454 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA — PART 2 



hoot, a low double note, comes at the first hint of morning light, 

 and continues until sunrise when they become silent. When nesting, 

 which seems to come in the period from February to April, they 

 may be more vociferous, with the notes repeated several times 

 rather rapidly, producing a low-toned, rolling call. The calls are 

 similar to those of the larger rufous motmot, but are uttered more 

 softly, so that the voices of the two may be recognized with sufficient 

 experience. 



I have found them feeding at times on berries produced by forest 

 trees and shrubs, and also eating large insects. The stomach of 1 

 taken by Goldman, that I examined in the laboratory, held a large 

 orthopteran and a scarabaeid beetle. They also capture lizards. 



The nests are placed in burrows dug in banks, or in areas where 

 the ground is only slightly sloping. At the mouth of the Rio Paya 

 in Darien, in the middle of February, I found several of their burrows 

 dug in sandy soil where the ground had only a moderate slope. Near 

 the La Jagua Hunting Club I saw 1 resting a few centimeters off 

 the ground, and found that the bird had started a hole between two 

 roots that projected as ridges from the base of a tree. 



Eggs of the allied race Momotus m. bahamensis in Trinidad and 

 Tobago, a bird of similar size, are described by Belcher and Smooker 

 (Ibis, 1936, p. 795) as "broad, roundish ovals, of a pure glossy 

 white, smooth and hard-shelled." For 2 sets of 3 eggs each they 

 give the range of measurements as 32-34 X 27-27.8 mm. 



The subspecific status of these motmots in eastern Panama and 

 northwestern Colombia has been confused through attempted recog- 

 nition of two forms — conexus, described in 1906 from Panama City, 

 believed to be greener above and somewhat lighter below, ranging 

 east to the vicinity of Punta Garachine, and found also in the Mag- 

 dalena Valley, Colombia, and reconditus, named in 1912 from Mar- 

 raganti, at the head of tidewater below Boca de Cupe on the lower 

 Rio Tuira. This was supposed to be darker, both above and below, 

 and resident in far eastern Darien and the valley of the Rio Atrato. 

 With the larger series of specimens now available the supposed 

 differences are seen to be only individual variation. Wriile part are 

 greener above, others throughout are dark, without regard to the 

 supposed geographic segregation. Under this finding the entire popu- 

 lation must be covered by the older name conexus. Beyond Darien, 

 this subspecies ranges in northwestern Colombia, in northeastern 



