FAMILY ICTKRIDAE 



379 



breasted Blackbird is an easily seen inhabitant of fields and savannas; 

 it sometimes feeds near cattle, and in the nonbreeding season may form 

 flocks of up to 100 birds. Some that Hallinan (Auk, 1924, p. 320) col- 

 lected had grass seeds in their stomachs. When alarmed they crouch 

 low in the grasses, the males turning their bright red breast away from 

 the source of concern, but in their display flight males rise almost verti- 

 cally from 8 to 16 m in the air, displaying the red breast prominently, 

 and then drop to the ground with nearly motionless, outspread wings. 

 The male's song, given from an elevated perch consists of "two short 

 introductory notes followed by a long rather buzzy trill" (Ridgely, 

 1976, p. 312). 



W. W. Brown (Thayer and Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 46, 

 1906, p. 221 ) collected a female in nestling plumage at Panama City on 

 May 26, 1904. E. A. Goldman noted that it was "breeding" at Corozal, 

 Canal Zone, on June 15, 1911, and Jaime Pujals observed a just-fledged 

 young being fed at Howard Air Field on July 15, 1973. J. Karr (in litt. 

 to Eisenmann) found a nest with 3 eggs on August 6, 1965, near La 

 Jagua, eastern Province of Panama. Eisenmann has seen some dis- 

 playing in March and early April, but few birds seemed to be on ter- 

 ritory. On September 26 at Finca Santa Monica, Code, he saw a fe- 

 male carrying food in her bill; there were a number of full grown 

 fledglings, but no song was noted. The only other details I have on the 

 breeding biology of this species come from Suriname, where the nests 

 Haverschmidt (Auk, 1970, p. 167) found were open cups made of grass 

 set in a clump of grass; the nests did not have a roof or an entrance 

 tunnel as do the nests of meadowlarks, Stumella. The eggs have been 

 described by Hellebrekers (Zool. Med. Rijksm. Nat. Hist. Leiden, vol. 

 24, nos. 1-2, 1942, p. 267) from those in the Penard collection as "oval, 

 somewhat glossy . . . light bluish, light greyish blue. Spots: small spots 

 or large blotches of light and darker reddish brown, purplish under- 

 markings. The eggs are very variable . . . average (50 eggs) 23.27 X 

 17.42 [mm]." 



STURNELLA MAGNA SUBULATA Griscom: Eastern Meadowlark, 

 Llanero Oriental 



Stumella magna subulata Griscom, 1934, Bull Mus. Comp. Zool., 75, p. 405. 

 (Boquete, 4,000 ft., Pacific slope of Chiriqui, western Panama.) 



Medium size; upper surface black, finely streaked brown and buff; 

 undersurface mostly bright yellow, with a black crescent across chest. 



Description. — Length 179-215 mm. Adult (sexes essentially alike, 

 but female duller), upper surface black, with most feathers edged light 



