FAMILY CAPITONIDAE 501 



Resident. Uncommon ; found in the cooler areas of the Subtropical 

 Zone around Volcan de Chiriqui from 1,525 to 2,000 meters eleva- 

 tion; above Boquete recorded from Quiel, Bajo Mono, Horqueta, 

 and the slopes of the Continental Divide ; above and below Cerro 

 Punta on the head of the Rio Chiriqui Viejo; also north of the 

 Continental Divide beyond Boquete, in Bocas del Toro ; and east to 

 Cerro Flores. 



This interesting species, described from Costa Rica, and well known 

 from that country, was first recorded from Panama by Salvin and 

 Godman (Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, vol. 2, 1896, p. 550) with the 

 statement "All the specimens of this bird we have seen came from 

 Costa Rica, except one, and this was sent by Arce from Veraguas 

 after the second paper on his birds was published in 1870." The 

 allocation of this bird to "Veraguas" certainly is in error as the 

 species is not known east of western Chiriqui. The specimen, now 

 in the British Museum, is listed by Shelley (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 

 vol. 19, 1891, p. 121) as "ad. sk. Veragua. Salvin-Godman Coll." 

 Veragua in those early days included all of western Panama to 

 Costa Rica. In this instance it appears that Arce collected the bird 

 during his later work near Boquete, in Chiriqui. The species was 

 first reported in detail for the Republic by Bangs ( Proc. New England 

 Zool. Club, vol. 3, 1902, p. 32) from a series of specimens collected 

 by W. W. Brown, Jr., near Boquete from March to June 1901, 

 including also the Caribbean slope north of the Continental Divide 

 in Bocas del Toro. Blake (Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, pp. 524- 

 525) listed 10 specimens from the Monniche collection taken between 

 1932 and 1952 in the mountain area above Boquete. 



I have found the prong-billed barbet only on one occasion, above 

 Cerro Punta in the high valley at the beginning of the old trail that 

 leads around the mountain to Boquete. In the early morning of 

 February 25, 1960, as the sun began to warm the chilly air a flock of 

 4 or 5 flew one by one across an open trail in a pasture grown with 

 scattered stands of low brush. The birds stopped in a vine-covered 

 shrub bearing ripening drupes, where they fluttered and hopped 

 about with low, chattering calls, appearing large and heavy-bodied, 

 but moving actively. Two males were collected. They were near 

 the border of cloud forest where the air was cool and moist, mists 

 were of regular occurrence even in dry season, and rain at other 

 periods heavy. 



In Costa Rica where this species is more common Skutch (Auk, 

 1944, pp. 61-88) has made an extended study of it. He found that 



