120 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



the Rio Indio in northern Code and western Colon, through the north- 

 ern Canal Zone, base of Cerro Bruja, and eastern Colon, eastward on 

 the Caribbean slope to the Colombian boundary, and on the Pacific 

 slope in humid hill country from Cerro Campana, western Province of 

 Panama, and in eastern Province of Panama from Cerro Azul and 

 Chepo, the Rio Bayano Basin to the lower Rio Sambu, Cerro Pirre, and 

 the base of Cerro Tacarcuna, Darien In the Canal Zone, while wide- 

 spread in canopied woodland of the Chagres Basin and the Caribbean 

 coastal area, it is also common nearer the Pacific in the Madden Forest 

 Preserve (F. O. Chapelle, Eisenmann, et al.). 



These attractive wrens range regularly in pairs and also frequently 

 in small groups of half a dozen or more individuals. They are birds of 

 the forest, both original and second growth (r astro jo) , ranging mainly 

 over the ground, but also above it in low undergrowth. Their rapid, 

 harsh-toned calls, mixed with whistled notes, as well as their loud songs, 

 draw attention. Usually they may appear briefly on low perches, or in 

 small open spaces. The groups regularly include families of adults and 

 young. This species is sometimes seen about army-ant swarms. 



On Barro Colorado Island in March, Skutch (Auk, 1940, p. 300) 

 found them sleeping in rounded ball-shaped nests in family groups of 

 adults and their grown young. A nest recorded by Jewel, May 7, 1911, 

 near Gatun, Canal Zone, was "found in low wet forest two feet from 

 the ground . . . consisted of a long tube or tunnel with the nest proper at 

 the far end built of sticks, twigs and dead leaves, lined with grasses. 

 Eggs, two . . . white, very finely and sparingly speckled with brown, 

 one almost immaculate." (Stone, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 

 vol. 70, 1918, p. 272.) The eggs measured 16.5x23.3 and 16.5x22.6 

 mm. Major-General G. R. Meyer found two nests September 1, 1941, 

 in the Forest Reserve, Canal Zone. These were bulky and gourd- 

 shaped, suspended in the fork of low saplings 125 mm above the ground 

 and made of fine grasses lined with the skeletons of dried leaves. One 

 contained two eggs that measured 16.5 X 24.6 and 16.7x24.1 mm. Three 

 eggs in the other nest ranged from 16.2-16.5x23.2-24.6 mm. J. E. 

 Ambrose, on April 6, 1961, found a nest being constructed at Gatun, 

 2.3 m above the ground in a sapling. 



The first report of this wren in Panama was by George N. Lawrence 

 (Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. 7, 1861, p. 293), who recorded 

 a specimen received in the first collection made by James McLeannan, 

 under the name "Cyphornis cantans (Gm.)." In the reference for the 

 account of this wren Lawrence explained that when he found that the 

 identification as cantans was in error, he sent the specimen to Mr. 



