FAMILY 1CTERIDAE 



37 1 



they are still separable if their geographic limits are drawn so as to in- 

 clude in carrikeri all birds from Panama except those from the Almi- 

 rante area of Bocas del Toro, which are referable to salvinii. The ap- 

 parent hiatus between salvinii and carrikeri along the Caribbean coast 

 of Panama may in large measure be an artifact of collecting, but the 

 pattern of distribution of these 2 subspecies, as now redrawn, is one 

 commonly observed in other polytypic species of Panamanian birds. 



Icterus mesomelas is a very vocal species; I rarely observed it on my 

 visits to Panama between December and April when it was not singing. 

 I find the song rather labored, but sweet in tone. Ridgely {op. cit. ) de- 

 scribes it as "a series of very rich mellow whistled phrases, each phrase 

 usually repeated several times before going on the the next. Usual and 

 distinctive calls are chup-cheet or chup-chup-cheet, and a weechaw." 

 I have also heard a plick or chick. Females sing as well as males, but 

 their phrases are usually shorter. In Eisenmann's opinion, it is the best 

 singer among the Panamanian orioles. The song, because of its repeti- 

 tion of loud, melodius, short, whistled phrases, at times suggests a rich- 

 voiced wren. This was noted both in western Bocas del Toro and in the 

 Canal Zone, where different races occur. 



Once I saw a half dozen of these orioles feeding together on sunny 

 branches in trees over the Western River in Almirante, Bocas del Toro. 

 They sometimes take nectar from flowers, but most of their food seems 

 to be insect matter — of 2 that E. A. Goldman collected at Cana, Darien, 

 1 had 21 ants 50%, 8 gryllid jaws and other remains 40%, 2 roach jaws 

 5%, a beetle 5%, and other coleopteran traces; the other had the elytron 

 of an elatrid 3%, bits of an otiorhynchid 17%, other coleopteran re- 

 mains 5%, the abdomen, etc. of a bee 5%, an ant 5%, legs of a moth 

 5%, jaws of an orthopteran 5%, caterpillar remains 37%, bits of snail 

 shell 10%, a centipede 8%. 



ICTERUS MESOMELAS SALVINII Cassin 



Icterus Salvinii Cassin, 1867, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 51. (Costa 

 Rica.) 



Characters. — Black gular patch more extensive than in carrikeri; 

 yellow areas never orangish, as in many specimens of carrikeri; bill 

 usually longer. 



Measurements. — Males (9 from Bocas del Toro, Costa Rica, and 

 Nicaragua) , wing 96.5-104.5 ( 101 .6) , tail 106.6-1 17.4 ( 1 12.7) , culmen 

 from base 24.3-27.3 (25.6), tarsus 29.9-33.5 (31.1) mm. 



