NO. 9 BIRDS OF ISLA COIBA, PANAMA—WETMORE 65 
CONTOPUS CINEREUS (Spix): Tropical Pewee, Cazamoscas Tropical 
Platyrhynchus cinereus Sprx, Avium species novae ... Brasiliam, vol. 2, 1825, 
p. 11, pl. 13, fig. 2. (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.) 
This friendly little flycatcher rests on low perches in forest areas 
relatively free of undergrowth, where it can see clearly in order to 
watch for its food of small flying insects. When its keen eye sights 
such prey it darts out quickly and seizes it, often with an audible 
snap of the bill. It then wheels gracefully to return to a perch, 
frequently the same twig from which it had made its sally. Often it 
is encountered in shaded areas of subdued light where its dull colors 
blended closely with the dark background. It is especially common 
along semi-open forest trails, and at times I found it in the brush 
back of the beaches. More rarely I sighted one in the high treetops, 
though it may have ranged regularly in the forest crown, where the 
leaves concealed it. 
Those familiar with the wood pewees of the north will recognize 
it without difficulty, and will also note its smaller size and darker 
colors. The birds were entirely silent. 
The specimens from Coiba are distinctly darker than those of the 
mainland, and are to be distinguished by the following name: 
CONTOPUS CINEREUS AITHALODES subsp. nov. 
Characters.—Similar to Contopus cinereus brachytarsus (Sclater)1® 
but decidedly darker, more olive above and below; edge of wing 
washed with cinnamon. 
Description—Type, U.S.N.M. No. 460992, male, Isla Coiba, 
Panama, collected Jan. 19, 1956, by A. Wetmore (orig. No. 20326) : 
Pileum fuscous-black ; back, rump and upper tail coverts hair brown; 
wings, including the coverts, Chaetura drab, with middle and greater 
coverts tipped indistinctly with hair brown, and greater coverts, in 
addition, edged lightly on ends of outer webs with dull white, the 
anterior wing bar being indistinct, the posterior one definite ; tertials 
and secondaries edged lightly with dull white, which extends around 
the distal end ; outermost primary also edged with dull white ; rectrices 
Chaetura drab, the outer webs edged with hair brown basally ; lores 
and feathers on margin of lower eyelid white; side of head hair 
brown; upper foreneck white, with the feathers on chin and throat 
basally, and on sides, mouse gray, producing indistinct streaks ; chest 
light mouse gray, with a wash of deep olive-buff, shading on lower 
18 Empidonax brachytarsus P. L. Sclater, Ibis, vol. 1, October 1859, p. 441. 
(Cordoba, Veracruz.) 
