FAMILY TURDIDAE 



161 



CATHARUS AURANTIIROSTRIS RUSSATUS Griscom 



Catharus griseiceps russatus Griscom, Amer. Mus. Nov., no. 141, October 31, 1924, 

 p. 6. (Boruca, Costa Rica.) 



Characters. — Upper surface darker. Crown darker gray; back, 

 wings, and tail duller, darker reddish brown; gray of undersurface 

 darker. 



In a male taken on Volcan de Chiriqui, February 2, 1954, the bill, 

 including a ring around the nostril and the base of the culmen, was 

 light brick red; line of culmen otherwise dark neutral gray; eyelids 

 light brick red; iris dark brown; tarsus and toes dark honey yellow; 

 claws buffy brown. 



A female, on March 13, had the ring around the nostril, the sides of 

 maxilla and mandible, and a ring around the eye bright orange; rest of 

 maxilla dark neutral gray; iris dark brown; tarsus and toes yellowish 

 orange, with a line down the front of the tarsus, the central portion of 

 the toe scutes, and the toes fuscous. In another female, March 19, 1965, 

 the iris was light brown; thickened eyelid orange; culmen and sides of 

 mandible fuscous-brown; rest of bill, gape, and entire inside of mouth, 

 including the tongue, reddish orange; tarsus and toes deep yellow, with 

 one or two toes on each foot tinged with brown. 



Measurements. — Males (9 from Chiriqui), wing 76.7-82.9 (79.4), 

 tail 51.3-61.4 (57.4), culmen from base 15.5-18.4 (17.1), tarsus 29.4- 

 31.7 (30.8) mm. 



Females (7 from Chiriqui and Costa Rica) wing 72.3-78.3 (75.4), 

 tail 54.3-58.1 (56.6), culmen from base 15.3-18.4 (17.3), tarsus 28.9- 

 31.5 (30.3) mm. 



Resident in the mountainous area of western Chiriqui from the 

 Costa Rican boundary eastward, mainly from 1000 to 1650 m on the 

 slopes of Volcan de Chiriqui. 



Ridgely found this species in north-central Chiriqui on the upper 

 Rio Chiriqui (Fortuna Dam site) in a clearing at 1000 m on March 3, 

 1976, but, without specimens, it cannot be determined to what race the 

 birds belong. 



Eisenmann regards aurantiirostris as a poor, unmusical singer. The 

 song is variable and often rapid. He has syllabized it at Bambito, on 

 the western slope of the volcanic massif, as ts-teyt, teweet, tisteet; 

 witsteeyt, steeweea, tiststeet; and tsipeeareet, tseea; elsewhere he has 

 heard tsip, wee-ee, tsirrip-tsip. Usually only the second phrase can be 

 called musical. Sometimes there are twanging wang or snip notes in- 

 terposed. Songs heard about Boquete were generally of similar quality. 



