NO. 6 RECORDS OF BIRDS FROM PANAMA WETMORE 9 



The name of the present race, the most northern population known, 

 is taken from the Latin absitus, in the sense of one Hving remote or 

 distant from its relatives. 



III. A WESTERN SUBSPECIES OF THE PLAIN-COLORED 



TANAGER 



The plain-colored tanager, in its subspecies Tangara inortiafa lan- 

 guens Bangs and Barbour, is a common bird of the tropical zone in 

 Panama from the central lowlands eastward into Colombia. Through 

 recent work of the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory at a field station in 

 Bocas del Toro, I have received from Eustorgio Mendez three speci- 

 mens from Almirante that mark a considerable extension of range. 

 These prove to represent an undescribed race. 



TANGARA INORNATA RAVA, new subspecies 



Characters. — Similar to Tangara inornata languens Bangs and Bar- 

 bour,* but with throat, lower breast, abdomen, and under tail coverts 

 light buff to pinkish buff; a faint wash of the same color on lower 

 rump and upper tail coverts ; lesser wing coverts decidedly darker blue. 



Description. — Type, J*, U.S. Nat. Mus. 483344, from Almirante 

 (Milla 2), Bocas del Toro, Panama, collected August 23, 1963, by 

 Eustorgio Mendez (orig. no., Gorgas Mem. Lab. 6936). Dorsal sur- 

 face from crown to upper tail coverts neutral gray; wings and tail 

 sooty black ; lesser wing coverts methyl blue to Paris blue, with a me- 

 tallic sheen ; sides of head like crown, with the feathers of the ear cov- 

 erts with faint grayish white shaft lines ; chin sooty gray ; f oreneck 

 pale olive-buff; chest and sides pale neutral gray; center of breast, 

 abdomen, under tail coverts, and axillars pale pinkish buff to pinkish 

 buff. Bill, tarsus, toes, and claws black. (From dried skin.) 



Measurements. — Male (one, the type), wing 69.7, tail 45.4, culmen 

 from base 10.9, tarsus 17.8 mm. 



Female (two specimens), wing 65.4, 68.0, tail 43.6, 43.7, culmen 

 from base 10.9, 11.0, tarsus 17.1, 17.2 mm. 



Range. — Western area of the Province of Bocas del Toro in the 

 Caribbean lowlands of Panama ; probably extending on the Caribbean 

 slope in Costa Rica. 



Remarks. — The well-known race Tangara inornata languens of this 

 tanager has been recorded in Panama on the Pacific slope west through 



* Tangara inornata languens Bangs and Barbour, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 

 vol. 65, Sept. 1922, p. 227. (Lion Hill, Canal Zone, Panama.) 



