382 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA— PART 4 



ber and late October on its way to South America and in mid-April to 

 early May when flying north, the Bobolink is usually found on the 

 Caribbean coast, but has also been recorded on the Pacific slope of cen- 

 tral and eastern Panama (Ridgely, 1976, p. 312) . A female collected at 

 Almirante, Bocas del Toro, on September 7, 1960, and another taken 

 by Arce in November 1864 at Chepo, Province of Panama, (now 

 BMNH no. 85.11.2. 194) are the earliest and latest fall records of which 

 I am aware. Some of the other localities where it has been collected in- 

 clude Perme and Puerto Obaldia in San Bias (Griscom, Bull. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 369) on the Caribbean coast, at Paraiso 

 Station, "Isthmus of Panama," by A. Hughes in 1867 (Salvin and 

 Godman, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, vol. 1 (pt. 53), 1886, p. 448), and 

 at Chorrera, central Province of Panama and Yaviza, Darien, on the 

 Pacific slope (specimens in American Museum of Natural History). 

 The Yaviza specimen was one of "a flock of a couple of dozen" seen 

 September 20, 1966, by F. N. Slattery {fide Eisenmann). On Febru- 

 ary 12, 1957, I found a female at the airstrip in Mandinga, San Bias; 

 when I collected it 3 days later it was much emaciated, and I believe it 

 was a bird left in some way from the fall migration. At Almirante, 

 Bocas del Toro, D. Hicks took a migratory female on October 23, 1964, 

 that weighed 24.9 g. 



Ridgely saw 4 males at Albrook Air Force Base, Canal Zone, on May 

 6, 1968, the latest date so far recorded for Panama. On May 1, 1976, 

 Ridgely {in litt.) and Pujals found 3 males in a large meadow at Fort 

 Sherman, Canal Zone; all were giving brief singing bouts from their 

 perches in tall grass. Most Bobolinks travel to and from South Amer- 

 ica via the West Indies, with a smaller number crossing the Gulf of 

 Mexico to the Yucatan Peninsula and then continuing through Cen- 

 tral America. Since they travel long distances without landing, Bobo- 

 links may be commoner flying over Panama than the number of reports 

 would indicate. They are usually found in small groups. 



Family THRAUPIDAE: Tanagers, Tangaros, Tanagras y Fruteros 



Fifty-five species of the diverse tanager family are found in Panama. 

 They range from the Swallow-Tanager {Tersina viridis) , which 

 catches insects on the wing over forest canopy, through various groups 

 of foliage gleaners and fruit eaters, to ground dwellers like the Rosy 

 Thrush -Tanager {Rhodinocichla rosea). Some are brilliantly colored 

 or boldly marked while others are drab. Storer (Living Bird, 1969, pp. 

 127-136) reviews the family, suggesting some possible phylogenies for 



