FAMILY ALCEDINIDAE 427 



musical calls, loud but pleasing, that in tone and cadence have 

 closely suggested the song of the northern water-thrush. 



Breeding comes during the dry season when they are found in 

 pairs. The normal site is in a cut bank along a river. A typical lo- 

 cation is one that I found February 25, 1961, on the Rio Boqueron, 

 near the Peluca Hydrographic Station, a hole dug in the face of a 

 clay bank, a meter and a half above a pool at the side of the river. 

 The nest seemed to have held young at this date as I saw one 

 parent carry a small fish to it. In mid-February 1955, near Las 

 Lajas, in eastern Chiriqui, I found a female at a cut bank beside a 

 road at a little distance from water. 



The bill tip when fully grown is quite slender, with the point 

 acute. During the breeding season, as the birds dig their nesting 

 holes the end of the bill becomes worn away in both sexes until, while 

 still pointed, it appears blunter and heavier. 



In a detailed account of the life history Skutch (Condor, 1957, 

 pp. 217-229) writes that in Costa Rica, while the birds are most 

 common below an elevation of a thousand meters, they may be 

 found higher, in suitable areas nearly to 1,750 meters. While nest 

 holes were begun in January excavation proceeded slowly. When 

 the bank was rocky some of the burrows remained intact through 

 the rainy season so that they were used again the following 

 year. Three nests on which he had records held 4 eggs or 4 nestlings. 

 From his studies he reported that the pair shared in incubation, with 

 several changes during the day, but with only the female on duty 

 during the night. During relief the parent that had been away called 

 near the nest hole, but did not enter until after the companion 

 emerged. The incubation period was 22 days in one instance. The 

 young were completely naked when hatched. The size of the fish 

 brought as food in the first few days after hatching was very small, 

 with increase in graduated scale as the nestlings grew. Since there 

 is no removal of excrement from the nest, as the young grow the 

 cavity is foul, particularly when the floor of the nest chamber be- 

 comes covered with scales and bones of the fish eaten and regurgitated 

 after digestion. No harm to the young results, and usually as they 

 grow the feathers remain fairly clean. The parents often bathe 

 after a visit to the nest cavity. 



A set of 3 eggs of this subspecies in the British Museum from 

 the Salvin-Godman collection was taken by F. Blancaneaux in 

 British Honduras, May 25, 1888. They are white, slightly huffy 

 (perhaps from stain from the nest cavity), with the somewhat glossy 



