320 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



Skutch (Publ. Nutt. Orn. Club, no. 7, 1967, pp. 154-159) has studied 

 the nesting behavior of this species in Costa Rica, where on March 21, 

 1963, he found a female building a domed nest on the ground in a steep 

 ravine. The next day darkness and falling ash from an eruption of 

 Volcan Irazu 32 km away seemed to have caused the desertion of the 

 nest. Skutch found another nest that year on June 3; this one was set 

 in a nearly vertical mossy bank in a rather open forest with dense un- 

 dergrowth of bamboo. The nest was oven shaped with a foundation of 

 leaves and bamboo blades, sides and roof of bamboo leaves and pieces 

 of fern fronds and roots, and lined with shredded vegetable fibers and 

 brown scales from the fronds of large ferns. The nest was about 18 cm 

 in height, 14 cm from side to side, and 12 cm from front to back. The 

 interior measured about 6 by 5 cm in diameter by 7 cm in height. 



When Skutch found this nest it already contained two eggs. They 

 were white, speckled with cinnamon-rufous, deeper and more heavily 

 concentrated on the broader end. Both eggs measured 19.0 X 15.0 mm. 

 The eggs hatched on June 10. The young had pink skin and long but 

 sparse gray down. One of the young disappeared a few days after 

 hatching, the other was beginning to develop feathers at 7 days, but 

 had disappeared 4 days later when Skutch next visited the nest. Both 

 before and after hatching of the eggs, the female had performed injury- 

 feigning displays when Skutch approached the nest. 



On July 10, 1979, Eisenmann (in lift.) found individuals of this 

 species at 1900 and 2030 m at Cerro Punta evidently carrying food to 

 young; 1 with an insect in its bill persistently remained in the area 

 where approached, chirping nervously. On September 20, 1959, he 

 saw pairs at several places in densely grown hillsides or in ravines near 

 Cerro Punta, keeping very low near the ground. On February 24 and 

 26, 1960, on the trail to Boquete, between 2330 and 2430 m several 

 pairs were seen perched low in shrubbery at the forest edge. One pair 

 was building a nest at the base of a tree on a slope beside the trail; 1 

 bird carried material while the other accompanied, calling a sweet tseep. 



BASILEUTERUS MELANOGENYS BENSONI Griscom 



BasUenterus bensoni Griscom, 1927, Amer. Mus. Novit, no. 280, p. 12. (Chitra, 

 4,700 feet, Pacific slope of Veraguas, Panama.) 



Characters. — Upper surface iron gray instead of greenish; under- 

 surface white instead of yellow; with distinct gray pectoral band darker. 



Measurements. — Males (3 from Chitra, Veraguas), wing 57.5-63.0 

 (60.2), tail 53.5-55.5 (54.6), oilmen from base 11.4-11.8 (11.6), tar- 

 sus 21.5-21.8 (21.6) mm. 



