12 



BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



Medium size; undersurface white; above, green, glossed with purple, 

 with white patches on either side of rump. 



Description. — Length 120-130 mm. Adult male, crown and hind- 

 neck bronze to purplish green, with a narrow greenish band across 

 lower hindneck; back and scapulars definitely with a purplish tint but 

 greener than crown; rump and upper tail coverts purple mixed with 

 green; wings and tail dull black, with a bluish green sheen; undersur- 

 face, including cheeks, scapulars, and undertail coverts, pure white, 

 this color extending posteriorly over sides of rump; underwing coverts 

 pale gray. 



Female, duller, greener, less purplish above; crown dull grayish 

 brown, in some with a greenish sheen; side of head and upper hindneck 

 grayish white; undersurface light grayish white on foreneck, upper 

 breast, and scapulars. 



Immature, dark grayish brown above; wings and tail dull black; 

 sides of head and undersurface as in female. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, 

 California; April-July), wing 114.2-117.0 (115.9), tail 43.8-49.2 

 (46.6), culmen from base 7.1-8.9 (7.8), tarsus 11.0-12.7 (11.5) mm. 



Females (10 from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California; 

 April-July, December), wing 108.2-114.8 (111.1), tail 41.7-46.3 

 (43.3), culmen from base 7.1-8.6 (7.6), tarsus 10.5-13.9 (12.0) mm. 



Migrant from the north, rare (irregular). Known from numerous 

 sight records in late February 1960, on the lower slopes of Volcan de 

 Chiriqui, Boquete (El Salto), Volcan (El Hato), and Cerro Punta, 

 western Chiriqui. 



Dr. Eugene Eisenmann, with Mr. and Mrs. James Linford of Oak- 

 land. California, on February 21-22, 1960, found about 50 flying with 

 Chestnut-collared Swifts near El Salto, above Boquete, Chiriqui. From 

 February 23 to 27, in late afternoon, from 70 to 100 were recorded 

 daily over open pastures near the village of Cerro Punta. In the after- 

 noon of February 27, near El Hato del Volcan, 1 perched on a wire, 

 where Eisenmann observed it close at hand. 



The Violet-green Swallow nests from the Yukon Valley and Yukon, 

 Canada, to northern Mexico. In winter it is found regularly to El 

 Salvador and Honduras. Southward, in Costa Rica, specimens have 

 been taken at Punta Piedra and Bebedero, Guanacaste, and Matina on 

 the coast of Limon. 



In the winter of 1976-77 flocks were again seen in Panama. A. 

 Greensmith reported seeing small numbers daily at Cerro Campana, 

 western Panama Province, from December 27-29, 1976, with up to 40 



