FAMILY CORVIDAE 



51 



Measurements. — Males (8 from Panama and Costa Rica), wing 

 117.0-128.3 (121.6), tail 127.1-145.9 (136.6), culmen from base 24.7- 

 33.0 (29.3 average of 7), tarsus 35.7-38.2 (37.0) mm. 



Females (8 from Panama and Costa Rica), wing 115.0-131.0 

 (120.8), tail 115.5-140.3 (120.8), culmen from base 26.3-31.4 (29.1), 

 tarsus 35.4-38.7 (36.6) mm. 



Resident. Known definitely in Panama from a male and female col- 

 lected March 20, 1926, by Kennard at 900 m on the Boquete trail, in- 

 land from Laguna de Chiriqui, and from 3 males recorded by Bangs 

 (Proc. New Engl. Zool. Club, vol. 3, 1902, pp. 57-58) taken on the 

 Caribbean slope at 2100 m by Brown in June 1901. Blake, in his ac- 

 count of the Monniche collection (Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, 1958, pp. 

 544-545) lists 2, male and female, taken June 26 and July 14 at Camp 

 Holcomb on the Holcomb trail at 1500 m. 



The species is known in Panama definitely from Chiriqui and Bocas 

 del Toro. The following early reports are of uncertain validity. Sharpe 

 (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 3, 1877, p. 127) under the heading Cyano- 

 corax ornatus (an early name for C. cucullata) lists a specimen from 

 "Veragua. M. E. Arce." Apparently this is the basis for the report of 

 "Panama. Veragua (Arce)" by Salvin and Godman (Biol. Centr. 

 Amer., Aves, vol. 1, 1887, p. 500, see errata and corrigenda, p. xliv). 

 Ridgway (Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 50, pt. 3, 1904, p. 323) in- 

 cluded records of 2 specimens that need further consideration. One is 

 a skin marked "Arce, Veragua, 1877" (originally identified as Cyano- 

 citta ornata) that came in the Boucard collection with no other informa- 

 tion as to locality. The second is a male purchased from the mission- 

 aries Heyde and Lux labeled "Chitra — Prov. Code, Isthmus of Pan- 

 ama, June 18, 1889, irides red-brown, found higher parts of mountain 

 virgin forest." The detailed travels of these travelers are not clearly 

 known, but it appears certain from available data that in the early part 

 of 1889 they crossed from Nata, Code, to the Caribbean slope in the 

 upper area drained by the Rio Code del Norte. Two of their principal 

 localities were "Cascajal" and "Chitra." The region as yet is little 

 known ornithologically. 



More recently, Ridgely (in litt.) found it fairly common in late 

 February and early March 1976 at the Fortuna Dam site (900-1050 

 m), east of Boquete, ranging the very humid foothill forest there in 

 small groups and in pairs. The birds were rather noisy, but quite secre- 

 tive and elusive, and only infrequently seen. He collected 1 on March 

 4, 1976. 



N. G. Smith (in litt. to Eisenmann) reports seeing this species in 



