FAMILY TROGLODYTIDAE 



(27.9), oilmen from base 16.0-17.5 (16.5), tarsus 22.5-25.0 (23.9) 

 mm. 



Resident. Common on the Pacific slope of the central mountain 

 range in Chiriqui and Veraguas, from near the Costa Rican boundary 

 to Cerro Campana, western Province of Panama, ranging from 900 to 

 2900 m. Recorded also from the upper levels of the Caribbean side of 

 the Divide. Found at 900 m elevation on Cerro Campana, western Prov- 

 ince of Panama. Beyond Panama this race occurs only in the highlands 

 of Costa Rica. 



This species is widely distributed over the mountain slopes, mainly 

 forest, but also where steep open slopes are grown heavily with bracken. 

 The main distribution is on the Pacific drainage, but Blake (Field: 

 Zool., vol. 36, no. 5, 1958, p. 547) records specimens from the Holcomb 

 Trail above Boquete on the Caribbean side of the high divide in Bocas 

 del Toro. It ranges eastward along the Pacific slopes to near Santa Fe 

 and Chitra, Veraguas, an area in which it also doubtless crosses the 

 Divide, as it is recorded from Calovevora. Ridgely (in litt.) found it 

 very common in late February and early March 1976 in forest under- 

 growth at the Fortuna Dam site in central Chiriqui (900-1500 m), 

 where no H. leucosticta were present. In one day he netted 13 indi- 

 viduals. 



It is found in pairs, their presence known by the steady songs of the 

 males, in which the females regularly join. An intruder may be greeted 

 with a harsh scolding note, repeated quickly several times. While these 

 birds remain in areas where they have cover/often they seem more con- 

 fiding than some other forest wrens as they may be seen without too 

 great difficulty. 



Carriker (Ann. Carnegie Mus., vol. 6, 1910, p. 762) described a nest 

 found on Irazu, Costa Rica, April 17, 1902, that held two plain white 

 eggs without markings. These measured 21.5x15 and 22x15 mm. 

 Skutch, in a detailed account (Pac. Coast Avif., no. 34, 1960, pp. 146- 

 154) , records that the pair sleep together in rounded, covered nests with 

 the entrance underneath. Adults may be accompanied in the nest by 

 their young for a period after these are grown. Skutch describes the 

 two eggs in a set as plain white with measurements of both in one nest 

 as 22.2X 15.5 mm. 



A male collected by Strauch (Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 1977, p. 64) at 

 Cerro Campana weighed 18.7 g. 



This species is very common in the highlands of western Chiriqui, 

 especially above 1500 m on both the east and west slopes of the volcanic 



