102 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



Description. — Length 108-115 mm. Adult (sexes alike), brown 

 above, with crown slightly grayer; an indistinct superciliary line and 

 another back of eye, dull buff; upper tail coverts and rump more ru- 

 fescent, the rump with small, concealed white spots and barred nar- 

 rowly with black; wing coverts, secondaries, outer webs of primaries, 

 and tail dark brown, barred narrowly with dull black; undersurface 

 dull white centrally, with sides and flanks brown; undertail coverts dull 

 white, mixed with reddish brown and barred with black; scapulars and 

 underwing coverts white to pale buff; spotted in some very lightly with 

 gray. 



Immature, like adult but without superciliary line; breast and sides 

 barred indistinctly and narrowly with dusky. 



The House Wren in Panama is a common bird not only in rural areas, 

 but in suburbs and city buildings, where open, warm-weather house 

 construction in eaves and corners or holes in brick work often allows it 

 entry so that the bird may seem a part of the human family. As a 

 friendly neighbor, from its cheerful song, it is popularly known as the 

 "ruisenor," the standard Spanish name for the European Nightingale. 



The species as here treated ranges from Canada and the United 

 States through the West Indies, Middle America, and South America 

 to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. Panama birds belong to 

 the T. musculus complex, found from southern Mexico southward 

 originally described from Brazil, and often treated as a separate species 

 with the name Southern House Wren. 



TROGLODYTES AEDON INQUIETUS Baird 



Troglodytes inquietus Baird, Rev. Amer. Birds, vol. 1, September 1864, pp. 138 

 (in key), 143. (Panama Railroad = Atlantic slope, Panama Railroad, Canal 

 Zone, Panama.) 



Characters. — Undersurface extensively dull white, with grayish 

 brown on sides and flanks. 



A male at Aguadulce, Code, January 19, 1963, had the iris brown; 

 cutting edge of maxilla and base of mandible flesh color; rest of maxilla 

 fuscous-black, rest of mandible dark neutral gray; gape honey yellow; 

 tarsus, toes, and claws grayish brown. Another male at El Volcan, 

 Chiriqui, March 9, 1965, had the iris rather dull reddish brown; base 

 of mandible pale brownish white; rest of bill black; tarsus and toes dark 

 fuscous; claws dusky neutral gray. In a female, on Isla Cebaco, Vera- 

 guas, March 27, 1962, the iris was light, warm brown; maxilla and tip 

 of mandible fuscous-black; base of mandible light brownish white; 

 gape dull honey yellow; tarsus brownish gray; toes and claws fuscous. 



