136 



BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



of Volcan de Chiriqui, which might be the Bocas del Toro side of the 

 Continental Divide) , Veraguas (Santa Fe) , Province of Panama (Cer- 

 ro Campana and Cerro Azul), Darien, and San Bias. 



The race obsoletus is found also on the Caribbean slopes of Costa 

 Rica and in northwestern Colombia (Jimenez) . Eisenmann writes : "I 

 don't think the T. obsoletus complex (from Costa Rica to western 

 Ecuador) is conspecific with the T. fumigatus of eastern Amazonia 

 and northwestern South America — which was Hellmayr's (Cat. Birds, 

 Am., vol. 7, 1934, p. 389) very broad treatment. Gyldenstolpe (Kungl. 

 Sv. Vet. Akad. Handlingar, 22, no. 3, 1945, p. 279) concluded that the 

 T. hauxwclli complex must be removed from the species T. fumigatus, 

 as they proved to be sympatric in Brazilian Amazonia. Ripley (Check- 

 list Birds World, vol. 10, 1964, p. 219) followed Gyldenstolpe in the 

 specific separation of the T. hauxwelli complex from T. fumigatus. 

 Probably through an oversight, he left the T. obsoletus complex in 

 T. fumigatus when its morphological affinities and geography are with 

 the more western T. hauxwelli. Meyer de Schauensee (Birds of South 

 America, 1966, pp. 416-417) accordingly merges the T. obsoletus and T. 

 hauxwelli complexes in one species, using, because of priority, T. ob- 

 soletus as the species name." In limited encounters I have seen these 

 thrushes singly, for brief periods only, in trees or occasionally on the 

 ground, usually near or under cover. Most of the specimens that I 

 have handled were captured in mist nets. This species is a bird of the 

 forest interior, and almost entirely arboreal. 



Ridgely (1976, p. 275) describes the song as similar to the Clay- 

 colored Robin's, but faster and less rich. 



The type specimen, without definite locality, has been attributed al- 

 most surely erroneously to Lion Hill or the Panama Railroad in the 

 Canal Zone (where there is no other record of this species). 



Stomachs that I have examined have been filled with fragments of 

 drupes and small seeds, with an ant in one (perhaps swallowed with a 

 berry) . 



The statement by Ridgway (U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50, pt. 4, 1907, p. 

 92) that fumigatus (sensu strict o) of northern South America has 

 "much greater adhesion of the anterior toes" than other thrushes does 

 not hold in the series examined. 



There has been no report of the nest or eggs of the Panama race. 

 Belcher and Smooker (Ibis, 1937, pp. 511-512) described the nest and 

 eggs from Trinidad as "a bulky cup with exterior of green moss and 

 lining of rootlets. In cacao plantations it is placed about 15 feet up as a 

 rule; in forest the site may be in the crown of a tree-fern or near the 



