156 



BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



the fact that this species occurs only in humid areas, while most of 

 Volcan de Chiriqui, especially the west side, is relatively dry. The bird 

 is common in wetter areas to the east, such as the Fortuna Dam site, 

 where Ridgely found up to 5 birds at ant swarms in February-March 

 1976. 



Older statements of range for hellmayri, in addition to Chiriqui, 

 have included Veraguas, based apparently on the report by Salvin 

 (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 180) of specimens collected by 

 Arce from Calovevora, and Cordillera del Chucu, in the mountains 

 north of Santa Fe. The report requires confirmation if the skins, 

 which may be in the British Museum, can be located. 



Slud (Birds of Costa Rica, 1964, p. 301), describes the song of 

 hellmayri as clear and flutelike in tone, with a definite pattern in its 

 syllables. Ridgely described the songs of birds at Fortuna as "tooo teee, 

 tee-too-too-tce, with some variation, beautiful clear whistles." 



M. A. Carriker (Ann. Carnegie Mus. vol. 2, 1910, p. 748) found a 

 nest in Costa Rica at Juan Vinas, May 20, 1907, with two fresh eggs. 

 "The nest is not so pretty a structure as that of mexlcanus, being con- 

 structed of leaves, moss, and weedstems, and lined with fine weed-fibres 

 and grass. It was placed in a low bush in the heavy forest. The eggs 

 are pale blue, thickly speckled and dotted and blotched over the entire 

 surface with light chestnut-rufous. Measurements: 25 X 18 mm." 



CATHARUS FUSCATER MIRABILIS Nelson 



Catharus fuscater mirabilis Nelson, Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 60, no. 3, September 

 24 (September 27), 1912, p. 24. (Head of Rio Limon, 1585 m elevation, Cerro 

 Pirre, Darien.) 



Characters. — Similar to Catharus f. fuscater, but gray of foreneck 

 and upper breast duller; throat grayish white; white of lower breast 

 and abdomen duller; dorsal surface slightly paler. 



Measurements. — Males (6 specimens), wing 83.3-88.4 (86.6), tail 

 68.0-70.9 (69.5), oilmen from base 17.5-18.7 (18.3), tarsus 33.2-37.5 

 (34.6) mm. 



Females (4 specimens) , wing 78.8-82.9 (80.7), tail 57.2-64.0 (60.9), 

 culmen from base 17.6-19.5 ( 18.4) , tarsus 32.7-34.7 (33.5) mm. 



Resident. Found in the Subtropical Zone on Cerro Pirre, Darien, 

 at 1500-1600 m; specimens in the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory were 

 taken at Cerro Cana (August 1965) and Alturas de Nique (April 

 1972). 



E. A. Goldman, who collected the series from which this race was 



