464 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 2 



used a shelter dug by some other bird, as the exposed nests of termites 

 externally are extremely hard. 



Sclater, in his original description of Galbula melanogenia in 1852, 

 in Jardine's Contributions to Ornithology, wrote "I have purchased 

 from Mr. Leadbeater the only two examples of this new species that 

 I have yet seen. They are q and $, and from their appearance, I have 

 little doubt were prepared by no other hand than that of M. Delattre, 

 but in what part of the vast continent of South America he collected 

 them it is impossible to say." Immediately afterward, in part 5, page 93 

 of the same volume Sclater added that Jardine, editor of the journal, 

 had informed him that he had a specimen of the bird sent from 

 "Veragua ... by Mr. Gould's collectors." And Sclater in his pri- 

 vately published synopsis of the Galbulidae (1S53, p. 3) includes 

 melanogenia with "Habitat, Veragua, Central America." In that 

 early day Veragua included all of the western area of the Isthmus, 

 a matter often not understood. In the case of this jacamar, through 

 this misunderstanding the type locality has been listed as the modern 

 Province of Veraguas, where the bird has not been found. Sclater 

 later (Mon. Jacamars and Puff-birds, pt. 1, October 1879, p. 19) 

 said of his two specimens that they were "probably obtained in Vera 

 Paz, where Delattre was one of the earliest explorers." Following 

 this (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 19, 1891, p. 167) he lists the two, 

 now in the British Museum, as follows: "Vera Paz (Delattre) 

 Sclater Coll. (Types of the species.)" Delattre, according to Griscom 

 (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 64, 1932, p. 5), came to Guatemala 

 in 1842, and was there for nearly a year, with Coban, Alta Verapaz, 

 as his base. It seems appropriate to accept Sclater's statements, and 

 to cite Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, as the restricted type locality. 



A population assigned also to melanogenia ranges from northern 

 Choco in western Colombia south near the Pacific coast into western 

 Ecuador. Chapman (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 36, 1917, p. 

 337, and vol. 55, 1926, p. 352) found that these birds, compared 

 with those of Central America, are "somewhat smaller and with the 

 rufous areas darker," but did not consider that the differences were 

 distinctive enough to warrant separation by name. From examination 

 of 15 specimens collected recently in northwestern Colombia I agree 

 with this conclusion. It is possible that birds of this group may extend 

 north into Darien, as they have been found at Jurado only about 

 20 kilometers from the boundary with Panama. Measurements of 

 this southern group are as follows. 



Males (11 from western Colombia and Ecuador), wing 78.1-84.9 



