370 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



outer two pairs of rectrices bright yellow; third pair of rectrices black 

 at base and on edge of inner web; bend of wing and inner wing coverts 

 yellow. 



Immature, black absent; crown, back, and tail tinged yellowish 

 green; wings dusky, with coverts edged yellow; under surface bright 

 pale yellow. 



Figure 31. — Yellow- tailed Oriole, Parao Coliamarillo, Icterus mesomelas. 



Resident. The Yellow-tailed Oriole is found in thickets, woodland 

 edges, and clearings in the lowlands, and locally to the foothills, as at 

 Cana, Darien. It is almost always near water. Its range in Panama is 

 on the entire Caribbean slope; on the Pacific slope it occurs locally from 

 the Canal Zone eastward, becoming more common in Darien. A pair 

 was seen several times during 1969-70 by Ridgely, Eisenmann, and 

 others near the base of Cerro Campana, Panama, not close to water; 

 this is the westernmost report on the Pacific slope (Ridgely, 1976, p. 

 310). Beyond Panama, the Yellow-tailed Oriole is found from south- 

 eastern Mexico to northwestern Peru and northwestern Venezuela, 

 but is unknown in southeastern Costa Rica on the Pacific slope or on 

 that slope of western Panama. 



Olson (Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. 94, no. 2, 1981, pp. 363-373) 

 found that although the races carrikeri and sahinii are poorly marked 



