tail chocolate, edged and 

 tipped with dull black to purplish black; primaries, secondaries, and 

 primary coverts dull black, with a faint violet sheen ; a narrow line 

 of chocolate on the lores; foreneck, upper breast, and sides clear 

 bright green ; small tufts of feathers near center of sides and lower 

 abdomen, and the tibia white ; lower breast and upper abdomen hair 

 brown ; edge of wing chocolate. 



Measurements. — Males (4 specimens), wing 67.5-68.7 (68.1), tail 

 40.0-41.5 (40.6), oilmen from base 24.4-27.6 (24.5) mm. 



Female (1 specimen), wing 67.1, tail 41.1, culmen from base 

 25.8 mm. 



Resident. Found on Isla Escudo de Veraguas, in the Caribbean 

 off the base of the Valiente Peninsula, Bocas del Toro, Panama. 



In March 1958, during work on Isla Escudo, I had occasional 

 distant glimpses of hummingbirds when they came briefly to feed at 

 flowers in the low bushes that grew back of the beach. None were 

 within gun range. As they showed a flash of brown in the tail I sup- 



