44Q 



BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



ously. This race ranges as far north as Nicaragua and south to north- 

 ern Colombia and extreme northwestern Venezuela; other races occur 

 south to Bolivia, Paraguay, and southeastern Brazil. 



T. palmarum closely resembles the more common Blue-gray Tanager 

 in behavior, although I have never found it as tame; its diet is a mixture 

 of fruit and insects, for which it occasionally flycatches, as well as 

 gleaning the foliage and branches. It is indeed frequently in palm trees. 

 I have often seen them in groups of a dozen, and they are frequently 

 part of mixed species flocks. At the mouth of the Rio Tuquesa in 

 Darien, I was interested to find them ranging regularly through the very 

 high tree crowns in the original forest; where this has been cleared they 

 come down lower. One taken by Leek (Bird-Banding, 1975, p. 203) 

 weighed 37.8 g; a male collected by Strauch (Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 

 1977, p. 65) weighed 38.5 g. Eisenmann describes the song as some- 

 what like that of the Blue-gray Tanager, "but with a distinct V sound: 

 susuri susuri, sree sree sree, susuri susuri susuri, with variations. Calls 

 are see-ee with a rising or questioning inflection, and see-you with a 

 falling inflection" (Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 117, no. 5, 1952, p. 55). 



The Palm Tanager nests from late January (Chapman, Life in an 

 Air Castle, 1938, p. 242) until at least June. The nest is often placed 

 in a natural or artificial cranny, frequently in a palm tree. One from 

 Almirante, Bocas del Toro, was a cup with thick heavy walls and base 

 of rather coarse materials including a variety of fibers mixed with some 

 moss; the rim and lining were of narrow, flat, long leaves. It measured 

 150X 150 mm., with the cup 50 mm deep. As far as I know, the eggs 

 and care of the young of this race have not been described. Belcher 

 and Smooker (Ibis, 1937, p. 535) have found eggs of the Trinidad race 

 T. p. melanoptera: "ten eggs average 24x17.7 mm.; they are quite in- 

 distinguishable in the individual egg from those of the Blue Tanager, 

 but when a series is looked at the eggs of T. palmarum seem rather 

 larger and rounder." 



RAMPHOCELUS DIMIDIATUS Lafresnaye: Crimson-backed Tanager, 

 Sangretoro Comun 



Figure 35 



Medium size; male, head, breast, and upper back rich dark red; rest 

 of body lighter red; wings and tail black; female similar, but much 

 duller. 



Description. — Length 148-166 mm. Adult male, head, upper back, 

 throat, and breast dark red; center of belly black; rest of body shining 

 scarlet-red, slightly darker on undersurface; wings and tail black. 



