FAMILY PAKULIDAE 



323 



A female collected February 21, 1962, at El Cope, Code, had the 

 iris dark mouse brown; bill black; tarsus, toes, and claws light brown 

 with a line on back of tarsus buffy brown; pads honey yellow. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Panama), wing 50.3-56.9 (54.3), 

 tail 47.1-55.0 (50.0), culmen from base 11.2-13.5 (12.2), tarsus 19.3- 

 20.6 (20.0) mm. 



Females (10 from Panama), wing 50.2-57.8 (53.8), tail 46.5-53.7 

 (49.5), culmen from base 11.5-13.8 (12.4), tarsus 18.8-20.6 (19.6) 

 mm. 



Resident. Fairly common throughout the mainland Pacific slope 

 lowlands from Chiriqui to the Canal Zone area and on the Caribbean 

 slope in the vicinity of the Canal Zone. In Chiriqui it has been col- 

 lected as high as 1560 m (Blake, Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, no. 5, 1958, 

 p. 562), and in central Panama it has been recorded to 950 m on Cerro 

 Azul. Aldrich and Bole (Scient. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 

 7, 1937, p. 23) found it uncommon in brushy savannas and forest 

 margins near Montijo Bay, Veraguas. In 1911, E. A. Goldman re- 

 corded it as "a rather common bird in the partly open country through- 

 out the Zone." This race also occurs in southwestern Costa Rica and 

 in northern Colombia and western Venezuela. Griscom (Bull. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool, vol. 78, 1935, p. 370) states it ranges to Darien, but I am 

 not aware of any specimens or sight reports from that province. 



According to Eisenmann, this bird favors thickets or lightly-wooded 

 semi-arid areas, but in more humid habitats follows clearings into 

 second growth and woodland borders up into the lower highlands and 

 to the Caribbean coast in the Canal Zone and adjacent parts of Colon 

 Province. If forest grows up again in humid areas it tends to disap- 

 pear, as on Barro Colorado Island (Willis and Eisenmann, Smiths. 

 Contrib. Zool. 291, 1979, p. 27). 



A bird banded by H. Loftin (in litt. to Eisenmann) at Curundu, 

 Canal Zone, on January 8, 1963, was recaptured there on March 31, 

 1966. 



E. A. Goldman shot a pair at Gatun, Canal Zone, on May 3, 1911, 

 that were in breeding condition; the female contained two large eggs, 

 the larger of which was nearly ready to lay. A pair that I collected 

 March 7, 1960, at Buena Vista, Chiriqui, was also in breeding con- 

 dition. Eisenmann noted a fledgling being fed in the Canal Zone on 

 June 25. 



Skutch (Publ. Nutt. Orn. Club. no. 7, 1967, pp. 159-164) has found 

 the nest of this species in Costa Rica. Like other members of the genus, 

 B. rufifrons places the nest on the ground where it is hidden amid litter 



