NO. 9 BIRDS OF ISLA COIBA, PANAMA—WETMORE 5 
similar stands of trees. Below the high crown were the tops of 
lower trees, a stratum of branches and then undergrowth, usually 
fairly open and easy of penetration. Through this there are scattered 
thickets of bamboo that are too dense for passage except by cutting 
trail with a machete. 
On days of sunshine the masses of leaves and vines stood out 
clearly in silhouette in the high summits of the trees, with small birds 
moving actively through them. Below, the forest floor was dark and 
shadowed, so dimly lighted in many places that clear vision was diffi- 
cult. On occasional cloudy days many areas in the heavy forest were 
too obscure for successful hunting. 
Isla Rancheria, distant 2 miles from the northern end of Coiba, 
about 13 miles long by a mile wide, of irregular shape, rises to an 
elevation of nearly 500 feet. I visited this on one occasion, landing 
on a sandy beach midway of the southern side. A wooded swamp 
lay behind, and above this were fairly steep, well-forested slopes, but 
with trees of lesser height than those on Coiba. Many seemed stunted 
by the thin soil overlying the mass of altered igneous rock that is the 
core of the island. Rancheria long has been private property, and at 
one time considerable activity is reported in pearl and other fisheries. 
Of the store, the houses, and the clearings in which they stood there 
is now no evident trace, except for coconut palms and a lemon tree 
back of the beach, and a scattered growth of succulent bryophyllum, 
grown commonly as a decorative plant in gardens. 
This island is known universally in Panama as Isla Coibita, a name 
that is applied on current charts and maps to an outlier in the groups 
of islets known as the Aaron Rocks, a mile to the northwest of the 
western point of Rancheria. Shelvocke, in 1720, called the island 
Quivetta, and Anson, in 1741, varied this to Quiveta, both these 
names being diminutives of Quibo, the name these travelers applied 
to the large island. Dampier, in 1685, used the name Rancheria, 
which is the one cited for records in the following report since the 
island is so called on current charts and maps. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
For permission to visit Isla Coiba I have to thank Coronel Bolivar 
Vallarino, Comandante Jefe de la Guardia Nacional, who issued the 
necessary instructions. It was his assistance and personal attention 
that assured the success of the undertaking. Throughout my detailed 
studies of the ornithology of the Republic of Panama I have had the 
friendly cooperation of Dr. Alejandro Méndez Pereira, Director of 
