402 



BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



found at least occasionally in the canopy of deciduous forest. Its habits, 

 however, differ very little from those of its forest-dwelling congeners. 

 E. luteicapilla usually moves in small flocks of its own species that call 

 almost continually; pe-we, see-see, and be em-be em are some renditions 

 of their thin short notes, the last being the source of their local name, 

 Bin-bin. It also has a thin, wiry song, and is a popular cage bird 

 (Ridgely, 1976, p. 315). Like other euphonias, this one feeds pri- 

 marily on mistletoe berries. A female collected by Strauch (Bull. Brit. 

 Orn. Club, 1977, p. 64) weighed 13.2 g. 



A male that I collected at Almirante on January 16, 1955, was in im- 

 mature plumage with only a few blue feathers showing on the back, but 

 had the testes three- fourths developed toward breeding. On March 9, 

 1957, I found a nest of this species at Pedasi, Los Santos. It was in a 

 partly rotted out woodpecker hole in a fence post, 13 m or so from the 

 border of rather open, dry scrub; the hole was near the top of the post, 

 1.3 m above the ground. From the front edge of the nest to the lip of 

 the opening there was a solid mass of dried, excreted mistletoe seeds. 

 The nest itself was a bulky cup made of leaf fragments, fine twigs, and 

 grass blades with a lining of finer plant fibers and grass blades. The 

 eggs were white, heavily marked with brown blotches that were espe- 

 cially concentrated on the wider end, where they formed a ring. The 

 eggs measured 12.4x16.6, 12.7x17.6, and 12.0x17.1 mm. 



Skutch (Pac. Coast Avif. no. 31, 1954, pp. 241-246) found several 

 nests in Costa Rica; they ranged in height from 1 to 35 m above the 

 ground, but half were between 2 and 3 m. All were placed in snug 

 crotches or crannies; both sexes participated in construction. Most 

 clutches were of three eggs, although Skutch also found a few nests 

 with two or four. The female does all the incubation, and the eggs 

 hatch in 13 or 14 days. The young are fed regurgitated matter by both 

 parents; they leave the nest at 22 to 24 days of age. Sometimes a second 

 brood is raised. 



EUPHONIA FULVICRISSA FULVICRISSA Sclater: Fulvous-vented 

 Euphonia, Tanagra Ventriamarillosa 



Euphonia fuhicrissa P. L. Sclater, 1857, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 24 (1856), p. 

 276. (Santa Martha in New Grenada [locality not certain].) 



Very small; forecrown yellow; rest of upper surface, throat, and 

 upper breast glossy dark blue; rest of undersurface yellow with tawny 

 wash in center of belly and undertail coverts; female, reddish brown 

 forecrown; upper surface bluish green; undersurface yellowish green 

 with tawny wash on belly. 



