FAMILY PARULIDAE 



307 



Description. — Length 113-126 mm. Adult male, entire upper sur- 

 face, throat, and breast shining black; wings black with basal half of 

 remiges pinkish orange; central pair of rectrices black, all others pink- 

 ish orange on basal half, black on distal half; sides and flanks orange; 

 rest of undersurface white; underwing coverts pinkish orange. 



Adult female, crown gray; rest of upper surface to upper tail co- 

 verts buffy olive; upper tail coverts blackish; remiges blackish brown 

 with yellow, base and outer webs edged buffy olive; central pair of 

 rectrices blackish brown, all others with basal half wholly or partially 

 light yellow and remainder blackish brown; orbital ring white; side of 

 head gray; sides and flanks yellow; rest of undersurface white; under- 

 wing coverts pale yellow. 



Immature male, like female, but sides of breast tinged pinkish orange. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from the breeding range, taken in May) 

 wing 61.8-66.0 (64.1), tail 52.3-57.4 (54.7), oilmen from base 10.0- 

 11.6 (10.8), tarsus 15.0-17.2 (16.2) mm. 



Females (10 from the breeding range, taken in May and June), 

 wing 58.0-63.8 (60.4), tail 51.4-56.2 (53.4), oilmen from base 10.5- 

 12.0 (11.1), tarsus 15.2-18.3 (16.3) mm. 



Migrant and winter visitor from the north. Fairly common through- 

 out on migration, less common in winter. The American Redstart has 

 been recorded as high as 1650 m on the Volcan de Chiriqui (Blake, 

 Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, no. 5, 1968, p. 561); I have also seen it in 

 coastal mangroves, at Tonosi, Los Santos, and Almirante, Bocas del 

 Toro, for example. Aldrich (Scient. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 vol. 7, 1937, p. 125) saw it on several occasions in forests on the west 

 side of the Azuero Peninsula, Veraguas, where it was part of mixed 

 flocks of migrant North American warblers. I have found redstarts in 

 high forest on Isla Coiba, and W. W. Brown, Jr. (Thayer and Bangs, 

 Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 46, 1905, p. 156) collected a female on San 

 Miguel in the Pearl Islands on March 2, 1904. The British Museum 

 has specimens collected by H. J. Kelsall at sea 160 to 190 km south of 

 Panama, taken between August 28 and October 2, 1924. 



The American Redstart has been found in Panama as early as Au- 

 gust 17 (Eisenmann, Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 117, no. 5, 1952, p. 52) 

 and as late as May 11 (Ridgely, 1976, p. 302); most depart by late 

 April. In Eisenmann's experience their numbers vary greatly from 

 year to year; in some seasons few are noted even in fall migration. One 

 banded near Curundu, Canal Zone, on December 8, 1963, was re- 

 captured there September 27, 1965 (Loftin et al, Bird-Banding, 1967, 

 p. 152) . In Panama this species is found in woodlands and borders. It 



