FAMILY II IRUNDINIDAE 



27 



P. clegans include observations of accompanying Progne that had 

 characters of females or immatures of P. clegans. Eisenmann believes 

 P. elegans to be an irregular migrant in small numbers to Panama. 



PROGNE TAPERA FUSCA (Vieillot): Brown-chested Martin; 

 Golondrina Parda 



Hirundo fusca Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., nouv. ed., vol. 14, September 1817, 

 p. 510. (Paraguay.) 



One of the larger swallows; white on throat and abdomen; a dark 

 band across the breast; a few blackish spots in center of breast and 

 abdomen. 



Description. — Length 155-170 mm. Adult (sexes alike), above dull 

 dark brown, including side of head and wing coverts, the feathers 

 edged indistinctly with lighter brown; wings and tail somewhat blacker; 

 secondaries tipped narrowly with white; throat, lower breast, abdo- 

 men, and undertail coverts white; sides and a broad band across upper 

 breast dark brown; a series of spots on the tips of the lower central 

 breast feathers dark brown to nearly black. 



A male of this race collected at Kilometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, 

 Paraguay, September 18, 1920, had the bill, tarsus, toes, and claws 

 black; iris bone brown. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and 

 Colombia), wing 134.6-143.0 (139.2), tail 64.4-68.0 (65.9), culmen 

 from base 13.9-15.2 ( 14.6) , tarsus 13.4-15.1 (14.6) mm. 



Females (10 from Argentina and Uruguay), wing 131.0-139.9 

 (134.9), tail 61.8-66.5 (64.0), culmen from base 13.3-15.6 (14.5), 

 tarsus 14.0-14.9 (14.4) mm. 



The winter migrants that come to Panama often have the wings and 

 tail worn, or are in renewal after molt, so that their measurements may 

 differ from those listed above. 



Austral winter migrant from South America, where it nests from 

 eastern Bolivia and central Brazil south to northern Argentina, Para- 

 guay, and southern Uruguay. Recorded from April to October in the 

 Canal Zone and the savanna region of eastern Province of Panama. 

 This southern form of the Brown-chested Martin, long recorded as a 

 winter visitor to northern South America, now regularly extends its 

 migratory flights to Panama. The species was first reported for Pan- 

 ama by Eugene Eisenmann (Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 117, 1952, 

 p. 46) from 3 recorded at the Barro Colorado Island laboratory, Canal 

 Zone, July 4, 1949. In July, 1949 and 1951, he observed many about 

 the city of Panama, and in the Canal Zone. Since then the species has 



