FAMILY THRAUPIDAE 



40I 



EUPHONIA LUTEICAPILLA (Cabanis): Yellow-crowned Euphonia, 



Bin- Bin 



Phonasca luteicapilla Cabanis, 1860, Journ. f. Ornith., 8, p. 332. (Costa Rica.) 



Very small; male, crown and most of undersurface bright yellow; 

 throat and rest of upper surface glossy dark purplish blue; female, 

 yellowish green on upper surface; greenish yellow on undersurface. 



Description. — Length 86-96 mm. Adult male, base of bill, side of 

 face, throat, and upper breast, and upper surface, including wing co- 

 verts, glossy very dark blue, slightly more purplish on head and throat; 

 remiges blackish, edged white on inner web; secondaries edged blue on 

 outer web; rectrices blackish, edged blue; rest of undersurface and 

 bend of wing rich yellow; underwing coverts white. 



Adult female, entire upper surface, including wing coverts, yellow- 

 ish green, slightly lighter on rump and upper tail coverts; remiges and 

 retrices dusky, edged yellowish green; chin, abdomen, and undertail 

 coverts lemon yellow; rest of undersurface greenish yellow; under- 

 wing coverts white. 



A male and female collected at Puerto Armuelles, Chiriqui, on March 

 3, 1966, both had the iris dark brown; base of maxilla below nostril and 

 mandible except tip bluish neutral gray; rest of bill black; tarsus and 

 toes dusky neutral; claws black. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Panama), wing 53.2-56.0 (54.7), 

 tail 29.9-34.3 (32.2), culmen from base 8.4-10.2 (9.1), tarsus 12.5- 

 14.0 (13.3) mm. 



Females (10 from Panama), wing 47.5-54.8 (51.7), tail 29.0-32.4 

 (30.5), culmen from base 7.9-9.7 (8.7), tarsus 11.6-14.1 (13.1) mm. 



Resident. Common in Pacific slope lowlands in dry, scrubby areas, 

 savannas, and extensive clearing from Chiriqui east into Darien at 

 least as far as El Real, where I collected a male on January 23, 1964 

 (this specimen had previously been reported as E. xanthogaster and 

 was corrected by Olson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. 91, no. 2, 1981 

 p. 106 note) . On the Caribbean side, the species is found in small num- 

 bers in lowland Bocas del Toro, where H. von Wedel collected it at 

 Changuinola and Almirante (Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 71, 

 1931, p. 340) and in the Canal Zone area. Monniche took 1 at 1620 m 

 on the Volcan de Chiriqui (Blake, Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, no. 5, 1958, 

 p. 565), but it is usually not found above 900 m. This species ranges 

 north to eastern Nicaragua, but does not extend south beyond Panama. 



This euphonia is unusual in that it inhabits a range of habitats, from 

 open scrub in dry areas to clearings and forest edge in very humid 

 areas, even those naturally covered with true lowland rain forest. It is 



