NO. 7 FLOCKS OF NEOTROPICAL BIRDS — MOYNIHAN 57 



specific preference for plain-colored tanagers which is such a con- 

 spicuous feature of the behavior of such species as the palm tanager 

 and the green honeycreeper. Shining honeycreepers join predomi- 

 nantly honeycreeper flocks much more frequently than predominantly 

 tanager flocks. 



The only birds of other species that tend to provoke unusually strong 

 reactions from shining honeycreepers are red-legged blue honeycreep- 

 ers, which they tend to supplant quite frequently, much more fre- 

 quently than they supplant individuals of any other species and almost 

 as frequently as they supplant one another. I have also seen captive 

 female shining honeycreepers (which were in cages with males of their 

 own species) react to wild male red-legged blue honeycreepers outside 

 their cages in almost exactly the same way that they would react to 

 strange males of their own species at comparable distances, i.e., they 

 performed several displays that were largely hostile but also contained 

 nonhostile (presumably sexual) components. It is possible, therefore, 

 that shining honeycreepers tend to regard red-legged blue honey- 

 creepers as nothing more than slightly subnormal or suboptimal mem- 

 bers of their own species. 



Individuals of other species seldom react very strongly to shining 

 honeycreepers, but when they do it is almost or exactly the same way 

 that they react to red-legged blue honeycreepers (see below). Unfor- 

 tunately, I saw very few encounters between shining honeycreepers 

 and green honeycreepers. Green honeycreepers may tend to be as 

 aggressive toward shining honeycreepers as they are toward red- 

 legged blue honeycreepers, but this needs to be confirmed by further 

 observations. 



RED-LEGGED BLUE HONEYCREEPER 



Red-legged blue honeycreepers are highly gregarious among them- 

 selves, in much the same way as plain-colored tanagers. They also 

 resemble plain-colored tanagers in being very restless and noisy. It 

 might be expected, therefore, that their role in mixed flocks would be 

 equally similar to that of plain-colored tanagers. This is not quite the 

 case, however. Red-legged blue honeycreepers behave very much like 

 plain-colored tanagers in mixed flocks, but their behavior does not 

 usually produce results that are very similar to the results of the 

 behavior of plain-colored tanagers. 



Red-legged blue honeycreepers occur in mixed flocks very fre- 

 quently. They occur in all types of mixed blue and green tanager 

 and honeycreeper flocks. They are usually much more numerous than 



