124 



BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



mulatus), but the introductory phrase heard was of only three notes. 

 P. Schwartz said that when introducing- the first of a cycle of songs the 

 opening phrase was more elaborate. 



The nest and eggs appear to be unknown. Slud observed a bird in 

 southwestern Costa Rica carrying food on February 17. A female col- 

 lected by Strauch (Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 1977, p. 64) in the Canal 

 Zone area in November was in breeding condition and weighed 22.2 g. 



Family MIMIDAE: Thrashers, Mockingbirds 



A family of about 35 species found in the Americas, ranging from 

 southern Canada south through the United States, Central America, 

 and the West Indies to southern Argentina and Chile. Two species are 

 found in Panama, one of them, the Tropical Mockingbird, was intro- 

 duced from Colombia. The other, the Gray Catbird, is a winter season 

 visitor from the north. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF MIMIDAE 



1. Undersurface of body white; crown gray like back. 



Tropical Mockingbird, Mimus gilvus tolimensis. p. 124 

 Undersurface of body gray ; crown black ; back gray. 



Gray Catbird, Dumetella carolinensis. p. 127 



MIMUS GILVUS TOLIMENSIS Ridgway: Tropical Mockingbird, 

 Sinsonte del Caribe 



Mimus gilvus tolimensis Ridgway, Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 47, August 6, 1904, 

 p. 113. (Plains of Tolima, Boyaca, Colombia.) 



Rather large, with long, white-tipped tail; gray above, white under- 

 neath. 



Description. — Length 240-275 mm. Adult (sexes alike), upper sur- 

 face of head and body somewhat brownish light gray; crown narrowly 

 streaked with dusky; wings and tail blackish slate, with indistinct nar- 

 row pale gray edgings, becoming white on tips of greater coverts where 

 they form two somewhat indefinite bands; tertials and secondaries 

 edged narrowly with white at distal end; tail tipped broadly with white, 

 with this continued as a narrow border on the outermost rectrix to the 

 base; a dusky streak from the lores to back of the eye, covering the 

 free margins of the eyelids; a somewhat indistinct band of white above 

 the eye, becoming broader behind; undersurface white, tinged more or 



