FAMILY TROCHILIDAE 355 



at the Field Museum of Natural History there are 2, 1 from Lerida 

 above Boquete, taken July 1, 1936 (no. 207,000), that has the throat 

 feathers basally white. Another collected at Velo, October 29, 1932, 

 is similar in this marking. A third from Quebrada Velo, March 2, 

 1933, is interesting as the throat shows only a light tinge of violet, and 

 the white feather bases are extensive. Blake (Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 

 no. 5, 1958, p. 519) listed this as a hybrid between calolaema and 

 castaneoventris, but I would interpret it as in the variant group. There 

 is 1 purple-throated male in the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 taken at Boquete, January 19, 1901 (Bangs, Proc. New England Zool. 

 Club, vol. 3, Jan. 30, 1902, p. 30). One in the Salvin-Godman collec- 

 tion in the British Museum was collected by Arce. Salvadori and 

 Festa (Bol. Mus. Zool. Anat. Comp. R. Univ. Torino, vol. 14, 1899, 

 p. 7) record 1 labeled "Chiriqui" collected by Arce. Eugene Eisen- 

 mann informs that he has seen 1 purple-throated bird near Cerro Punta 

 (on February 29, 1960) . In the course of four field expeditions during 

 which I was in the range of this form I did not recognize one among 

 the many typical white-throated individuals seen. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from western Chiriqui), wing 64.2-67.0 

 (65.8), tail 36.0-38.0 (37.0), culmen from base 20.2-22.0 (21.3) mm. 



Females (10 from western Chiriqui), wing 56.8-60.6 (58.5), tail 

 31.6-33.9 (32.9), culmen from base 21.1-23.8 (22.3) mm. 



Weight, 4 females, 4.74, 5.23, 5.5, 5.58 grams. (Hartman, Auk, 

 1954, p. 468.) 



Resident. Common in the Subtropical and Temperate Zones on 

 the higher levels of Volcan Baru, from 1,300-3,000 meters; Cerro 

 Pando ; Cerro Picacho. 



In the lower parts of their range I have found these birds in forest 

 where they fed sometimes at flowers, and sometimes by gleaning 

 among the smaller branches. They range also in open areas on the 

 higher slopes about such flowers as the thistles of the mountain 

 pastures. Once a female chattered at me excitedly as I examined a 

 companion that I had shot. The skin in this species is thick and tough, 

 with firmly attached plumage. In preparation of specimens I was 

 interested to note the heavily muscled bodies, and the size of the leg 

 muscles, appreciably more sturdy than in the green hermit, a bird that 

 in life seemed larger because of its form. 



Dr. F. A. Hartman (Condor, 1957, p. 270) recorded a nest (now in 

 the collections of U. S. National Museum) found February 16, 1956, 

 at about 2,000 meters elevation on Cerro Copete above Boquete as 

 placed "in a bush next to a trail overlooking a considerable drop into 



