THE BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 

 PART 4: ORDER PASSERIFORMES, SUBORDER 

 PASSERES, HIRUNDINIDAE (SWALLOWS) 

 TO FRINGILLIDAE (FINCHES) 



By Alexander Wetmore 

 Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution (Deceased) 



Roger F. Pasquier 

 International Council for Bird Preservation, 

 Smithsonian Institution 



and 



Storrs L. Olson 

 Curator, Division of Birds, Smithsonian Institution 



INTRODUCTION 



As with so many ambitious works in ornithology, Alexander Wet- 

 more's Birds of the Republic of Panama unfortunately required more 

 than a lifetime to complete. Those of us around the Division of Birds 

 who were privileged to work with Dr. Wetmore could only hope that he 

 would live to see his magnum opus finished, but even his indefatigable 

 constitution inevitably gave way to the attrition of time. He was 86 

 years old in 1972, when Part 3 appeared, and it is a tribute to his en- 

 durance that he proceeded as far with the manuscript for Part 4 as he 

 did. When his health failed, he had prepared accounts for almost all 

 of the "ten-primaried oscines." Alexander Wetmore died at his home 

 on December 7, 1978, at the age of 92 after a long illness. 



Dr. Wetmore's colleague and friend of long standing, S. Dillon Rip- 

 ley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, approached me, when it 

 became certain that Dr. Wetmore would be unable to continue his 

 studies, to inquire into the feasibility of completing Part 4 of Birds of 

 the Republic of Panama. I agreed to be responsible for the identifica- 

 tion of specimens and for systematic decisions, provided someone else 

 could be found to compile the species accounts and descriptions that 

 remained to be done. Happily for all concerned, we were able to enlist 

 the services of Mr. Roger F. Pasquier, who has attended this task with 

 determination and assiduity. 



In addition to the large collections that Dr. Wetmore himself had 

 made in Panama, he worked simultaneously upon extensive collections 



i 



