446 



BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



Galindo has record is of 1 banded October 23, 1962, and recovered 

 April 11, 1967. 



RAMPHOCELUS PASSERINII PASSERINII Bonaparte 



Ramphocelus passerinii Bonaparte, 1831, Antologia [Florence], 44 (130), p. 164. 

 (Guatemala.) 



Characters. — Adult male with red of lower back and rump scarlet. 

 Female and immature males with band across breast greenish orange. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Bocas del Toro and Costa Rica), 

 wing 73.1-78.5 (76.1), tail 64.7-70.8 (67.6), culmen from base 15.7- 

 17.8 (16.6), tarsus 22.0-23.8 (23.0) mm. 



Females (10 from Bocas del Toro and Costa Rica), wing 71.8-76.7 

 (74.7), tail 65.1-70.9 (68.2), culmen from base 15.0-17.3 (16.6), tar- 

 sus 21.5-23.5 (22.6) mm. 



Resident. Common in the lowlands of Bocas del Toro from the 

 Costa Rican border to Cricamola, and inland to 225 m on the Rio 

 Changuena. Throughout the Almirante-Changuinola region, this is a 

 widely distributed bird in regions bordering cultivation, and in areas 

 near shorelines or streams where forest growth is sufficiently low or 

 scattered to allow the suitable open conditions. Low second growth and 

 brushy field boundaries are especially favored. Around Almirante Bay, 

 I found them on various islands, including Roldan and Coco Cays and 

 Shepherd (Pastores) Island. They were especially common above the 

 mangrove swamps on Rio Occidental, Quebrada Nigua, and Quebrada 

 Garay. 



In Panama, the nesting season is from early March through July. 

 The female alone builds the nest, which is concealed in thick foliage in 

 a tussock of grass, shrub, or tree from 3 to 7 m from the ground. The 

 nest is a compact, thick-walled, strongly woven cup. Three collected at 

 Almirante by Pedro Galindo in May and June of 1962 had bases of 

 large leaves, sides of fibers and rootlets, and a lining of fine delicate 

 hairlike fibers. One nest measured 120 X 120 mm, with an inside depth 

 of 45 mm. Five sets of eggs of R. p. passerinii in the Smithsonian col- 

 lected by C. W. Richmond on the Rio Escondido in southeastern Nica- 

 ragua numbered two eggs each. These vary in form from oval to long 

 oval. The color is very pale grayish blue, marked with small irregular 

 black spots or fine irregular lines, mainly about the larger end. Their 

 measurements average 23.5x16.6 mm. The incubation period is 12 

 days, and the young leave the nest 11 or 12 days later. 



Bonaparte named the species in honor of Dr. Carlo Passerini of 

 Florence, who had the specimen in his cabinet, but who was expected 



