378 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 2 



Boquete to Quiel and Cerro Copete. The inclusion of Veraguas in 

 the range given by Griscom (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 78, 1935, 

 p. 324) was in error. Published records (Auk, 1950, p. 364) for the 

 low islands of Cebaco and Gobernadora off the Pacific coast are based 

 on specimens wrongly labeled, forwarded by J. H. Batty to the 

 Rothschild collection. 



These attractive little birds of the mountain slopes range from the 

 low brush of the high valleys to heavy forests wherever there are 

 flowers. While in travel they move with the flashing speed usual 

 in the smaller hummingbirds, when feeding their movements often 

 are slow and almost mothlike. Regularly they perch beside the 

 blossoms as they probe them, action that I have observed especially 

 at the flowering spikes of the tall agaves on the slopes of the old 

 lava flows on the western base of Baru. When they stop to rest on 

 some open perch they appear so tiny that often it is difficult to make 

 them out, even near at hand, except as they twitch wings and tail 

 or wipe the bill. In the light of the early morning sun as the birds 

 fly low there is often a tiny pinpoint of brilliant sheen from the 

 throat that is most attractive. 



Blake (Condor, 1956, pp. 386-387) described 3 nests in the 

 T. B. Monniche collection, taken November 4, and December 12, 

 1932, near the Finca Lerida, above Boquete, as "compact, cup- 

 shaped structures of moss, more or less covered with lichens; . . . 

 bowls lined with white, cottony plant fibres, brown scales from a 

 fern stem, and feathers from an undetermined passerine bird. Average 

 dimensions of the nests are Hxl^ inches. The cups measure ap- 

 proximately £ X § inches. Each nest contained two dull white eggs. 

 Measurements of two clutches, 12x8 and 11.5x8; 11.5x8 and 

 11x8 mm." 



A nest collected by F. A. Hartman, found at 2,100 meters on 

 Cerro Copete, February 10, 1956, was described (Condor, 1957, 

 p. 270) as placed in a bush a meter and a half tall standing on a 

 knoll surrounded by other bushes and trees. "The dimensions were: 

 outside diameter, 43 mm.; outside depth, 55; inside diameter, 18; 

 inside depth, 15 to 18. The nest was composed of fine downy white 

 fibers which also served as a lining. The outside was plastered with 

 lichens and some moss. One fresh egg was found in the nest." This 

 nest, now in the U. S. National Museum, is saddled on a twig, and 

 is supported on one side by being woven against a small upright 

 shrub stem. The upper margin, surrounding the rim of the open 

 cup is decorated with a border of fine, paper-thin light brown shreds 

 of plant fiber. 



